Liberia has become the metaphor for American disdain for Africa. Before his recent trip to Africa, President Bush promised Americans that the United States would “help the people of Liberia find the path to peace.”

Since then, he has stalled. Even at his news conference on July 30, he insisted that Liberian President Charles Taylor must leave before U.S. troops will engage. Taylor, for his part, says he won’t leave until U.S. troops arrive. This Catch-22 reflects poorly on Bush.

The White House has ordered three U.S. warships and 2,200 Marines to the waters off the coast of Monrovia, but it still refuses to intervene to stop the violence on Liberia’s soil. The death toll among Liberian civilians is growing by the day.

The West African country was created in 1822 by the American Colonization Society, comprising representatives of America’s ruling elite, including Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, who promoted black emigration to rid America of Africans who were freed from slavery. American-born Africans who settled the colony, including some of my own ancestors, established Africa’s first black republic in 1847.

During the past 181 years, the United States has consistently refused to accept its responsibilities as Liberia’s colonial midwife. Instead it has mercilessly exploited this country and its people to satisfy America’s global interests during each subsequent era of history.

During the final decade of the Cold War, Washington financed a brutal military dictatorship that systematically destroyed the country’s social and economic infrastructure. At this time, Liberia was the biggest per capita recipient of U.S. foreign assistance in all of 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 and help Liberians find their way back to democracy? American ships were anchored off the coast of Monrovia. They evacuated Americans and Europeans but left Liberians to their terrible fate.

America’s failure to live up to its obligations at that crucial moment precipitated Liberia’s descent into the last 14 years of horrendous violence. The crisis in Liberia today is a direct result of that betrayal. Every day that the current Bush administration continues to stall, Liberia’s tragedy is compounded.

The United States has a clear moral and historical responsibility, as well as a special interest in the people of Liberia. Liberia is at the center of a West Africa scarred by violent conflicts, which are producing costly humanitarian disasters. The United States must help stabilize the region. U.S. interests cannot be measured only in economic or strategic terms.

The United States should now contribute 2,000 troops on the ground to lead an international force for six to 12 months. The peacekeepers would enforce the cease-fire and provide security for a political settlement.

This is an important opportunity for the United States to direct a successful multinational effort to restore peace and provide the security Liberians need to begin the reconstruction of their country.

But perhaps this is just a dream. A dream not of what Liberia could become, but a dream of what America could be.

Salih Booker is executive director of Africa Action, based in Washington.


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