One word for you: disaster.
Country erupts in civil war, warlords ruling the countryside, mortars being rained all over the city and our embassy, almost a thousand dead in the streets - and our troops are supposed to do what? This is where an international peacekeeping force is needed, not killing more of our men and women for some bullshit reason.
I know I have made casual reference to Blackhawk Down before, but that is whats going on in Liberia.
I hope I am wrong. But this has disaster written all over it.
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Pentagon Leaders Warn of Dangers for U.S. in Liberia
By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS and THOM SHANKER
ASHINGTON, July 24 ? Two days after Secretary of State Colin L. Powell called for the speedy deployment of troops to Liberia, the top two American military officers warned today of significant dangers facing United States military involvement there and called for a clear mission and a strategy for its successful end before any troops are sent.
The anarchy and violence in Liberia, they predicted, would not yield to a quick solution.
"It's not a pretty situation," Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during his reconfirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. "It's not going to give way to any instant fix. Whatever the fix is going to be is going to have to be a long-term fix."
Two days ago, Mr. Powell acknowledged his frustration with the slow pace of the administration so far, telling The Washington Times that "we do have an interest in making sure that West Africa doesn't simply come apart."
Pentagon officials and military officers have for several weeks described the complexities ? and dangers ? of American involvement in trying to separate warring factions in Liberia, which was founded in 1847 by freed American slaves. But the comments today by General Myers and Gen. Peter Pace of the Marine Corps, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, were the most sobering public analysis to date of the risks.
"It is potentially a very dangerous situation," said General Pace, who was appearing for his own reconfirmation hearing. "If we're asked to do something militarily, we need to make sure we do it with the proper numbers of troops and that we be prepared for the eventualities of having to take military action."
General Pace cited an ominous precedent, the failed relief mission to Somalia, which included the deaths of 18 troops in a 1993 firefight in Mogadishu. After the raid, later made famous in the book and the movie "Black Hawk Down," General Pace was sent to Somalia as the second-ranking officer of the task force that reinforced American troops, and then withdrew.
The generals faced insistent questioning from Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee and a former Navy secretary. He called the situation in Liberia "very tragic," but said, "In my judgment, it is a situation that poses great personal risk to forces, such as our forces, that could be injected into that very fast-moving and volatile situation there in Monrovia and the greater Liberia."
Country erupts in civil war, warlords ruling the countryside, mortars being rained all over the city and our embassy, almost a thousand dead in the streets - and our troops are supposed to do what? This is where an international peacekeeping force is needed, not killing more of our men and women for some bullshit reason.
I know I have made casual reference to Blackhawk Down before, but that is whats going on in Liberia.
I hope I am wrong. But this has disaster written all over it.
------------------
Pentagon Leaders Warn of Dangers for U.S. in Liberia
By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS and THOM SHANKER
ASHINGTON, July 24 ? Two days after Secretary of State Colin L. Powell called for the speedy deployment of troops to Liberia, the top two American military officers warned today of significant dangers facing United States military involvement there and called for a clear mission and a strategy for its successful end before any troops are sent.
The anarchy and violence in Liberia, they predicted, would not yield to a quick solution.
"It's not a pretty situation," Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during his reconfirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. "It's not going to give way to any instant fix. Whatever the fix is going to be is going to have to be a long-term fix."
Two days ago, Mr. Powell acknowledged his frustration with the slow pace of the administration so far, telling The Washington Times that "we do have an interest in making sure that West Africa doesn't simply come apart."
Pentagon officials and military officers have for several weeks described the complexities ? and dangers ? of American involvement in trying to separate warring factions in Liberia, which was founded in 1847 by freed American slaves. But the comments today by General Myers and Gen. Peter Pace of the Marine Corps, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, were the most sobering public analysis to date of the risks.
"It is potentially a very dangerous situation," said General Pace, who was appearing for his own reconfirmation hearing. "If we're asked to do something militarily, we need to make sure we do it with the proper numbers of troops and that we be prepared for the eventualities of having to take military action."
General Pace cited an ominous precedent, the failed relief mission to Somalia, which included the deaths of 18 troops in a 1993 firefight in Mogadishu. After the raid, later made famous in the book and the movie "Black Hawk Down," General Pace was sent to Somalia as the second-ranking officer of the task force that reinforced American troops, and then withdrew.
The generals faced insistent questioning from Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee and a former Navy secretary. He called the situation in Liberia "very tragic," but said, "In my judgment, it is a situation that poses great personal risk to forces, such as our forces, that could be injected into that very fast-moving and volatile situation there in Monrovia and the greater Liberia."
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