President Bush is sending military experts to Africa to assess whether U.S. troops should help enforce a fragile cease-fire in war-torn Liberia. He was considering a conditional offer by the country's leader to step down.
Here's the condition for Chuckles that I'd like to see: you step down as 'president' of Liberia, and we let you live long enough to surrender your sorry ass to the UN tribunal that's indicted you. Don't delay.
Bush said American officials were discussing the makeup of a peacekeeping force with the 15-country Economic Community of West African States. ``We are talking to ECOWAS countries right now to determine what the nature of a peacekeeping force might look like,'' Bush told CNN's ``Inside Africa.'' White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, speaking to reporters traveling with the president to Ohio for Fourth of July celebrations, announced that Bush was sending a team of military experts to the region. The Bush administration has strongly suggested that President Charles Taylor's departure would be a prerequisite for a U.S. role in an international peacekeeping force in Liberia.
"In fact, we can help arrange his departure."
Taylor, speaking in Liberia's capital of Monrovia, said he would leave only if a peacekeeping force is deployed. ``I don't understand why the United States government would insist that I be absent before its soldiers arrive,'' Taylor told a meeting of Liberian clerics on Friday. ``It makes a lot of sense for peacekeepers to arrive in this city before I transit.''
Think about it, Chuckles, you really don't want to be there when we arrive.
The White House appeared skeptical of any conditions put forward by Taylor. ``The president encourages Taylor to back up his encouraging words with deeds,'' Fleischer said later Friday. If his offer is real, Fleischer said, ``the exact timing will be developed in due course.''
| But we all know his offer's not real until he has no other options — and he's slick enough to keep finding options where others would be long gone... |
Taylor offered a chilling warning to opponents, saying his forces were still ``capable of carrying out havoc in the city with their dying gasps.'' Bush said Taylor's departure is crucial to establishing a stable, hopeful future for the West African nation suffering from years of bloody civil war. ``One thing has to happen, that is Mr. Taylor has to leave,'' he told CNN, and he was confident Taylor would go peacefully: ``I am convinced that he will listen, and make the decision, the right decision, if he cares about his life country.''
| Good idea, GW. Make him an offer he can't refuse... |
Secretary of State Colin Powell is consulting with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and African governments over how and when Taylor may step down. Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday discussed with Taylor a Nigerian offer of temporary asylum if he leaves office. No decision was made during the phone conversation. Taylor ``is still in Monrovia. He's not coming immediately, but Nigeria is a friendly country,'' Oyo said. ``There is a possibility he will come.''
Then again, there's a possibility that Chuckles is a lying snake.
Taylor, a one-time warlord who launched Liberia's 1989-1996 civil war, was elected Liberia's surviving chief thug leader in 1997. Two years later, the country's main rebel movement took up arms against his government in fighting that has forced one third of Liberia's 3 million people from their homes. Last month, a U.N.-backed war crimes court in neighboring Sierra Leone indicted the Liberian leader for gun trafficking and supporting Sierra Leone rebels during their vicious 10-year terror campaign. Also last month, Taylor's government signed a cease-fire deal with the insurgents that commits the Liberian leader to quit power. He subsequently refused.
The UN people felt so ... betrayed.
Heavy fighting in June had rebel forces bearing down on Monrovia, Taylor's stronghold. With hundreds dead and thousands of villagers pouring into the city to flee the violence, Annan, France and Britain called for a peacekeeping force, preferably led by Americans. ECOWAS has pledged 3,000 troops, and African leaders have demanded requested pleaded begged abjectly for suggested that the United States send in another 2,000 troops. Military officials already have been involved in limited regional talks, but the new team would take that effort a step further to a broader group of nations and officials. Fleischer referred to the Pentagon all questions about the team's makeup, when it would arrive and how long its work would take. Information that the White House gets from the assessment team will help Bush decide whether to commit troops — and how many if he does — to Liberia, he said.
I'm beginning to wonder if this isn't a delayng tactic. Let the rebels regroup and force their way into Monrovia.
| The ceasefire was a delaying tactic to break the momentum of their push into Monrovia... |
Fleischer said Bush was not bound to decide by ``the artificial deadline'' of his Monday departure for a weeklong trip to sub-Saharan Africa, although many African had hoped for a decision by then. Top Bush advisers have insisted that U.S. forces could handle an additional mission, and Bush has cited the ``special, historical'' ties with Liberia, a nation founded in the 19th century by freed American slaves. Also cited is the need to keep ``failed states'' from becoming hotbeds for terrorist recruitment. The U.S. military commander in Europe, Gen. James Jones, has been ordered to begin planning for possible American intervention. Options on the table range from sending no troops to sending thousands. Also Friday, the World Health Organization appealed for urgent international assistance for Monrovia's 97,000 refugees coping with dirty water, dwindling food stores and lack of adequate medical care. Those refugees are plagued by hunger, disease and the looting, often drunken fighters loyal to Taylor.
Such a fine force of fellows dedicated to Chuckles. |