Washington is wary of deep involvement given its ongoing commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Memories also persist of a bloody debacle in Somalia a decade ago -- the last major U.S. military involvement in Africa.
(Netters isn't it amazing though... At no time was Washington worried when, in those cold wars days, Washington was using Liberia as a CIA listening post...or as a post from which Washington was launching clandestine cover wars against national Liberation forces in the African Continent...against for example SWAPO, MPLA in Angola, Nkurumha's party in Ghana, Against Patrice Lumumba ... e.t.c )
MK
Bush insists on limited U.S. role in Liberia
CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush insisted on Wednesday that U.S. forces now off the coast of Liberia would play a support role in the conflict-torn country, rebuffing suggestions that Washington do more.
"We are there to support and help" West African peacekeepers, Bush told reporters at his ranch in Texas. "I made that decision and nothing's changed."
Bush said the United States aimed to help create the conditions to bring in humanitarian supplies and that talks were underway to make sure the main port is "secure and open."
Three U.S. warships are waiting off the capital Monrovia with a 2,300-strong Marine task force to help West African peacekeepers after the flight into exile in Nigeria on Monday of ex-President Charles Taylor.
"I'm glad he's gone," Bush said of Taylor.
Bush did not take a position on whether Taylor should be turned over to the war crimes tribunal, saying: "They can work that out."
"My focus now is on making sure that humanitarian relief gets to the people who are suffering in Liberia," Bush said.
Washington is wary of deep involvement given its ongoing commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Memories also persist of a bloody debacle in Somalia a decade ago -- the last major U.S. military involvement in Africa.
Rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) promised the Americans on Tuesday that they would leave the vital port so aid could flow to hundreds of thousands of famished Liberians.
08/13/03 13:58 ET
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state."
- Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels - Hitler's propaganda minister
