October 24, 2004
ANOTHER BUSH INTERVENTION THAT'S WORKING:
A Liberian's bittersweet journey back home: The UN predicts that 100,000 Liberians in West Africa will return home by year's end. (Mike Crawley, 10/25/04, CS Monitor)
Joe Geetoe's return to Liberia is part of a hopeful trend: the number of refugees worldwide is dropping, as more people are going home than are fleeing their countries anew. Led by Afghans returning from Pakistan and Iran, more than 3.5 million refugees have gone back to their country of origin since 2002, according to UNHCR.Refugees have gone back to Liberia before, only to see their country collapse again and again into conflict. Twice in the 1990s, UNHCR organized similar voyages home for Liberians during lulls in the war. This time is different, UN officials say. The peacekeeping force is deployed, the warring factions are being disarmed, the former strongman Taylor is in exile, and elections are planned for next year, they argue.
But aid agency workers say they're worried that too little is being done to help Liberia rebuild its ruined infrastructure, kickstart its economy, and give its frustrated population job opportunities. Without such help, they say war could again envelop Liberia.
Liberia, like Haiti, is a place it would be better to get right this once than have to keep going back to every few years. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 24, 2004 7:58 PM
I suspect a lot of the Librarians are leaving America in order to protest the Patriot Act allowing the government to know what books we check out.
Posted by: carter at October 25, 2004 2:20 AMWhat did we do wrong in Haiti the first time ?
The only permanent solution for Haiti appears to be for American forces not to leave.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at October 25, 2004 5:14 AMThese are places reverting back to the bush, and it makes little sense for America to intervene. If Tribe X wants to murder Tribe Y, it really ain't our problem, unless there is some serious connection with the outside world, such as strategic minerals or oil(Congo(Kinshasa)) or the place being used as a base for Muslim terror(Somalia), or being situated on an important chokepoint(Somalia).
The Liberias and Haitis are best left to their own devices, and Western intervention should be left to the hardy mercenary types and the modern equivalent of the Dutch East India Company.
In democratic societies, you have to be able to explain to that grieving mother in Paducah why her kid got killed. Telling her that he was engaged in 'humanitarian work' or 'doing good' ain't gonna cut it.
Posted by: Bart at October 25, 2004 6:44 AM