doodledee

In case you haven't been following the diplomatic game of chess going on between Liberia, the United Nations and the US, here's the background:

• Like maybe 6 years ago a big civil war in Liberia ended. The country had elections and this dude Charles Taylor won. He was the former leader of one of the gangs from the civil war.
• After the election, President Taylor ordered the Liberian army to lay some beat downs on his old rivals from the war days. I think the idea here was that it would be harder for his opponents to run against him for political office if they were dead. That's just a guess, though.
• People got pissed. They formed up some new alliances and started fighting back against the government. Civil war ensued. Again.
• Today, the rebel alliance is pretty strong. Like way stronger than they were on Hoth. They've been kickin' some serious ass and now control most of the country. It's total chaos and it ain't pretty.
• Everyone is begging the US to get involved. Bush sent a couple of boatloads of Marines to float around off the coast, but they haven't landed yet. The US's official position is that it's a Liberian problem and that we'll help but only if we're not the only ones helping. Oh, and Taylor has to go.

We look pretty bad in the international community for not helping, and I guess I can see why what with innocent people being killed and all that. And even though I agree we've got to do something, I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of sending our Marines in to settle things down.

Why, you ask? Easy. Most of the fighters of this war are, in fact, kids with guns. After years and years of fighting, there just aren't that many 'army age' Liberian guys left. And while I'm no expert, I don't think it's considered good policy for the US Marines to drive up and start unloading on a bunch of teenagers. At least it sounds bad to me.

When and if we do go ashore, it won't be fun for anyone.