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US marines diverted to Liberia
Financial Times ^
| June 13, 2003
Posted on 06/14/2003 2:43:35 PM PDT by HAL9000
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1
posted on
06/14/2003 2:43:35 PM PDT
by
HAL9000
To: HAL9000
It's OK if it is a rescue mission for U.S. citizens.
But NO 'nation building'. Africa is a hopeless case.
2
posted on
06/14/2003 2:46:22 PM PDT
by
LibKill
(MOAB, the greatest advance in Foreign Relations since the cat-o'-nine-tails!)
To: LibKill
Agreed-- rescue is one thing, straightening out their problems is another.
3
posted on
06/14/2003 2:51:13 PM PDT
by
Clara Lou
To: LibKill
The recent bloodletting would have particularly appalled Liberia's founders. Early in the 19th century, the American Colonization Society began to purchase slaves in an idealistic program to set them free and return them to Africa. Freed men and women founded the Liberian capital of Monrovia (named for U.S. President Monroe) in 1822 and kept in close contact with the U.S. In 1926, Firestone, the U.S. rubber company, established the world's largest rubber plantation in Liberia, and the country became economically dependent on the U.S. Iron ore, first mined in 1951, later replaced rubber as the most important source of foreign exchange.
Even from the time of its founding, however, the country's political situation was troublesome. The people of the 16 tribes who live in the interior constituted the majority of the population but never enjoyed a political status commensurate with their numbers. Power rested with the few Americo-Liberians whose ancestors had come from the U.S. In 1980, tensions boiled over -- rebel army personnel staged a gruesome predawn coup that left the president dead. Government officials were executed before TV cameras on the orders of Master Sergeant Samuel Doe, who assumed leadership of the country. The new government soon proved little different from the one it had replaced -- repression and corruption continued unabated. Civil war erupted in 1990, and Doe met the same fate as the president he had deposed.
The war was sent nearly half of Liberia's population fleeing to neighboring nations or overseas, from which many still have not returned. The war nominally ended with the election of President Charles Taylor, the most resilient of the rebel warlords. But Taylor's government, too, is notorious for human rights violations and corruption. Western nations have distanced themselves from Taylor, in part because he has allied himself with Libya's Muammar Qaddafi. Meanwhile, unrest and occasional fighting have continued in Liberia, sometimes spilling over the borders with Sierra Leone and Guinea.
I don't think external nation building works, no matter what century.
To: HAL9000
Some people need a strong slap in the face to stop "haggling," while their employees butcher helpless civilians.
By Coalition, yes. Alone, well....
5
posted on
06/14/2003 2:57:21 PM PDT
by
PoorMuttly
(Next stop, Sierra Leone)
To: HAL9000
"God left Africa a long time ago."
Bruce Willis, "Tears of the Sun."
God help the Africans, and stay the F*** out.
6
posted on
06/14/2003 3:07:00 PM PDT
by
Chairman Fred
(@mousiedung.commie)
To: blam; Dog
hmmm.
7
posted on
06/14/2003 3:22:52 PM PDT
by
glock rocks
(remember -- only you can prevent fundraisers. become a monthly donor.)
To: glock rocks
Rescue yes but...no nation building.
8
posted on
06/14/2003 3:28:44 PM PDT
by
Dog
To: Dog
Rescue yes but...no nation building.10-4, especially in Africa. Rescue our people and get out IMO.
9
posted on
06/14/2003 3:46:03 PM PDT
by
toddst
To: Dog
yup. kick ass. take names. get out.
hopefully, the goals have been set, and only the commander on site has the final tactical determinations, and full authority to carry them out.
hmmm.
10
posted on
06/14/2003 4:04:03 PM PDT
by
glock rocks
(remember -- only you can prevent fundraisers. become a monthly donor.)
To: HAL9000
"A US marine expeditionary force was heading for the strife-riven west African state of Liberia on Friday night after Washington came under increased pressure to deploy troops in what would be its biggest military engagement in Africa since the early 1990s." Who is "pressuring" Washington to do anything whatever about Liberia?
The article asserts that pressure is being exerted but gives not a clue as to who, when, how, why.
--Boris
11
posted on
06/14/2003 4:04:16 PM PDT
by
boris
To: HAL9000
Ok; now I see it:
"International Crisis, an influential lobby group, has led calls for the US to intervene" "International Crisis" is a household word, no? And they are so potent, so powerful, that they can order the US government around?...
--Boris
12
posted on
06/14/2003 4:06:09 PM PDT
by
boris
To: Tijeras_Slim
Nice post, thanks for the info.
13
posted on
06/14/2003 4:06:28 PM PDT
by
PianoMan
(Liberate the Axis of Evil)
To: HAL9000
It is about time!!!
14
posted on
06/14/2003 4:37:39 PM PDT
by
maestro
To: LibKill
It's OK if it is a rescue mission for U.S. citizens.I thought we rescued our people out of there a few years ago.
15
posted on
06/14/2003 4:49:24 PM PDT
by
putupon
(Do not FRemove this Tag Under Penalty of Law)
To: Chairman Fred
I thought it was a great movie myself.
16
posted on
06/14/2003 4:51:11 PM PDT
by
cmsgop
(Has anyone seen my Schwab ?)
To: HAL9000
The US army is engaged in combat operations in Iraq some six weeks after President George W. Bush said they were over. Bush said no such thing. As I recall, he said that major combat operations were over. The left not only rewrites history, now it rewrites current events.
17
posted on
06/14/2003 4:59:46 PM PDT
by
roderick
To: HAL9000
bump
To: roderick
This is a situation that the UN has let fester for decades. The same problem with Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast. Once the colonizer's gave up and left, the whole thing devolved into tribal warfare. Just the sort of thing the UN should be working on. Kofi and the rest of the East Side blatherer's haven't got a clue. They're too interested in living like king's at he expense of the US.
19
posted on
06/14/2003 8:49:55 PM PDT
by
AIRFORCE76
("from my cold dead fingers..")
To: Tijeras_Slim
You got all that right.
I doubt the Marines are going in to 'help' with this disaster, they must be going in to get any Americans and other foriegners outta there. Monrovia was a colorful, bustling little market town in 1988, even with the still remaining evidence of the 1980 coup. It is completely desolate and trashed now.
20
posted on
06/14/2003 11:08:11 PM PDT
by
Gal.5:1
(Christ set us free...from the bondage of sin and death)
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