The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 67/No. 27           August 11, 2003  
 
 
U.S. government sends
2,200 troops off
Liberia’s coast
(front page)
 
BY SAM MANUEL  
U.S. president George Bush ordered the Pentagon July 25 to position U.S. Marines off the coast of Liberia. Three ships with an estimated 2,200 troops on board were ordered there from the Mediterranean and should arrive in the waters of the West African nation in early August.

Speaking to reporters at the White House Rose Garden during a meeting with Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, Bush cast the military deployment in humanitarian terms. “We’re deeply concerned that the condition of the Liberian people is getting worse and worse,” he said. “Aid can’t get to the people. We’re worried about the outbreak of disease.” These claims notwithstanding, the administration has in its sights newly discovered oil fields in the Gulf of Guinea off the West African coast, as well as other petroleum resources in the rest of the continent.

TV and press journals have been filled with graphic descriptions of the civilian carnage, including bodies stacked outside the U.S. embassy in Monrovia, the country’s capital, by Liberians pleading with Washington to intercede to halt the bloodshed. The U.S. rulers are taking advantage of the steady swell of prominent political figures and humanitarian organizations who have issued calls for the administration to send in troops “to stop the killing.”

“We do have an interest in making sure that West Africa doesn’t simply come apart,” said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. “We do have some obligation as the most important, powerful nation on the face of the earth not to look away when a problem like this comes before us.”

Democratic Party politicians and other liberals have been most vociferous in calling for military intervention, including using race-baiting to push for troops to Liberia. “I’m glad they’ve decided to move closer to Liberia,” said Congressional Black Caucus leader and New Jersey Representative Donald Payne. But I’m disappointed it’s taken so long.” In earlier congressional hearings on Liberia, Payne had chided the administration’s apparent reluctance to send troops as “racist.”

“We expect him to do what is necessary…to stop the carnage,” California Democrat Maxine Waters said of Bush. “It is stalling at this point.”

Democratic presidential candidate Alfred Sharpton remarked, “It seems this administration’s foreign policy is indifferent, absolutely indifferent when it comes to people of color.”

The decision to deploy troops to the Liberian coast was announced the same day a front-page article appeared in the New York Times headlined, “Pentagon Leaders Warn of Dangers for U.S. in Liberia.” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers warned of a possible lengthy military involvement. Alluding to the ongoing civil war Myers said, “It’s not going to give way to any instant fix. Whatever the fix is going to be is going to have to be a long-term fix.”

Citing the loss of 18 U.S. troops in a 1993 firefight in Mogadishu, Somalia, Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace cautioned, “It is potentially a very dangerous situation. If we’re asked to do something militarily, we need to make sure we do it with the proper numbers of troops and that we be prepared for the eventualities of having to take military action.” Pace was sent to Somalia in 1993 as the second-ranking officer of the U.S. military task force that was forced to withdraw from the East African nation. Washington continues to stress that the U.S. military role will be limited to providing logistical, intelligence, and communications support. But the Marines being positioned off Liberia’s coast are equipped with artillery, armored vehicles, and attack helicopters.

An administration official told the New York Times the U.S. troop deployment was made in order to speed up getting troops provided by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the ground in Liberia.

United Nations officials announced July 24 that the first of two Nigerian battalions could be on the ground by August 2. Nigerian military leaders involved in negotiations with U.S. and UN officials on the deployment of troops said they needed aircraft to transport soldiers, assurances of funding to sustain three battalions of West African forces, and a plan to extract them if they are overwhelmed by Liberian rebel or government troops. The Nigerian Charge D’Affaires at the UN added that his government was prepared to deploy troops on condition that “there must be logistical support, and we expect other nations of the world to also contribute.” Jacques Klein, UN special envoy to Liberia, told reporters that Washington had signed a $10 million contract with a California company to provide “logistical support” for the Nigerian troops.

The main rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, is a loose coalition of forces opposed to Liberian president Charles Taylor. LURD draws upon a variety of militia factions that receive increasing indirect support from Sierra Leone, the United States, and Britain. Bush has repeatedly demanded that Taylor step down and leave the country as a condition for the deployment of U.S. troops to the country.

Heavy fighting in Monrovia raised the civilian death toll to more than 600 by July 23. The UN refugee agency in the capital described the situation as “horrific.” The heaviest fighting has taken place at bridgeheads leading to the center of the city as rebel forces have pressed their advance.

The fighting flared up as talks between the Liberian regime and LURD hosted by the government of Ghana have stalled. Fighting continued despite orders for a ceasefire by LURD negotiators in Accra. Kabineh Jan’eh, leader of LURD’s delegation to the talks, told reporters, “Our forces are to cease all hostilities immediately.” He called on President Taylor to do the same. Jan’eh said, “LURD is prepared to release the Freeport Harbor to ECOWAS for the deployment of the peacekeeping force as well as for the influx of humanitarian aid.”

But shortly after Jan’eh’s remarks LURD political advisor Charles Bennie called a separate press conference in Accra to announce that Jan’eh had been removed as leader of the delegation.  
 
 
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