Posted on 07/03/2003 2:33:55 PM PDT by Jean S
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) - Thousands of Liberians marched behind an American flag Thursday, imploring President Bush to send troops to help stanch years of bloodshed in their west African nation.
About 2,000 demonstrators walked to the U.S. Embassy chanting slogans praising Bush, whose administration Thursday repeated its call for Liberia President Charles Taylor to resign. Taylor, indicted by the United Nations for war crimes, is battling a three-year insurgency to unseat him from power.
A few demonstrators stoned cars and brawled with police patrolling the rally, but there were no immediate reports of arrests or injuries. Across town, 300 Taylor supporters said his departure would set a precedent for Washington to topple any African leader it dislikes.
As the anti-Taylor crowd shouted, "No more Taylor! We want Bush! We want peace!," demonstrator Andrew N'golo expressed his desperation in the wake of recent fighting between Taylor loyalists and rebels.
"We are prepared to give our bodies as living sacrifices if that's what it takes to bring peace to Liberia," N'golo said.
Rebels last month launched their strongest-ever offensive against Taylor, with the main insurgent group eventually laying siege to Monrovia, the capital city of 1 million residents and hundreds of thousands of refugees.
The fighting killed hundreds of people.
In Washington, defense officials said the U.S. military commander in Europe has been ordered to begin planning for possible American intervention. The options being discussed ranged from sending no troops to sending thousands, defense officials said.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Bush has made no decision on how the United States will address the Liberian crisis. But she reiterated Thursday that Taylor "needs to leave because Charles Taylor is the problem."
"And Charles Taylor is, by the way, not just a problem for Liberia; he's a problem for the region," Rice said. "One of the reasons that the president is concerned about the situation in Liberia is that Charles Taylor has been a source of insurrection and insurgency in surrounding countries."
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan would like to see the United States lead a multinational peacekeeping force. African nations have offered 3,000 troops for any deployment.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was consulting the United Nations and leaders in Africa, and Bush's National Security Council struggled with the issue for a third day.
Powell spoke of "a severe humanitarian crisis emerging" in Liberia as well as the safety of American diplomats there, and said, "All of these factors are being taken into consideration."
On Thursday, former President Carter also said the United States should intervene in Liberia.
"U.S. leadership can and should extend to the deployment of U.S. forces," Carter said in a statement released by his foundation, the Atlanta-based Carter Center. "American leadership now is critical to create the security on which long-term stability for Liberia and the region can be built."
Sporadic fighting has continued despite a June 17 cease-fire agreement between the warring parties in this country founded in the 19th century by freed American slaves.
Rebels began fighting three years ago to oust Taylor, who won contested elections and took the presidency in 1997 after the end of a 1989-1996 civil war that he launched.
On June 4, a U.N.-backed court indicted Taylor, whose gun trafficking supported Sierra Leone rebels in their vicious 10-year terror campaign, where rebel atrocities included hacking off victims' limbs. He also is accused of plundering that nation's rich diamond reserves.
AP-ES-07-03-03 1717EDT
What would you call a colony?
Will the UN pay the tab for the cost of a Liberian peace-keeping move by our troops? Will US blacks remember Bush and vote for him if we help Liberia? Let's be serious! They are 95% RATS and will vote for any RAT but Bush, no matter what he does or fails to do.
Well, now I'm having second thoughts.
Just SHUT UP you stupid, incompetent old man. Haven't you destroyed enough lives yet? Just stay out of this.
Nor are they asking for the UN's help! I guess they recognize leadership!
Hell Yeah! Places like Liberia are where Al Quaida breeds. Charles Taylor has actively support Al Quaida. It's Islam that sews chaos and ruin in these countries. If we don't go in there now we'll just have to win Al Quaida sets up shop there. If they haven't already.
Snip:
"The Americo-Liberian communities eked out a precarious existence during the 19th century. Claims over interior territory were disputed not only by the indigenous Mandinka (also known as Mandingo or Malinke), Kru, and Gola peoples, but also by European states that did not recognize Liberian jurisdiction over the interior. U.S. support led to a series of agreements with Britain and France between 1892 and 1911, which marked the present boundaries. (Liberian control over the interior peoples, however, was not completely assured until the 1940s.) Loans from Britain and the United States partially eased the country’s financial difficulties. Liberia declared war on Germany on August 14, 1917, which gave the Allies an additional base in West Africa during World War I (1914-1918). In 1926 the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company opened a rubber plantation on 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of land granted by the Liberian government the year before. Rubber production became the mainstay of the nation’s economy."
"In 1931 the League of Nations confirmed that Americo-Liberians were using native Africans for forced labor, tantamount to slavery. The ensuing scandal implicated the highest government officials; the president and vice president resigned. By 1936 the new government had succeeded in abolishing forced-labor practices and Liberia was again in good standing with the League. The indigenous population, however, was still treated as second-class citizens, without voting rights.
"U.S.-Liberian relations became closer after the United States entered World War II (1939-1945). In 1942 the republic agreed to allow U.S. troops to be based in the country despite the fact that Liberia did not declare war on the Axis powers until 1944.In 1945 Liberia became one of the original member states of the United Nations."
Terrible scandal.. They took slaves of the native people. But it looks like they have had our back at least twice.
Liberia fits the definition of colony. It has always been referred to as such. In encyclopedias, in its history everywhere. It fits the bill. That it was a colony has never been a dispute- only the official status of who it was recognized by was the disagreement.
The US Congress even funded the colony in a sort of back door appropriation of finances. They scraped up $100,000 for this project. And as I have noted, Andrew Jackson used the navy to protect Liberia's shores while he was president (and while it was still a colony). Liberia has always been our bastard child- so to speak, that we gave birth to it is common knowledge.
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