U.S. Warships to Reach Liberia Coast by Saturday

Reuters ^ | 07-31-03

[Brian S]

Thu July 31, 2003 06:29 PM ET

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The lead ships in a U.S. Navy Amphibious Ready Group are expected to arrive off the coast of Liberia by Saturday, but no decision has been made on whether to put any of the 2,300 Marines aboard on the ground in the West African country, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

A senior defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States will have "forces closer to Liberia available for whatever purpose the president may decide may be necessary."

The official added that "at the moment, there's still some assessments going on" by U.S. teams in the region.

West African leaders approved on Thursday a peacekeeping mission to Liberia, calling for troops to enter the country by Monday. The Economic Community of West African States said it had agreed that President Charles Taylor, indicted for war crimes in Sierra Leone by a U.N.-backed court, would depart Liberia within three days of the peacekeepers' arrival.

President Bush said on Wednesday that the United States "will be there to help ECOWAS" if Taylor is gone and a cease-fire is in place, but Bush administration officials have provided few concrete details about the nature of the U.S. involvement.

Defense officials said the helicopter carrier USS Iwo Jima, leading the Amphibious Ready Group, and the USS Carter Hall were sailing in the eastern Atlantic and were expected to arrive by Saturday. The third ship in the group, the USS Nashville, was expected to arrive in the middle of next week, the officials said.

The ships are carrying about 2,300 U.S. Marines.

But asked whether the administration had decided to put U.S. Marines on the ground in Liberia, the senior defense official said, "There is no decision yet."

At the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher said, "The president has indicated we will support the effort that the West Africans are making." Boucher added that "the United States will decide during the course of this process ... how we can support them, and whether we need to do that with military forces."

He said the United States already has "put up $10 million that will go in the form of a contract for logistics support."

The peacekeeping operation is intended to stabilize Liberia, a nation founded in the 19th century by freed slaves from the United States, after 14 years of civil war.

[Old Sarge]

I've shared this with our Guard command group. So far, it's only Marines, but the Guard always picks up the peacekeeping missions.......

[Ax]

ECOWAS = Looters and rapists in Nigerian army uniforms.

[RoseofTexas]

BIG, BIG mistake!! The freakin UN should be sending in BLix and the bastard french first!!

[livius]

Get our embassy people out of there and put pressure on the more civilized African states to intervene. I read that Nigeria, for one, is already planning to send a contingent to Liberia.

[Burkeman1]

Not to be a jerk- but French troops have evacuated Americans from African hell holes on more than one occassion. But I agree with you- they have the experience and the troops to do it- French troops should take care of this one.

[wretchard]

An amphibious ready group is rarely used unless there is some intent to use it. The logical thing for it to do is to provide distant cover for the Keystone Cop-like ECOWAS. Special operations can also be used, once the ARG arrives because the Marines have enough combat power to prevent any Blackhawk down incident.

Most importantly, the ARG brings about 8 Harriers and a lot of helos and helicopter gunships, plus arty. That is more firepower than the battalion landing team itself.