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Why Liberia?
From the Wolf Blitzer Reports staff in Washington: WASHINGTON (CNN) -- For U.S. troops in areas of conflict, the dangers are all too obvious. With U.S. forces already committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places, the prospect of another perilous and potentially deadly mission leads many to ask: Why step into the middle of an internal war in Liberia? The answers, as is often the case, are complicated below the surface. The humanitarian crisis is glaring: over 200,000 dead during more than 13 years of instability, dictatorship and civil war; so many others displaced; ever-present fear and chaos. But similar conditions exist elsewhere in Africa. In Congo, a civil conflict that drew in six other African nations at its peak has claimed more than 2 million lives since 1998. Liberia's neighbor Sierra Leone lost some 50, 000 people during 11 years of civil war that ended last year. At least 200,000 casualties were incurred in a war that has raged for a decade in Burundi. And 20 years of civil war, famine and disease have caused about 2 million deaths in Sudan, and the fighting hasn't subsided. In each place, as in Liberia, horrific numbers of refugees have been another product of war. But experts say in Liberia's case, there is extraordinary pressure for U.S. intervention. "Pressure from the British because they are playing a similar role in neighboring Sierra Leone, pressure from the French because they are also heading a peacekeeping operation in the Ivory Coast -- and also they are involved in the Congo. So there is a sense that the United States should provide leadership and share some of the international peacekeeping burdens, and Liberia is most appropriately a case for U.S. leadership," says Salih Booker of Africa Action, a Washington-based advocacy group. The U.S. government did not colonize and occupy Liberia, as the European powers did elsewhere in Africa, but there may be some sense of historical guilt in Washington. Liberia was founded by Americans to serve as a new homeland for freed American slaves. U.S. companies like Firestone got early footholds there to tap rubber and other resources. Liberia provided crucial logistics support to the Allies during World War II. It was also a key base for U.S. intelligence during the Cold War. The Congressional Research Service says U.S. aid to Liberia has fluctuated over the years, with the 2003 budget at just over $17 million. But many believe that the United States has turned its back on Liberia at crucial times, such as in 1990, when a similar civil war was raging. "When President Bush's father was in office, an almost identical scenario faced the United States. There was fighting by rebel forces trying to overthrow then-President Samuel Doe. U.S. ships were off the coast of Monrovia, they were evacuating Americans and Europeans, but refusing to intervene with a humanitarian force aimed at making peace," explains Booker. But a sense of guilt or responsibility can only drive a policy so far. Is there a pressing U.S. national interest in Liberia? The United States does import a substantial portion of its oil from that region of Africa. But Liberia, for the most part, has not been tapped. The security situation, in an unstable region, is another matter. Susan Rice is a former assistant secretary of State for African Affairs and is now with the Brookings Institution. She says, "That arc of conflict has created a sort of regional super failed-state that terrorists and criminals have used to base their operations and to exploit the very precious diamond resources there." The questions still unanswered: whether an American presence can actually bring stability and fend off the terrorist threat; how long that might take ... "This country requires sustained international commitment for ten years and beyond," says European Commission Aid Coordinator David Parker. "The bringing of international troops here is just a start." ... and at what cost.
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