SEVEN-Member Marine Team Lands in Liberia !

[diamond14]

-snip-

Seven-Member Marine Team Lands in Liberia
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Filed at 4:18 p.m. ET

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- U.S. military helicopters shuttled a seven-member Marine team into Liberia on Wednesday, putting the first American troops on the ground in what Washington stresses will be only limited support for a West African peace force.

Washington has said repeatedly it will play only a limited role. The United States oversaw Liberia's 19th-century founding by freed American slaves, and Liberia remained one of the United States' leading trade and strategic partners in Africa up to the end of the Cold War.

The small deployment Wednesday stirred little notice in a capital preoccupied with the search for food.

Markets in government-held Monrovia held only potato greens and chili peppers. Rice, the key staple, was nowhere to be seen.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Liberia.html?hp



A rebel fighter combed his hair today in a street covered with bullet shells. The street, like other parts of Monrovia, is under the control of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy.

[flyingfish]

1. Seven?

Aren't we overstretching our military?

[BrotherBuzz]

11. The, Few, The Proud, The Marines

[ewagner]

2. In my experience

the Marines are so gung ho, they probably think the rebels don't have a chance.......with there being seven marines and only a couple thousand rebels.......

At any rate, good luck guys..hope you all return safe.......

[buff2]

3. Seven?

Why so MANY??? x(

[section321]

4. Seven? That'll put the fear of god in em...

.

[diamond14]

5. all news media say bush* is actually doing something to help

in Liberia...but every once in a while, the truth leaks out....

and the truth for Liberia is that bush* doesn't like Black people and bush* has NO intention of providing any help...


Check out all this spin.....
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/briefings/
-----------------------

Aug. 4, 2003, WH Press Briefing

Q Can I ask you two about Liberia? The first peacekeepers arrived today. Where does that put us, in terms of a decision, on U.S. troops in Liberia?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we are very encouraged by the initial deployment of West African forces. I would remind you that this initial deployment will take several days to complete, and get those forces in place. The United States continues to be actively involved in the planning and execution of this initial deployment of West African peacekeepers. I think for specifics you need to talk to the Department of Defense.

--------------------------

July 23, 2003, WH Press Briefing

Q Scott, where do we stand on a Liberia decision? And then also, could you articulate, in the President's view, why it would be in our national interest to send troops to Liberia?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think that, one, the President has addressed what the national interest would be. But in terms of the situation there, we continue to be actively engaged with the United Nations and the West African states in their attempts to bring peace and stability to Liberia.

------------------------

July 15, 2003, WH Press Briefing

Q Scott, on that topic, the assessment teams tell reporters in Liberia that they have quite a comprehensive understanding of the situation. Given that this is a precarious situation, where time is of the essence, why is the decision taking so long on this end?

MR. McCLELLAN: We need to know all the facts. And I think that we are moving quickly to assess those facts. And we'll move as quickly as we can, but you can't make the decision until you have all the facts before you and you know what the decision might entail.

Q What facts are you waiting for? What categories are you still waiting for? Because the assessment teams feel like they've done their job.

MR. McCLELLAN: They've been on the ground, and those -- that information will be coming back to us. And once we are able to look at that information, then we'll be able to make a decision at that point.

-----------------------------

July 1, 2003, WH Press Briefing

Q And what would be the criteria -- how would the President decide whether to send U.S. troops to Liberia? For a lot of Americans, that's a long way away in a conflict that we don't know a lot about. How would the President make up his mind whether or not to send troops to Liberia?

MR. FLEISCHER: I think the issue here is to work with regional partners to find a way to help the cease-fire to take hold. And the President will make a judgment about what the best and most effective way is to help the cease-fire to take hold. There are different ways to do it, different nations that have capabilities. So this all gets part of the review.

[JewelDigger]

6. ehm...

...I was musing about what it must be like to be 'one of the SEVEN'.

Did they VOLUNTEER? Were they ORDERED to go? Are they just AWESOME at what they do? Are they total 'nut-cases'? Did they 'refuse' to serve in Eye-raq and the military offered them 'alternate duty'? What do they hope to accomplish? It's just all too bizarro! Seven....

[diamond14]

8. IMO, they are just bush* sacrifices....although, bush* likely did

not tell them that....remember, bush* is on vacation while OUR troops are KILLED regularly in a major war in Iraq, AND a major war in Afganistan...what's a few lives to bush*, who mostly needs this effort to brag that America has helped Liberia...when I listen on the news, the spin is that America is helping A LOT, saving Liberia, the great pResident....blah, blah, blah....


BOOT bush* in 2004

Re-Defeat bush* in 2004

[JewelDigger]

9. I know what you're saying, but that just blows it off way 'too easily'

These seven are thinking people! It's one thing to lay down your LIFE when you know that you have the possiblity of actually ACCOMPLISHING something...it's another thing to just go running off understaffed/undermanned into a horribly dangerous and extremely difficult environment without enough resources...that's just foolish!

After all, one can't even run a decent pancake breakfast at the local community center with only SEVEN people!

Two thoughts come to mind:

1) I hope that * isn't doing a 'reverse pissing contest' - remember the 'coalition member' (help me out here with which country it was) that only sent 40 troops to help out in Iraq (or they pulled out 'all but 40 troops').

OR

2) * , et al have been reading Gideon (Judges 7) and are feeling 'inspired' :crazy:

on edit: typo

[Jim Sagle]

7. Seven? Who the hell elected this jagoff anyway?

Oh wait, that's right - no one did.

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. So two months later

And 1000's of Liberians dead and W finally gets around to doing something half-assed.

Too bad he's not half as concerned about bring freedom and democracy to the Liberian people has he was to bring it the Iraqis. Actually, maybe the Liberians will be better off in the long run if W doesn't try to bring them freedom and democracy? That's if they live long enough to survive the current turmoil.

[THUNDER HANDS]

12. here's a picture of them....

[study_war_no_more]

15. Yul Brenner? Steve McQueen? Robert Vaugn?

Bush knows his Westerns.

[diamond14]

13. NYT: Rummy authorized up to 20 marines....so there's still hope

under rummy's orders, 13 more marines could arrive to help this major project along (sarcasm intended...'cheap-labor conservatives', they have no food...let them eat cake)....

-snips-

A small contingent of marines landed in Liberia today to coordinate American assistance to international peacekeepers whose goal is to halt violence in the capital and restore the flow of food and medicine, Pentagon and administration officials said.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld authorized up to 20 members of the 2,300-strong Marine task force to go ashore from their ships now off the coast of Liberia. But fewer than 10 landed by helicopter today to begin their work at the headquarters of a Nigerian peacekeeping battalion, officials said.


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/07/international/africa/07MILI.html



An infant was among many seeking help at the Doctors Without Borders clinic in Monrovia.

[diamond14]

14. Here's a REAL photo...OUR seven BRAVE marines....half of

bush* Liberian effort is shown in this sad photo...they are really young men...naive, no doubt....shown here as bush* sends them into the bowels of hell....


Marines of the liaison team that the U.S. is contributing to a peacekeeping force arrive in Liberia.


How dare bush* do this to OUR brave troops...sending only seven marines into a city torn by civil war for over ten years...thousands killed, people starving, over two hundred thousand REBEL troops in the capital city, Monrovia....and into this turmoil, bush* sends SEVEN brave marines...where's the outrage...how dare bush* do this to OUR Marines...

BOOT bush* in 2004

Re-Defeat bush* in 2004

http://www.Democrats.org