# Posted 7:11 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

MORE IMPERIALISM, PLEASE: Peter Beinart is scathing in his denunication of the Bush record on human rights. If Saddam's atrocities provoked outrage in the White House, why has the United States turned a blind eye to brutality in Liberia (a former US colony of sorts)?

While welcoming Beinart's call for a more aggressive foreign policy, Glenn Reynolds notes that intervention often consists of dispatching a token force that assuage the Western conscience while accomplishing nothing on the ground. Exhibit A: The Congo.

While there is no question that Beinart goes overboard in his criticism of the administration, his argument is solid. In contrast, Glenn avoids Peter's strongest point, which is that the prospects for a successful intervention are quite good in a country as small as Liberia.

As Peter points out, the British have restored order in Sierra Leone (a former British colony) and the French in Cote D'Ivoire (a former French colony) with just a few thousand troops. Sierra Leone and Cote D'Ivoire are, of course, Liberia neighbors and about the same size.

In contrast, the Congo is four times the size of France. While that doesn't excuse the United Nations' decision to dispatch a miniscule force, it does undermine Glenn's analogy.

The one thing Peter doesn't seem to recognize is that rampant accusations of imperialism in the run-up to the second Gulf War may, in part, be responsible for US disinterest in Liberia. Given that Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush are predisposed to ignoring Africa, they're probably thinking to themselves: "Why bother with Liberia? It has no strategic value. And the Europeans will only accuse us of unilateralist imperialism if we go ahead and act. Let them take care of it if human rights are so important."

Sadly, this perception is misguided. As in Kosovo, Europe welcomes American intervention when the protection of human rights is the United States' only possible motive. Moreover, in light of the British and French interventions in Sierra Leone and Cote D'Ivoire, no European government can portray itself as defending international law from American depredations.

Ideally, the members of the Security Council will take advantage of the situation in Liberia to repair their relations with one another by unanimously endorsing an American-led intervention.

UPDATE: West African mediators believe a ceasefire in Liberia is now possible. Sadly, the Reuters dispatch which reported this still describes Charles Taylor as an elected president.
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