Is US inching toward intervention?

President Bush has long expressed skepticism about committing US military forces as peacekeepers overseas.

Now, on the eve of his first presidential visit to Africa, he appears willing to do just that in a corner of the world few Americans can point to on a map. But if US forces do wind up in Liberia - a West African nation at a crucial moment in its 13-year civil war - the administration can frame its involvement in a way that limits the impression that the United States is becoming sheriff of the world, analysts say.

First, in recent days top White House officials have raised the US's unique historical connection to Liberia as a possible justification for sending in a small force. Liberia was founded in the 19th century by freed American slaves. By highlighting a link that no other country has, the administration can claim it has set no precedent for involvement in other remote countries.

Second, US officials have made clear that if the United States does send troops to Liberia, the size and scope of their mission will be limited. Reports indicate that between 500 and 2,000 troops would go, and they would stay for a short period of perhaps several months. While remaining under US command, they would work with peacekeepers from other African countries.

But in the larger scheme, the fact that the Bush administration may send peacekeeping forces to Liberia represents how much the world has changed since the 2000 presidential campaign. Then, Bush pooh-poohed the concept of nation-building and laid out three requirements for the use of US troops abroad: involvement of vital US interests, a clear mission, and an obvious exit strategy.

Those three criteria hold, administration officials say, but the definitions have evolved.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the US has had to come to grips with the existence of "failed states," where massive instability leaves a nation open to a major terrorist presence. In a press conference last Friday, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice raised that issue in connection with Liberia. "The president does believe that Liberia and the stability of West Africa [are] important to US interests," she said.

In addition to the humanitarian situation there, she continued, "we've also recognized since 9/11 that one wants to be careful about permitting conditions of failed states" that could lead to "greater sources of terrorism."

Pentagon officials have reportedly reacted negatively to sending troops to Liberia, arguing that the US military already has enough on its plate, including major operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the Pentagon's European Command is nevertheless drawing up different options for the president. Sunday, a team of US military experts flew from Germany to Liberia to assess conditions. On his own trip, Bush will not visit Liberia. He travels to Botswana, South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, and Uganda.

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