Free Republic

'The soldiers had red eyes, and they were singing and dancing. They slaughtered the priest, cut him to pieces, removed his heart and liver and cooked them. The rest of the group had to pay money or eat the human flesh to be allowed to leave. Another four men, three women and three children were killed.' Among the dead was a pregnant woman who was gutted. In Congo for the past 50 years tales of cannibalism have been apocryphal. Today they are a norm - what better way to sow terror into the hearts of your enemies than to instil...

There's a lot of debate these days about the Congo, Liberia, and what the USA should do. What if the answer is "nothing"? How do we make choices like that? This 5-way discussion among liberals and conservatives addresses some of these issues, providing solid background on the situations and history at play in The Congo & Liberia, the limits on foreign intervention, and the USA's capacity to intervene. We can't be everywhere. As Kaplan notes, we need to be in some of these places. How do we think about those choices? Sometimes, too, the depressing answer to how much we...