GOP Sen: Bush Hasn't Made Case For Liberia Intervention

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WASHINGTON (AP)

The Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services committee said Friday the Bush administration has yet to make the case for sending U.S. troops into Liberia either to Congress or to the American people.

"If I were asked today what should be done, I would simply say I do not have the facts to make an informed decision," Sen. John Warner of Virginia said. "I hope in the executive branch there are those who do have sufficient facts to make an informed decision."

Warner spoke on the Senate floor hours after the Pentagon canceled plans to give his committee a private briefing on Liberia. Warner said that in his 25 years in the Senate, "I'm not sure I know of a precedent of that type of abrupt cancellation." ---

But he questioned whether it meets the standard for U.S. military involvement after the Vietnam War, the so-called "Powell doctrine" set forth by Secretary of State Colin Powell when he was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Persian Gulf War.

Those standards say military force should be in response to a clear threat, have public support, involve the use of overwhelming force and include a clear exit strategy.

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