Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Liberia 101
Aired July 03, 2003 - 06:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's learn more about Liberia now. Many of us don't know much about that West African nation, but it is closely linked to the United States.
To help you make up your own mind about the president's possible decision to send in troops, here's our national security correspondent, David Ensor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All it took were rumors the U.S. might intervene to stop the bloodshed, and there was rejoicing in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, which was named after American President James Monroe. With a flag and a constitution modeled on the American one, the West African nation of Liberia has always looked to the United States for help, ideas, and back in 1847 for its founders.
SALIH BOOKER, AFRICA ACTION: It was created by freed American slaves, who were sent to essentially establish a colony in West Africa.
ENSOR: Liberia's embattled leader now is Charles Taylor, Libyan- trained, a Baptist preacher, diamond dealer and recently an indicted war criminal for his alleged role inciting slaughters and civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone.
PRESIDENT CHARLES TAYLOR, LIBERIA: And I think the U.S. ought to come in now to use my strength, my popularity and my legitimacy, and work and bring peace to Liberia.
ENSOR: It was Taylor back in 1990 whose rebel group invaded Liberia, overthrowing and killing then President Samuel Doe. Since then, at least a third of the nation's three million people have become refugees, fleeing the fighting.
Back in 1990, then President George Bush, the elder, decided against intervening militarily to stop suffering in Liberia. Only limited U.S. forces went in, just enough to protect the U.S. embassy and help Americans and Europeans to evacuate.
BOOKER: Unfortunately, now we have a situation that almost is a complete replica of what we saw in 1990, and we fear the White House may be doing the same thing. In other words, stalling until this situation resolves itself, even if violently.
ENSOR: Since the bodies of some American soldiers were dragged through the streets in Somalia, American presidents have been even more hesitant than before to intervene in Africa. The 1994 massacre in Rwanda, for example, prompted no intervention.
(on camera): Activists, like Salih Booker, argue that the U.S., a nation whose military is disproportionately staffed by African- Americans, should take on its share of peacekeeping duties in Africa, just as France and Britain have recently done.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired July 3, 2003 - 06:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's learn more about Liberia now. Many of us don't know much about that West African nation, but it is closely linked to the United States.
To help you make up your own mind about the president's possible decision to send in troops, here's our national security correspondent, David Ensor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All it took were rumors the U.S. might intervene to stop the bloodshed, and there was rejoicing in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, which was named after American President James Monroe. With a flag and a constitution modeled on the American one, the West African nation of Liberia has always looked to the United States for help, ideas, and back in 1847 for its founders.
SALIH BOOKER, AFRICA ACTION: It was created by freed American slaves, who were sent to essentially establish a colony in West Africa.
ENSOR: Liberia's embattled leader now is Charles Taylor, Libyan- trained, a Baptist preacher, diamond dealer and recently an indicted war criminal for his alleged role inciting slaughters and civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone.
PRESIDENT CHARLES TAYLOR, LIBERIA: And I think the U.S. ought to come in now to use my strength, my popularity and my legitimacy, and work and bring peace to Liberia.
ENSOR: It was Taylor back in 1990 whose rebel group invaded Liberia, overthrowing and killing then President Samuel Doe. Since then, at least a third of the nation's three million people have become refugees, fleeing the fighting.
Back in 1990, then President George Bush, the elder, decided against intervening militarily to stop suffering in Liberia. Only limited U.S. forces went in, just enough to protect the U.S. embassy and help Americans and Europeans to evacuate.
BOOKER: Unfortunately, now we have a situation that almost is a complete replica of what we saw in 1990, and we fear the White House may be doing the same thing. In other words, stalling until this situation resolves itself, even if violently.
ENSOR: Since the bodies of some American soldiers were dragged through the streets in Somalia, American presidents have been even more hesitant than before to intervene in Africa. The 1994 massacre in Rwanda, for example, prompted no intervention.
(on camera): Activists, like Salih Booker, argue that the U.S., a nation whose military is disproportionately staffed by African- Americans, should take on its share of peacekeeping duties in Africa, just as France and Britain have recently done.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
