Africa Action Commentary
July 30, 2003

Before his trip to Africa, President Bush promised that the U.S. would "help the people of Liberia find the path to peace." The White House pledges U.S. leadership ... but continues to stall. These promises raise false hopes. Washington has no intention of providing the leadership necessary. Liberia has become a metaphor for American disdain for Africa.

Liberia was created in 1822 by the American Colonization Society. Representatives of America's ruling elite, such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, promoted black emigration to rid the U.S. of Africans freed from slavery. The American-born Africans who settled the colony, including some of my own ancestors, established Africa's first Black republic in 1847. Since then, the United States has consistently refused to accept its responsibilities as Liberia's patron. Instead, it has mercilessly exploited Liberia and its people to satisfy America's global interests.

During the final decade of the Cold War, Washington financed a brutal military dictatorship that systematically destroyed the country's social and economic infrastructure. Liberia was the biggest per capita recipient of U.S. foreign assistance in Africa. But when the Cold War ended, Washington walked away.

In 1990, the first President Bush faced a dilemma eerily similar to that now faced by his son – should the United States intervene with military force to stop an escalating civil war? Then, too, American ships sat anchored off the coast of the capital city of Monrovia. They evacuated Americans and Europeans, but left Liberians to their terrible fate ...14 years of horrendous violence.

The crisis in Liberia today is the direct result of that betrayal. Rebels killed Samuel Doe, America's Cold War puppet, and plunged the country into an era of child soldiers and militias. Washington's hands-off policy denied Liberians the assistance they needed to restore democracy in Liberia. Every day that the current Bush Administration continues to stall compounds Liberia's tragedy.

The United States has several national interests at stake in Liberia's fate. Liberia is at the center of a West Africa scarred by violent conflicts, which are producing costly humanitarian disasters. The U.S. must help stabilize the region. Otherwise it will become a lawless zone attractive to international crime networks ... including terrorists. But, most importantly, it is becoming a death trap to the people of the region.

The United States should put 2,000 troops on the ground to lead a multi-national force for 6 to 12 months. The peacekeepers would enforce the cease-fire and provide security for a political settlement.

We have a clear moral and historical responsibility to the people of Liberia. And America has a special interest in demonstrating that it can lead a successful multi-national effort to help Liberians restore peace and democracy.

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