[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 20819-20820]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                LIBERIA

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I was looking forward to going 
right now to a classified briefing on Liberia as part of our Senate 
Armed Services Committee. It is my understanding that briefing has been 
canceled because they feel too many of the Senators have already gone 
back to their States. I am going to still see if we can get that 
information for those of us on the Armed Services Committee who are 
still here.
  But as we look at Liberia, we cannot keep delaying decisionmaking. I 
think putting the marines on the boats offshore is clearly a step in 
the right direction, but this should have been done a couple of weeks 
ago. Although it wasn't, the marines are in transit, and that is a step 
in the right direction.
  What do we need to do? I think it is clearly in the interest of the 
United States that we diplomatically--in addition to the military 
action--make sure the cease-fire we are trying to get in place stays, 
and to reach out to all sides, including the rebel side. I think they 
have an interest in having the cease-fire. We need to make sure that

[[Page 20820]]

cease-fire sticks. Then we need to work out an arrangement whereby the 
African troops come into place. At that point, once there is a military 
presence stabilizing the country, I think we should have a simultaneous 
evacuation of Taylor with our U.S. Marines coming in with a presence 
for a short period of time, with mainly the peacekeeping burden being 
put on the ECOWAS or African troops. Clearly, we, the United States, 
need to be directly involved in order to stabilize that region, with a 
minimum of involvement of U.S. troops.
  It is clearly in our interest that part of Africa be stabilized. We 
are going to have to help with it. I think the movement of the marines 
into that region, albeit on the ships offshore, is a step in the right 
direction. I hope something akin to what I have laid out here will, in 
fact, be put into place.
  So thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity to share these 
thoughts. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.

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