Three helicopters carrying a US military assessment team landed at the U.S. Embassy compound in Monrovia. Among the 32 members, half are Marines and half are experts in civil engineering, civil affairs, medicine, water purification, logistics and contracting. The assessment team will be taken to hospitals and displaced persons camps while the mission's security component would review the situation that triggered the recent fighting. 

The most readily available American troops are a Marine expeditionary unit based on the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, accompanied by several warships. This group is currently off the coast of Djibouti, where they plan to conduct exercises having returned from duty in the Persian Gulf. 

Meanwhile, the MODEL rebels welcomed Taylor's decision to step down, but said they'd believe it when they see him leave. - Adam Geibel