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21 July 2003
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Liberia's Strategic Value -- Ships
The coming American intervention in Liberia has been praised as an initial payment on a debt owed to a society founded by former slaves. It has also been condemned as a needless extension of America's military power that threatens the ability of the US to act in parts of the world that are more important. Actually, the move is a wise one that will help protect the US from terror attacks. As Iraq's strategic importance flows from the oil under it, Liberia's arises from the fact that so many merchant ships fly its flag.
For 55 years, the Liberian Registry of Shipping as been a so-called "Flag of Convenience" that allows ship owners to sail their vessels around with world without having to deal with the bureaucracies of the US, Europe and other more regulated nations. In the first quarter of 2003, 112 ships put themselves under the Liberian flag. Most of the time, the flag nation has to deal with crewman's wages, some environmental issues and other such mundane matters. Yet it has a claim on the ship -- in international waters, Liberia has jurisdiction and final say over what happens to ships with its flag.
Consider what a government hostile to the US could do with almost 2,000 merchant ships upon which it could call. Weapons of mass destruction become irrelevant when a Liberian flagged supertanker "accidentally" runs aground on America's coast fouling the beaches and causing billions of dollars in damage. And given the porous security at the ports long the coasts of America, far greater harm could be done.
Liberia is at a point in its history where it can either be saved or it can collapse. If it becomes a failed state, the ships under its flag become a resource that those hostile to the US and its allies can use. In the Second World War, the French fleet at Oran was in danger of becoming part of the German navy. To prevent that, Churchill ordered an attack on his allies' vessels. America needn't be so extreme now, but the intervention recognizes that ships are weapons and control over them does matter.