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Face it: Partisan politics cheapened a significant U.S. initiative in Africa


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By John Metzler
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

Friday, July 18, 2003

New York Ñ Perhaps IÕm missing something, but it appears that many of the same people who breathlessly demand rapid military intervention in LiberiaÕs civil war still canÕt fathom the national interest in having toppled Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. The same people, who are questioning possible intelligence misread concerning African uranium for Iraqi nukes, canÕt want to find proliferating nukes in North Korea. The same people who, rationalized the countless ethical contortions of the Clinton Administration, now jump at the chance to be among the first to throw stones at the Bush Administration.

The major mediaÕs pious pronouncements ÒDid the President mislead us?Ó Did the Bush Administration willfully doctor the data to make it fit a political purpose? ÒDid the President use suspect intelligence data?Ó have reached the point of political combustibility. You could almost think there was a political agenda.

Some donÕt mince their words. Democratic Presidential contender Howard Dean uses the word ÒWatergateÓ that catch-all phrase connoting a dastardly political cover-up. Discredited former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter calls for Òregime changeÓ in AmericaÕs next election. Others view the issue as an unfolding summer news story.

The PresidentÕs controversial sixteen words concerning IraqÕs secret nuclear program which now shadow the text of the State of the Union address cause a collective angst among portions of America.

Credibility, yes, but the nuclear reference was only part of a much wider and scathing indictment of Saddam. Even without the controversial line, thereÕs a blizzard of circumstantial evidence pointing to the African connection and SaddamÕs tireless efforts to procure uranium to build a bomb.

If there was any central omission by the White House on the lead up to the Iraq liberation, it was the constantly changing reasons for the mission Ñ SaddamÕs weapons of mass destruction, his not abiding by UN Security Council resolutions, closing down Al Qaida terrorist camps, human rights violations, etc.

The State of the Union speech, while a formal policy statement, naturally has political content which is open to perception and opinion. ThatÕs why there is a Democratic response.

But preparing the road to any war is primarily a political task Ñ letÕs face it. And letÕs also admit that so much raw intelligence data depends on suspect, sleazy, and superficial sources who are pushing the information for their own political or oft dis-informational purposes. This is hardly an exact science.

Though the CIA sorts a sandstorm of information, finding the proper grain, sorting it to the right person, and then hoping your analysis is correct is all part of the challenge. The CIAÕs over reliance on satellite intercepts and technology and not the old person on the ground (human assets) has bedeviled the process for a long time too.

Sadly the mediaÕs uranium puzzle has seriously sidetracked attention from the PresidentÕs successful substance over style visit to sub Saharan Africa and moreover has cheapened the diplomacy Bush pursued in five African states.

Part of that substance is joining West African states in a pending military mission to hold the tenuous ceasefire in Liberia and to prove that the USA is willing to follow up its rhetoric with focused resolve.

Thus while IÕm reluctant to expand the US military missions in a plethora of places, I feel we should ÒdoÓ Liberia but with a limited Marine force and mission scope. That the USA should assist this tragic land founded by freed American slaves in 1847, poses a moral challenge. Still the tragedy has festered since the 1980Õs with the regime of the thuggish Charles Taylor who can be credited with brutalizing Liberia and destabilizing neighboring Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

Liberia thus presents a daunting humanitarian and indeed national security dilemma. Why? Out of the chaos of West Africa, the French are re-stabilizing Ivory Coast, while the British and UN forces are in Sierra Leone. Trying to restore political stability in Liberia reaffirms the long term trust and commitment the USA has pledged to Africa, reinforces regional peace, and moreover shows the world that our policies at are not Iraq-centric, but centered on wider humanitarian issues to do the right thing.

John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.

Sunday, June 29, 2003




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