Out with the new, in with the old

International | This troubled nation needs to return to its past before charting its future | Russ Pulliam

Theoretically, Gen. John Abizaid could find himself in Baghdad and Monrovia in the same week. The new head of U.S. Central Command must give orders over hot spots in both Iraq and Liberia, along with 23 other countries in the command in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Troop commitment to the West African civil war is nearly nonexistent compared to troop levels in the Middle East—300 soldiers in Liberia versus a quarter-million in the Iraqi region. But the dispatch of even a few soldiers to police an internal conflict has raised questions about mission validity nonetheless.

"The fact that our soldiers won't be coming home from Iraq on time underscores the reason we shouldn't rush to join the Nigerians and others deploying to Liberia," writes Heritage Foundation policy analyst Jack Spencer. In a recent report he argues that U.S. forces are "stretched almost to the breaking point" with the war on terrorism, operations in Afghanistan, peacekeeping in the Balkans, and looming threats over North Korea. In addition to the hundreds of U.S. soldiers on the ground patrolling a ceasefire agreement ahead of a UN-sponsored army of West African soldiers, there are 2,500 U.S. Marines waiting off the coast of Liberia in three warships.