Military

DATE=07/24/03

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=BUSH / LIBERIA

NUMBER=6-13019

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: As president Bush and his aides continue to debate the issue of sending peacekeeping troops to Liberia, that same debate is playing out in the press. We get a sampling of editorial comment now from V-O-A's ____________in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: The new fighting in and around the capital of Monrovia this week has again focused attention on just the violence of Liberia's civil war. President Bush has reinforced the marine contingent at the U-S Embassy, but is still debating whether to send a peacekeeping force. He says he's awaiting the departure of President Charles Taylor, a wanted war criminal in neighboring Sierra Leone. But Mr. Taylor keeps changing his mind about leaving, as fighting intensifies.

This week's assault by anti-government guerillas, the third in as many months, is reportedly the most violent yet, with hundreds of civilians killed or wounded. In Wisconsin, Madison's Capital Times make a comparison.

VOICE: It is unfortunate . that, when Americans carved a quasi-colony out of Africa a century and a half ago, they failed to select land with oil beneath it. In the post-Cold War era, it has become all too obvious that the U-S government decides what countries merit concern based less on ideology than economics. When making decisions about military interventions, the Bush White House seems to worry most about whether nations have resources that might be of interest to corporations such as [Vice President] Dick Cheney's Halliburton or the many oil companies with ties to the president and his associates.

TEXT: Still in Wisconsin's capital, the other newspaper, the Wisconsin State Journal, takes a different view.

VOICE: At once optimistic and ignorant, we [Americans] believe .we can save the day in a war-torn country founded with American help. And the [U-N] urges we do just that, sending a few thousand U-S troops to Liberia to work alongside a larger contingent of African peacekeepers. This is a recipe for continued chaos.

West African peacekeeping forces have an unfortunate habit of taking sides in whatever conflict they are supposed to be quelling, and American troops are better trained to win wars than police the streets, as we are discovering in Iraq. . The fact is, outside peacekeeping efforts rarely maintain peace without an open-ended commitment of armed overseers.

TEXT: Pennsylvania's Allentown Morning Call says that: "Waiting too long to decide about Liberia sets the stage for a new disaster." Comparing the situation to the Rwandan genocide a decade ago, the paper urges the Bush White House to act, noting: . "the lesson of history is that waiting breeds disaster." And in Louisiana, New Orleans' Times Picayune sums up:

VOICE: "Yes this country has unfinished business in Afghanistan and Iraq, but innocent people in Liberia are now caught in the crossfire of a civil war that we can help quell. The time to act is now.

TEXT: Hawaii's Honolulu's Advertiser however, sympathizes with the president's reluctance.

VOICE: It's hard to fault [Mr.] Bush for delay in resolving yet another dispute between the Pentagon, which opposes intervention . and the State Department, which favors it. It should be clear that the U-S military, especially with 200-thousand troops deployed in and near Iraq, cannot respond to all of the many tragic wars that dot the globe. But America's historical connection to Liberia suggests a special case.

TEXT: On the Pacific Northwest Coast, Washington's Seattle Post-Intelligencer agrees that "only quick action can halt the growing catastrophe in . Monrovia . but adds that "In looking at what America can do .the president has a responsibility to ask more of other countries." The Chicago Tribune agrees.

VOICE: The Bush administration's hesitation to get involved in Liberia may seem heartless to some, but such caution is the prudent tack for the United States. With its military stretched thin by commitments elsewhere in the world, the proper American role in the Liberian tragedy should be to support a peacekeeping effort led by. neighboring West African states, particularly Nigeria, rather than trying to lead the charge.

TEXT: With that Chicago Tribune editorial excerpt, we conclude this sampling of comment on possible U-S intervention in Liberia's civil war.

NEB/ANG/ MEM