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>>>>>>OK, fair enough - then why are we now being asked by the UN to consider participation in the Congo, too? To be a peacekeeping force, you have to have the one operative word: force.>>>>>>>>

Once again it is only a play on words to get more countries on our side so we get more support. We had to take drastic measures against terrorism and lost a lot of friends around the world.

They are talking about "force". PM Blair has Sierra Leone in order so trade has recommenced and they are becoming self sufficent. Liberia borders Sierra Leone and much would be lost. When they say "peacekeeping" they send in the army, in Britans case the Royal Gherka's, and use force. Blair use a "over the horizon" quick action military strike that has proved very effective.

Why do we need to try and establish these countries? Certainly not because we want anything to do with them. Globalization has forced us to BEWARE of broken states such as Afghanistan that trained terrorists to run into our buildings, killing our people and having a huge effect on our economy.

Take for example the big picture on Liberia... if Liberia goes, Sierra Leone goes. Prior to Blair going in to Sierra Leone in 2000 the Al Qaida terrorist network were reaping the diamonds from Sierra Leone (which happen to be the best quality diamonds in the world). They used this commodity to pay to train people TO KILL US. The Al Qaida trade opium, drugs, illegal weapons, pursue wmd's in all these lawless country's. If we can regain some control the threat to us will not be nearly so tremendous.

I would say they are once again being wise because they have all the information laid out on the table.

Globalization has forced us to BEWARE of broken states such as Afghanistan that trained terrorists to run into our buildings, killing our people and having a huge effect on our economy.

Well said Gabrielle. We can't put the globalization genie back in the bottle--long gone are the days when we could choose to ignore what is going on in some remote corner of the world. "Failed states" that cannot control their borders or police their interiors provide terrorist and criminal bases--we saw it in the Balkans, in the contested areas of Colombia, in Somalia, and now in the Congo. We ignore those problems at our own peril. We can't trust the UN as it currently operates to establish effective control in those areas. And we are not capable of doing it all by ourselves. We cannot allow areas where those who would do us harm are given free rein to organize and plan their attacks, especially as WMD proliferate--and they will. Therefore the idea of a US led standing international force to go in and establish order is very appealing. NATO fulfilled the same function against a different enemy in different circumstances. It's time for a new alliance to fill the same essentially defensive function in a new world.