COLUMN LEFT : Lacking a Cold War, U.S. Draws a Blank : Our ‘special relationship’ demands a range of actions to soften the sufferings of Liberia.

Soldiers loyal to Liberian President Samuel K. Doe stormed St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in the capital city this week and killed up to 600 innocent men, women, children and babies who had sought sanctuary there. They used machine guns and knives on these innocent people. Reuters described it this way: “Bodies of boys 7 and 8 years old were draped on the altar and a pile of bodies was half-hidden in a dark corner nearby. Dead women lay on the floor with children wrapped in shawls on their backs. A crucifix had been thrown to the floor. Bullet holes riddled the ceiling.”

As the civil war, killings and massacres escalated in Liberia, what was the United States’ response? The White House issued a statement condemning the massacre of innocent civilians as a “senseless act of terror” and urged a cease-fire on all sides.

Why such a weak and inadequate response to the Liberians’ terrible plight? After all, the United States and Liberia have a 143-year-old “special relationship.” While Liberian lives are being sacrificed, 400 Americans are believed to be in the country; the roads out of Monrovia are blocked and the airport is closed. American economic interests are at stake: Firestone Tire & Rubber is in Liberia. Thus, we could have used humanitarian grounds, the risk of American lives, or the threat to American interests as an excuse to intervene in Liberia.

But we did not! Why? Because human decency, special relationships and American business interests aside, Liberia is an early sacrificial lamb to the end of the Cold War. The basis of the Cold War was fear of the spread of communism. Now that the scare of communism in Africa is largely gone, Liberia no longer has strategic value to the United States.

American blacks founded Liberia in 1847. Its capital, Monrovia, and its second-largest city, Buchanan, were named after American Presidents. The United States aided Liberia in building a huge shipping port and air base, and established treaties for the United States to use them in a time of crisis or war. When Firestone arrived in the early 1920s, Liberia welcomed them and guarded their interests. During World War II, the United States helped build a large hospital in Liberia to which we transported wounded American soldiers. When Morocco asked the United States to leave during World War II and to take its Voice of America equipment, which was relocated in Liberia. Liberia was strategically important when the United States feared that Soviet or Chinese communism would gain a foothold in Africa.

But since U.S. foreign policy, in Africa as elsewhere, is no longer premised exclusively on the fear of communism, the Bush Administration has not figured out an alternative policy. When faced with the situation in Liberia, they drew a blank and froze.

A comprehensive policy would support human rights, self-determination and economic development in the underdeveloped world, strengthen international law and apply the same operating principles everywhere.

Regarding Liberia, there are several steps that need taking: The United States should immediately convene an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council.

The United States should recommend that U.N. Security Forces be sent immediately to Liberia to stop the fighting, re-establish order and stability, protect civilians, provide emergency aid, establish a plan for internationally supervised elections and remain there until Liberia regains its self-governing capability.

There are about 14,000 Liberian visitors in the United States. The Immigration and Naturalization Service should grant them temporary refugee status for at least six months and allow them to work in this country. They should not be forced to return to Liberia under these conditions.

There should be a permanent and uniform American policy for establishing sanctuary for any visiting foreigners whose home countries are victims of natural disasters or civil strife. Such a bill has passed the House but is still holed up in a Senate committee. President Bush should urge the Senate to pass this bill and he should sign it.

And the United States, because of its long-standing special relationship with Liberia, should ready a massive emergency relief effort of food, medicine and other goods to meet needs as they manifest themselves.

These are ways to soften the tragic blows suffered by Liberia.