Liberia: What should we do

[Az]

Originally posted by elijah


Its not, but its my opinion and I'll be chewing icicles in hell before I stop speaking it. For me, mine is more valid, for someone who would adopt it or others, its equally valid, so its up to them to judge.

Close-minded oppressor!

[Whaleboy]

Close-minded oppressor!

shhh!! You'll wake up the people who think I'm an enlightened liberal!!

[cinch]

Update: Asylum Accepted!

******************
Taylor calls for peacekeepers in asylum deal


Last Updated Sun, 06 Jul 2003 16:18:56
MONROVIA - Liberian President Charles Taylor has accepted an offer of asylum, presented to him Sunday by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.


Liberian President Charles Taylor

Taylor went to the airport in Monrovia to greet Obasanjo and hear his offer of a temporary haven until he can find permanent exile in a third country.

Calling Obasanjo his "big brother," Taylor thanked the Nigerian leader, but offered no timetable for leaving.

Taylor said his exit must be orderly and he wants an an international peacekeeping force sent to his West African country.

In early June, a joint tribunal of the United Nations and the government of Sierra Leone indicted himr for war crimes and crimes against humanity during Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war.

Taylor is a former rebel who started a civil war in Liberia that cost 200,000 lives in the 1990s. He won elections in 1997, but his former enemies launched a military campaign in 2000 to force him from office.

The Liberian president is in the capital Monrovia surrounded by hundreds of rebels from the Revolutionary United Front.


Written by CBC News Online staff

***********************************
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/07/06/liberia030706

Whaddaya think?

[Spiffor]

This is looking very good . But I'll wait for Taylor to actually leave Liberia before rejoicing this time.

[DinoDoc]

He might as well just told the UN to "Suck it!" wrt thier plan to put him on trial.

[TCO]

I think we should stay out, but I don't know that much about it and will support the president. Including recall if it comes to that (highly doubt that).

[DanS]

It just makes me question what is so different this time versus when Reagan was faced with a very similar situation in Liberia and stood by while the country descended into chaos.

The realists seem to be pushing intervention and the neocons aren't. Very odd situation. Powell is putting some of his prestige on the line too. Maybe Bush is doing this to stick by his guy.

[Imran Siddiqui]

The realists seem to be pushing intervention and the neocons aren't. Very odd situation.

Really? That is strange then. You'd think the neocons would jump all over this situation.

[TCO]

Originally posted by DanS
It just makes me question what is so different this time versus when Reagan was faced with a very similar situation in Liberia and stood by while the country descended into chaos.

The realists seem to be pushing intervention and the neocons aren't. Very odd situation.

I had this discussion with my roomie in 1992, when Bush went into Somalia. He (a leftist) said that it was the first good thing that Bush had done. I said that i had a bad feeling about it. I think I was right.

[Spiffor]

Maybe the recent successful examples of Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, along with the fact that local countries are stable enough to do most of the grunt peacekeeping work, made the US admin reconsider.
After all, the rewards are quite some internaltional prestige and a stable grateful country with some resources, while the cost is nearly zero.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Maybe the recent successful examples of Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, along with the fact that local countries are stable enough to do most of the grunt peacekeeping work, made the US admin reconsider.
After all, the rewards are quite some internaltional prestige and a stable grateful country with some resources, while the cost is nearly zero.

I think we should let the Belgians handle it. Why is it up to Uncle Sugar?

[GePap]

Maybe the realist want to use it as a way to mend fences with many after the whole Iraq deal, while the neocons could give a rats ass about fences or mending anything.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by GP
I think we should let the Belgians handle it.

The Belgians should have handled the Congo if we're going to bring history into this.

Why is it up to Uncle Sugar?

Going along with you bringing the Belgians into this, we have more history with the place.

[TCO]

Who is the enemy? Why are we attacking? Who are we attacking? I just don't get it. And the idea that we should get involved because it would smooth fences has got to be the worst, I've ever heard.

[DanS]

GePap: Nahhh. I don't think that's it. The neocons probably don't want to be associated with failure in a sh!thole country. Whatever can be said about this, Liberia isn't going to end up as a first-world democracy. Nor is it going to end up as a terrorist training ground. The US needs to make sure it chooses its shots, otherwise public support doesn't follow.

I think Africa is a personal interest of Powell's. A couple of months after 9/11, Powell spent a good half hour meeting with somebody I know about peace talks and lining up USAID assistance to Sudan. He seemed on-task too. Of course, he is robo-secretary, so maybe that's no indication. But I found it amazing.