Security· West Africa NEO Operations
Liberia 2003 Marine Security Operations Summary
Liberia's long agony flared again, and Monrovia found itself under siege as the civil war reached yet another bloody crescendo.
The Marines arrived to do what they had done in that country more than once before: stand guard over the American embassy and lend their weight to the push for peace. They reinforced the compound, established a presence ashore and offshore, and let everyone watching know that the United States was paying attention. The deployment was less about fighting than about pressure, the kind a ready force exerts simply by showing up at a moment of crisis, backing the diplomats angling for a ceasefire and the peacekeepers preparing to deploy. It was tense, uncertain work in a city where armed factions still roamed and violence could erupt without warning. But the Marines held their ground, protected what they came to protect, and helped nudge a shattered country toward the end of its war.
Record no. 95