In the past month, President George W. Bush has backed regime change in Liberia, first demanding that its warlord "president" step down, then dispatching a Pentagon assessment team to pave the way for a more robust military deployment. Pressure is building for the Bush administration to rescue Liberia--our lost West African "colony"--but several factors remain uncertain.
Is our mission objective in Liberia purely humanitarian, or are U.S. strategic interests involved? Would a Liberian deployment represent a radical shift in the administration's foreign policy or its logical extension? With troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans, can the military really afford another commitment abroad? Are we prepared for the challenges we will face there? In intervening, will President Bush prevent the next Rwanda or get sucked into another Somalia?
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