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CNN Live Today

What Deployment to Liberia Would Mean

Aired July 03, 2003 - 10:07   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now, let's get some military perspective on what such a military deployment in Liberia might mean. For that, we're calling upon CNN military analyst David Grange, a retired U.S. Army general with 30 years of experience around the world. And good to see you.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Same.

WHITFIELD: Well the talks have been that this would not be about combat, but instead peacekeeping. What would that mean involving U.S. troops?

GRANGE: Well I think it will be several different types of formations prepared to enter Liberia if need be, if they're given the order. One would be an inextremist (ph) force to be send in there on a moment's notice to be sent in to secure the embassy if there was a problem with the American embassy or to evacuate American citizens or other directed third country nationals to extract them out to sea on ships or to an adjacent country.

The other would be a peacekeeping force, and it will be a force that would be, I think, a part of a larger coalition force directed by the U.N. And they would have peacekeeping duties. But even if it's a peacekeeping operation, combat still may occur.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and that is the concern that many have, that with peacekeeping means most likely combat, especially since this is still a very volatile situation. Do you see that is a likely scenario involving U.S. troops?

GRANGE: Well, I do. And it's a -- peacekeeping is what they call a Chapter 6, which is kind of observe and report. I think this will be more maybe of a peace enforcement, which means you enforce the peace. In other words, you take action against people harming other civilians in the area, et cetera.

And in any situation, you're always trained for the worst case and that would be it turns a conflict, into a combat, pockets of fighting, not a major war, I don't think, but pockets of fighting. And, of course, the force that went in to do the peace enforcement would probably be involved.

WHITFIELD: Well given the high risks, why do you believe it's important, if not significant, for the U.S. to be involved on this level?

GRANGE: Well, four reasons. One is that the historical relationship between Liberia and the United States of America. Number two, I don't think our administration or the U.N., the United Nations and many other countries in the world want to see another Rwanda, where, really, though American troops and others went in, many people died because it wasn't a robust force. They didn't preempt a lot of the massacres that took place. Number three, the president of the United States has already said that Charles Taylor must leave. If you make a comment like that, you have to back it up.

WHITFIELD: And no one wants to see another Rwanda, but no one want to see another Somalia, either, when 18 military U.S. troops that died in that conflict.

GRANGE: Well I don't think it will be another Somalia, because, one, the problem with Somalia, of course, it was the humanitarian assistance mission. The fight on October 3 of Task Force Ranger involved going after an individual.

Now you can compare that to Charles Taylor if that in fact happened. The difference here is that I think the administration now and the Congress, they have the resolve to carry through an operation. I don't think that you would just stop because there was some difficulty. And so I think they would follow it through this time.

WHITFIELD: And how important do you think that the Bush administration, put up or shut up, especially since President Bush is about to embark on an African tour next week? How could he possibly go to Africa and not make a decision on Liberia, even though that isn't one of his planned stopping locations?

GRANGE: Well I believe he has to make the decision to intervene.

And another reason, the fourth reason is the images that we see on broadcasts. I mean, there is suffering. There are crimes against humanity. It's something that you really can't ignore. And so someone has to do it and the problem is the United States ends up holding the bag in most cases. But I think other countries will be involved as well.

WHITFIELD: And who do you believe the other countries will be?

GRANGE: Well you know we just did an operation. I believe it was between the war in Afghanistan and Iraqi Freedom, where the French and the United States went into Sierra Leon together to evacuate their country's nationals. But Britain, Great Britain, France, there's several choices there that may be involved.

WHITFIELD: And this could potentially help mend the fences between the Americans and French if, indeed, the French are involved as well?

GRANGE: Well, I think part of the fence is already mended. There's still a long way to go. But on this type of operations, small scale, I believe there's more feeling of cooperation to do something about it. And then you have neighboring African countries that would be involved as well, I believe.

WHITFIELD: All right, David Grange, thanks very much. Always good to see you.

