The Irish Times (sub required) has condemned the Bush administration for not moving fast enough in Liberia. Yet, as this article points out, sometimes letting these things run their course is the best long term answer. I'm not sure if that applies in this case, but I think the analogy of the Irish Civil War is much better than the American Civil War for Mr. Pinkerton's purposes.
What if the British had intervened because the Civil War had proven that the Irish Free State was a failed state? What if the French or the Americans had? Would Ireland be better off today? I don't think so as the same smoldering resentments would have flared up eventually.
Still, I can't imagine civilization returning to W. Africa without foreign intervention. I hope that if the US does send peace keepers that they are not seen as targets. The deaths in Mogadishu are only 10 years ago. But, I think that any intervention will be long-term and not just a few months. I suspect that American involvement in W. Africa will be for a longer period than the US's involvement in Iraq.
