The Bush administration is either brain dead or suffer from the ability to think beyond basic things like tax-cuts and oil. These must be some real badass troops also, as they required three helicopters to ferry them in. Of course, 6 people make for a much nicer tour group, and we all know about the concern Rumsfield and co. have with using overwhelming force that might disturb the locals.
So, once these six people have cleaned up the situation, I guess two more should be able to handle the reconstruction period. They do have some plans for when the shooting dies down, don’t they? It does make sense in that context, if they just plain to pile all 6 marines in a humvee, take a quick drive around the place doing whatever it is they plan to do and presto, they get back on the helis and away they go.
America’s “history with Liberia”:http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/liberia.htm goes back a long way. Some might even say that they bear some of the responsibility for the decades of conflict in Liberia. It’s good to see that the Bush Administration is shouldering a part of it after all these years.
bq.. After at least two months of studying ways to help wartorn Liberia, President Bush has decided to send six to 10 American troops to assist West African peacekeepers, defense officials said Wednesday.
Though an additional dozen could be added to the team, no decision has been made to send anything beyond 20 people to the West African nation, three officials said.
>> “ABC News”:http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030806_701.html
p. “BBC: 200 More US troops arrive in Monrovia”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3149255.stm.
Update: The handful of marines who came ashore in Liberia to great aclaim have quietly slipped away after only one week. Apparently it was clear that the problems were solved. [Via “Body and Soul”:http://bodyandsoul.typepad.com/]
*Update:* UN Peacekeepers are finally arriving in Liberia, and things are not looking good:
bq. TAPPETA, Liberia (AP) – The first U.N. peace missions to Liberia’s rebel-held far east have found deserted towns emptied of all but looting insurgents, and terrorized civilians under rebel grip or lying rotting, dead, in the bush.
>> “Guardian: Liberia Peacekeepers Find Deserted Towns”:http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3365377,00.html