US ships heading for Liberia duty: Pentagon

‘‘Today, I did order for our military in limited numbers to head into the area to help prepare ECOWAS’s (Economic Community of West African States) arrival to relieve human suffering.’’

At the Pentagon, officials said the President had ordered a three-ship Amphibious Ready Group — the helicopter carrier USS Iwo Jima, the USS Carter Hall and the USS Nashville — to sail to the coast of Liberia.

The Iwo Jima group is carrying 2,300 US Marines, but a senior defence official said the US had not yet committed to using any particular number of troops on the ground in any Liberia operation.

The US Navy said on Friday the Iwo Jima and Carter Hall were sailing in the Mediterranean bound for Liberia after transiting the Suez Canal, while the Nashville had not yet passed through the canal and was lagging behind en route to Liberia.

Bush said the US commitment was to enable ECOWAS to go in and he repeated his call for Liberian President Charles Taylor to leave the country. “We’re working very closely with the United Nations. They will be responsible for developing a political solution and for relieving US troops in short order,” he said. (Reuters)