Pressed to send troops to Liberia Bush is 'exploring all option

WASHINGTON -- Reluctant to get involved in another military fight, the Bush administration on Wednesday debated how to respond to international pressure that it send peacekeepers to Liberia.

"It is premature to say an announcement is forthcoming in the next day or so," Secretary of State Colin Powell said after consulting with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

President Bush publicly lamented the suffering and unrest in the West African nation but stopped short of saying he would send troops.

"We're exploring all options," Bush said. The president will visit Africa, but not Liberia, next week.

He said Powell was working with the United Nations to determine the best way to keep a cease-fire in place. He called again for Liberian President Charles Taylor to step down.

"One thing has to happen: Mr. Taylor needs to leave the country," Bush said. "In order for there to be peace and stability in Liberia, Charles Taylor needs to leave now."

No decisions yet

Powell, on WMAL radio in Washington, said, "The president has not made any decisions yet."

Among the open questions is how many troops West African countries would be willing to provide as peacekeepers, Powell said.

Annan wants U.S. troops committed to peacekeeping in Liberia to give more "heft" to the operation, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Powell kept in touch with Annan, who was traveling in Europe. They spoke twice on the telephone Tuesday and again on Wednesday.

A senior U.S. official said the discussions centered on sorting out both military and political issues. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the talks had not reached a point where Bush could decide on whether to dispatch American troops.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld attended a White House meeting Wednesday on the issue after the National Security Council failed to agree on a course of action Tuesday, officials said.

Rumsfeld is not enthusiastic about international proposals that the United States send 2,000 troops at the head of 3,000 other peacekeepers from various African countries, a senior defense official said.

Still, Rumsfeld took with him to Wednesday's meeting a contingency plan for such a deployment, should the president order it. The Pentagon routinely works up and keeps on hand such plans for numerous problems around the world.

Another senior defense official said a range of options was being considered -- from sending no troops, to sending a small group of troops to protect the U.S. Embassy to sending the larger contingent of U.S. peacekeepers.

The current round of fighting in Liberia began three years ago as rebels began trying to oust Taylor, who won contested elections and took the presidency in 1997 after a 1989-96 civil war. Fighting killed hundreds of civilians in Monrovia just last month, and the war has displaced more than 1 million Liberians.

Because of the violence -- but apart from the question of U.S. peacekeepers -- several dozen U.S. Marines have for days been on standby at a Spanish military base in case they are needed for quick deployment as extra security at the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia or to evacuate Americans.

The U.S. military has plenty on its plate without sending troops to Liberia.

More than 10,000 American troops are still working in and around Afghanistan, and nearly 150,000 troops are stationed in a violent and troubled postwar Iraq.

Despite U.S. reluctance, thousands of Liberians celebrated outside the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia late Tuesday as rumors spread about possible U.S. intervention.

Besides Annan, France, Britain and both sides in Liberia's fighting also have pushed for an American role in a peace force for the country founded by freed American slaves in 1847.