John Bolton Opposes Additional UN Troop Deployments to the Ivory Coast (moved from ATSNN), page 1

The US's Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, recently spoke out against increasing troop levels in the Ivory Coast. The situation has been degrading, and Kofi Annan wants a dramatic increase in the number of UN soldiers on hand to maintain order. Recently a group of young rioters/protesters put UN forces on the defensive, driving them out of two or more installations. The UN troops, in the course of defending themselves, killed 4 of the opposition.

quote.bloomberg.com
"The issue is exactly what the situation between the parties is," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters. "That is something we have to try and understand more precisely, rather than simply changing the size of the composition of the force. When a UN peacekeeping force becomes part of the problem, we have to ask ourselves whether the UN is contributing to the solution or not."

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I think this is pretty hypocritical (though I do, sort of, agree with his logic). The problem is that this logic should be dictating our involvement in Iraq as well, and it isn't.

John Bolton makes a good point, in a way. Why make things worse? Indeed. Let's adopt that as our official national motto, and make good on it.

Of course, on the other hand, intervention could save lives. We won't know for sure until we commit ourselves to the conflict. Any ideas as to possible outcomes of a big troop deployment in the area?