There's a lot I want to cover today and I don't have a lot of time. So please excuse my rushed tone and muddled reasoning.

I almost definitely will return to the crisis in Africa as it progresses and to cap off this week's series, I urge you to read the excellent Liberia analysis over at Kos. It certainly filled in a lot my history gaps. Whatever we end up committing to in Liberia, it won't be nearly enough. As to whether we should be in Liberia--well under any other circumstaces--not to mention any other administration--I would probably say yes with some reservations. But to say yes is to ignore existing complications and to say no is to be coldly pragmatic in the face of devastation, and I have no stomach for that. So anybody looking for a definitive stance here is going to be disappointed.

IRAQ

For better or for worse we are committed to rebuilding Iraq, but situations like this are exactly what we were afraid of. (link via Atrios)

The military also reported that a soldier died Wednesday in what it described as a non-hostile gunshot incident. The military gave no more details. The names of the dead and wounded were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

An American soldier attached to the 101st Airborne Division died Monday in another non-hostile gunshot incident near Balad, 55 miles north of the capital. Soldiers at an air base near Balad said on condition of anonymity that the soldier had taken his own life.

If we are serious about peacekeeping we need to admit our failures.

 There is one group of nations with large numbers of well-trained troops, experienced in peacekeeping and in working with the United States Army. It’s called NATO. The problem for the Bush administration is that calling on NATO means bringing France and Germany back into the fold. My suggestion: get over it.

And in case you are completely out of the loop, they lied. Josh is on the case.