07-10-2003, 12:46 AM
Check the news for the past 10 years . . . American Marines and Soldiers, they have been there. WAU, and a number of UN nations have also been in and out.
We can go in and out again. That probably solves nothing.
Unlike Rwanda, Liberia is in the littoral, which means logistically supporting an operation is much simpler: it is also a smaller place. There is also a political/cultural link due to how Monrovia was founded, the resettling of freed slaves back in Africa after a generation or two, or more, in chains in America. If there was ever an African nation we ought to help work through the rough spots, from a moral standpoint, Liberia is the place.
An in and out band aid fix won't solve some rather deep rooted social problems not atypical to much of West Africa. Read Kaplan's "The Coming Anarchy" to get a sense of what one is dealing with, or McMaster's piece on "The New Warrior Class."
What is being proposed is, I think, more than the usual "OK, go in for a bit, get a good headline, leave when CNN points the camera elsewhere." SUbstantial help will require a long term commitment that for many reasons, will take spending quite a bit of political capital.
I wonder of Pres Bush has it to spend.
We can go in and out again. That probably solves nothing.
Unlike Rwanda, Liberia is in the littoral, which means logistically supporting an operation is much simpler: it is also a smaller place. There is also a political/cultural link due to how Monrovia was founded, the resettling of freed slaves back in Africa after a generation or two, or more, in chains in America. If there was ever an African nation we ought to help work through the rough spots, from a moral standpoint, Liberia is the place.
An in and out band aid fix won't solve some rather deep rooted social problems not atypical to much of West Africa. Read Kaplan's "The Coming Anarchy" to get a sense of what one is dealing with, or McMaster's piece on "The New Warrior Class."
What is being proposed is, I think, more than the usual "OK, go in for a bit, get a good headline, leave when CNN points the camera elsewhere." SUbstantial help will require a long term commitment that for many reasons, will take spending quite a bit of political capital.
I wonder of Pres Bush has it to spend.
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete