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President Bush "is determined to help the people of Liberia find a path to peace," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said after the National Security Council discussed the Liberian crisis. Reflecting what one senior State Department official called intensive internal discussions, Mr. With a bloody civil war flaring up again in a country founded by freed American slaves more than 180 years ago, "this has been a doubled-edged debate about American power for everyone involved," said Robert Jervis, a professor of international politics at Columbia University. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, leading European powers -- including France -- and the editorial page of the New York Times. Bush prepares for a critical trip to Africa and puts to test one of the key issues of his 2000 presidential campaign. The force must be strong enough so that the mission can be accomplished. Bush is reluctant to send troops purely as peacekeepers. However, another official told the Associated Press that the White House did not want to take the military option off the table for fear of making headlines just before Mr. Few African nations supported the war against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, but several West African nations said they were prepared to contribute some 3,600 troops to an American-led force to restore order in Liberia. But "being the world's only superpower means having the luxury of saying 'no' when the rest of the world wants you to say 'yes,' " said Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president for foreign policy and defense studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. Taylor, who won contested elections and took the presidency in 1997 after a 1989-96 civil war. Fighting killed hundreds of trapped civilians in the capital, Monrovia, last month, and the war had displaced more than 1 million Liberians. Fleischer yesterday said the administration has seen encouraging signs of calm. Bush prepares to leave Monday on his first presidential trip to sub-Saharan Africa. France took the lead in attempting to stem fighting in northern Congo and in Ivory Coast, both former colonies, while Britain headed a deployment to its former colony of Sierra Leone. With its unparalleled political, technological and military clout, the United States often stands accused of deciding faraway disputes simply by choosing whether to participate or not. Middle East analysts say the Israeli-Palestinian "road map" to peace has no chance of success if Washington is not there to ensure that both sides comply. Pakistan has long sought to drag reluctant American administrations into its dispute with India over the Kashmir province. Even when Spain and Morocco nearly came to blows over the uninhabited Parsley Islands in the Mediterranean last summer, it was Secretary of State Colin L.
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