GRANGE: Same.

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 - 10:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now, let's get some military perspective on what such a military deployment in Liberia might mean. For that, we're calling upon CNN military analyst David Grange, a retired U.S. Army general with 30 years of experience around the world. And good to see you.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Same.

WHITFIELD: Well the talks have been that this would not be about combat, but instead peacekeeping. What would that mean involving U.S. troops?

GRANGE: Well I think it will be several different types of formations prepared to enter Liberia if need be, if they're given the order. One would be an inextremist (ph) force to be send in there on a moment's notice to be sent in to secure the embassy if there was a problem with the American embassy or to evacuate American citizens or other directed third country nationals to extract them out to sea on ships or to an adjacent country.

The other would be a peacekeeping force, and it will be a force that would be, I think, a part of a larger coalition force directed by the U.N. And they would have peacekeeping duties. But even if it's a peacekeeping operation, combat still may occur.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and that is the concern that many have, that with peacekeeping means most likely combat, especially since this is still a very volatile situation. Do you see that is a likely scenario involving U.S. troops?

GRANGE: Well, I do. And it's a -- peacekeeping is what they call a Chapter 6, which is kind of observe and report. I think this will be more maybe of a peace enforcement, which means you enforce the peace. In other words, you take action against people harming other civilians in the area, et cetera.

And in any situation, you're always trained for the worst case and that would be it turns a conflict, into a combat, pockets of fighting, not a major war, I don't think, but pockets of fighting. And, of course, the force that went in to do the peace enforcement would probably be involved.

WHITFIELD: Well given the high risks, why do you believe it's important, if not significant, for the U.S. to be involved on this level?

GRANGE: Well, four reasons. One is that the historical relationship between Liberia and the United States of America. Number two, I don't think our administration or the U.N., the United Nations and many other countries in the world want to see another Rwanda, where, really, though American troops and others went in, many people died because it wasn't a robust force. They didn't preempt a lot of the massacres that took place. Number three, the president of the United States has already said that Charles Taylor must leave. If you make a comment like that, you have to back it up.

WHITFIELD: And no one wants to see another Rwanda, but no one want to see another Somalia, either, when 18 military U.S. troops that died in that conflict.

GRANGE: Well I don't think it will be another Somalia, because, one, the problem with Somalia, of course, it was the humanitarian assistance mission. The fight on October 3 of Task Force Ranger involved going after an individual.

Now you can compare that to Charles Taylor if that in fact happened. The difference here is that I think the administration now and the Congress, they have the resolve to carry through an operation. I don't think that you would just stop because there was some difficulty. And so I think they would follow it through this time.

WHITFIELD: And how important do you think that the Bush administration, put up or shut up, especially since President Bush is about to embark on an African tour next week? How could he possibly go to Africa and not make a decision on Liberia, even though that isn't one of his planned stopping locations?

GRANGE: Well I believe he has to make the decision to intervene.

And another reason, the fourth reason is the images that we see on broadcasts. I mean, there is suffering. There are crimes against humanity. It's something that you really can't ignore. And so someone has to do it and the problem is the United States ends up holding the bag in most cases. But I think other countries will be involved as well.

WHITFIELD: And who do you believe the other countries will be?

GRANGE: Well you know we just did an operation. I believe it was between the war in Afghanistan and Iraqi Freedom, where the French and the United States went into Sierra Leon together to evacuate their country's nationals. But Britain, Great Britain, France, there's several choices there that may be involved.

WHITFIELD: And this could potentially help mend the fences between the Americans and French if, indeed, the French are involved as well?

GRANGE: Well, I think part of the fence is already mended. There's still a long way to go. But on this type of operations, small scale, I believe there's more feeling of cooperation to do something about it. And then you have neighboring African countries that would be involved as well, I believe.

WHITFIELD: All right, David Grange, thanks very much. Always good to see you.

GRANGE: Same.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com