Courtesy of newyorktimes.com
White House Weighing U.S. Military Mission to Liberia
By DAVID STOUT
ASHINGTON, July 1 — The White House left the door open today for a possible role by the United States military in bringing peace to Liberia, a West African country that has not known peace for 20 years.
"We're actively discussing how best to support the international efforts to help Liberia return to peace and to the rule of law," the chief White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, told reporters at a morning briefing.
Asked at a later briefing whether he would rule out the possibility of United States troops going to Liberia, Mr. Fleischer replied, "I'm not ruling it out."
The National Security Council met today, and the Liberia situation was known to be among the items on the agenda. Moreover, Mr. Bush, who reportedly attended the session, is to begin a trip to several African countries a week from now, and the prospect of more violence in Liberia during that visit is an unsettling one for the administration.
Pressure has also been brought to bear on the United States by the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, who called on Saturday for an international peacekeeping force to halt the fighting. Several West African governments have asked Washington to send 2,000 G.I.'s. France and Britain have also pushed for a United States role.
The West African governments have pressured Mr. Bush to give an answer before leaving for Africa on Monday, adding to the sense of urgency within the administration. Last week, President Bush called for Mr. Taylor to step aside.
"The president wants to work with the international community," Mr. Fleischer said, "and we will play a role in that to try to bring stability to a post-Taylor government in Liberia."
Mr. Annan, in a letter to the United Nations Security Council, said an international peacekeeping force should be led by a permanent member of the council — an apparent reference to the United States, which many Liberians say they want to have mediate the conflict and put a stop to the bloodshed.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has been in touch with Mr. Annan about the crisis, although it is not known if Mr. Annan personally asked Mr. Powell to press the Bush administration for a troop commitment.
Liberian rebels have been trying to force the country's president, Charles Taylor, to step down before his term expires next year. Militias loyal to President Taylor have been accused of intimidating and terrifying the population. In a recent indictment issued by a United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal, Mr. Taylor was accused of crimes against humanity in connection with a civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone. Critics of Mr. Taylor have said that in return for backing the rebels against the Sierra Leone government, he is allowed to skim vast profits from the rebels' illegal diamond trafficking.
Asked today whether granting immunity to Mr. Taylor in return for his resignation would be acceptable to the United States, Mr. Fleischer demurred. He said Mr. Bush had called upon Mr. Taylor to step aside "in order to help save lives."
"I have not heard anything beyond that," Mr. Fleischer said.
With American troops already committed to Iraq, and with other trouble areas as disparate as North Korea, the Middle East and the India-Pakistan border, the White House may be reluctant to send troops to Liberia. But it is being compelled to at least consider that option, not only by the sweep of current events but by history.
Liberia, a land slightly bigger than Tennessee with a population of just over 3.2 million people, was founded by freed American slaves more than 150 years ago and remained among America's staunchest African allies during the cold war. Its capital, Monrovia, is named after President James Monroe.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was asked at a Pentagon briefing on Monday about the situation in Liberia, and he made it clear that the Pentagon was watching the situation hour by hour.
"We've spent time over the weekend — a good deal of time over the weekend — visiting among ourselves about that and thinking through different aspects of it," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "The reports out of Liberia tend to come up and go down in terms of urgency or lack of urgency."
As for an American military commitment, Mr. Rumsfeld said: "That's a call the president would make, if and when he decided to make such a call. And he has not, nor has the State Department requested an evacuation out of Monrovia."
At the State Department, the situation "has been a major concern of all of us," the department's spokesman, Richard Boucher, said on Monday.
"We are determined to help the people of Liberia find a path to peace," Mr. Boucher said. He said the State Department leadership "has been looking more broadly at the overall situation as to see what contribution we can make."
"I don't have a final answer at this point on what the prospects are or what steps we might choose," he said.