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- The Russian Roulette and In the
Name of God scenario packs were originally part of a much larger
work called Phoenix Command: Low Intensity Conflict, which
included scenarios from a number of wars raging in 1990-91, including
Canada, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, and Liberia, in addition to the scenario
packs on Russia and Israel.
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- What follows are the scenarios that arose
from Liberia, which underwent a brutal civil/tribal war in 1990 that saw
the death of President Samuel Doe and the collapse of the nation into
anarchy. Despite the strong historical ties to the United States,
Liberia's 1990 civil war saw little airplay on American or even world
media at the time as journalists subscribed to the theory of "MEGO"
- "My Eyes Glaze Over." A war in a tiny country on the coast
of Africa was deemed to mean little to viewers or readers, and so it
received almost no airtime or ink in the press.
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- INTRODUCTION
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- There are always wars happening
somewhere. The 1990's, which began with the end of the Cold War,
saw dozens of other wars which raged in the early part of the decade. Usually,
each war involved a disaffected ethnic or political minority group
taking up arms against its government, which responded in kind.
- The proper term for these situations is
low-intensity conflict. This term is used because life in the
affected nations somehow continues as before, interrupted only by brief
flashes of chaos. The rest of the world takes no notice of the
uprising, save for when the war interrupts trade or refugees spill over
into a neighbouring country. It is quite a different style of
warfare from high-intensity conflict characterized by extensive use of
armoured forces, supporting artillery, and aircraft, such as the
1990-1991 Persian Gulf War.
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one Low Intensity Conflict in 1990, Liberia suffered a revolution which
saw the repressive regime of Samuel Doe removed and replaced by that of
ECOWAS-supported Amos Sawyer. In the process, atrocities against
civilians were practiced by both sides--the nation's traditional tribal
animosities operated to encourage wholesale slaughter of
innocents. Also, the revolution destroyed what was left of an
economy ravaged by international depression and Doe's financial
policies. Liberia's revolution has shattered the oldest African
republic and it will be a long time before the nation will be able to
recover from Doe and his overthrow.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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