[Mil Novecientos Once]

What do you guys think of this?

http://slate.msn.com/id/2084970/

U.S. Troops to Liberia?
By Nancy Palus
Posted Friday, June 27, 2003, at 10:38 AM PT


"We saw hell in Liberia," a Nigerian who recently escaped fresh fighting in the war-ravaged country told Lagos' Vanguard newspaper. The papers say the latest surge of violence between rebels and the government around Liberia's capital, Monrovia—inevitably also striking civilians—is fueling calls for U.S. intervention.


A peace accord signed by rebels and the government of Liberian President Charles Taylor in Ghana last week called for a national unity government—sans Taylor—to be formed within a month. Days after signing the deal, Taylor reneged, refusing to step aside. Fighting erupted anew, and rebels say they will not stop until they have seized the capital and ousted Taylor. Taylor was elected president in 1997, after an eight-year civil war he had launched. Anti-Taylor rebel movements, linked to conflicts the president is alleged to have fomented in neighboring Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, began about three years ago. Rebels are now said to control about two-thirds of the country.

In recent days, rebels closed in on Monrovia, foreigners fled the capital, and hundreds of civilians died—including several June 25, when explosives struck a U.S. Embassy annex where refugees were seeking haven. This is the closest rebel groups have come to taking the capital. Britain's Daily Telegraph said, "The advance marks the greatest crisis Taylor has faced since he rose to power as a warlord 13 years ago." Taylor, known for his support of brutal rebel movements throughout the region—including alleged guns-for-diamonds trading—and his brazen defiance in the face of U.N. sanctions and sweeping international condemnation, now also faces war crimes charges presented June 4 by a U.N. special court in neighboring Sierra Leone.

The humanitarian crisis stemming from Liberia's conflicts is one of the worst on the continent. The latest violence—reportedly penetrating many refugee shelters—has put already desperate civilians in horrific conditions with nowhere to run. With the recent outbreak of fighting, the Telegraph reported, "Thousands fled their homes and thousands more who had already travelled to Monrovia to seek safety, packed their bags again in terror."

President Bush, who is scheduled to travel to Africa next month, said Thursday that Taylor must step down and vowed U.S. support for peace efforts in the country. But the United States has yet to commit to any action on the ground, as called for by people who draw comparisons to the considerable British role in Sierra Leone and France's intervention in its former colony, Ivory Coast. (Liberia was founded by freed U.S. slaves.) Several papers reported that Britain's U.N. ambassador, Jeremy Greenstock, called the United States "the natural candidate" to intervene. The Telegraph went as far as to say a U.S.-led force "looked likely" after Bush's remarks. The paper concluded, "It is unlikely that Sir Jeremy would have floated the idea of a US-led force without first having at least tacit approval from the Bush administration."

The Financial Times observed, "The chaos in Monrovia showed up the fragility of the ceasefire in the absence of an outside peacekeeping force." An op-ed in the New Democrat, a paper published in the Netherlands by Liberian exiles, called Taylor a "serial liar" and a "psychopath," declaring, "A force empowered to arrest the fugitive [Taylor] would do a service to humanity."

On Thursday, Liberian civilians mounted their own stark appeal for U.S. action. Britain's Guardian reported that Liberians marched on the U.S. Embassy, depositing at its gates seven corpses—among the more than 300 killed in this week's violence.

Papers in the region said an African solution to the Liberian crisis is crucial to the continent's progress away from war and toward development. An op-ed in Nigeria's This Day said it is "high time" Africa established a process for preventing and resolving conflicts. "Liberia offers the best opportunity for African leaders to show their skills and commitment in uplifting the African continent." Notre Voie, the paper of Ivory Coast's ruling party, said the continent's future stability depends on it. African leaders must "show themselves to be firm and unified to avoid rebellions destabilizing other African states tomorrow." The Ivorian paper echoed widely held anxiety over the effectiveness of the Economic Community of West African States, which brokered the latest cease-fire accord. "In failing, ECOWAS would show once again its incapacity to resolve crises in the sub-region. … The problem of ECOWAS is its lack of political will." A U.N. Security Council delegation set off Thursday on a mission to West Africa, partly in an effort to stem the violence in Liberia. The mission—which is to meet with several members of ECOWAS—is likely to press Taylor to step down.

A recent op-ed in Johannesburg's Mail & Guardian said impunity for leaders such as Taylor—who "have shattered the social cohesion of the continent and entrenched poverty"—must end. The op-ed said that although the timing of the recent war crimes indictment was wrong—coming as it did during the delicate time of peace talks in Accra—it was "the right thing to do. … Africa needs to confront the bald fact that the absence of accountability has for too long stood between the continent and real progress."

An editorial in the Financial Times conceded that peace and stability are not automatically assured in a post-Taylor Liberia, noting that the rebels trying to oust him themselves "have a murky agenda" and an abysmal human rights record. "A longer-term and wider strategy for the region is needed," the paper said. "As in Iraq, the removal of an undesirable leader is one thing, a plan for the future quite another. Mr. Taylor's departure would not be a solution. But it would be a start."
___________________________________________________

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/06/27/wliber27.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/06/27/ixworld.html


Bush threatens to pacify Liberia
By Tim Butcher, Africa Correspondent
(Filed: 27/06/2003)


An American military operation to restore order in Liberia looked likely last night as President George W Bush called for peace in the war-torn West African republic.

He drew cheers and applause from an audience of businessmen, academics and African leaders when he called on Liberia's President Charles Taylor, an indicted war criminal, to stand down.

"President Taylor needs to step down so that his country can be spared further bloodshed," he said.

Earlier, British diplomats raised the possibility of an American military operation with Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's UN ambassador, saying that America would be the "natural candidate" for any Western-run operation in Liberia.

Mr Bush called for all sides in Liberia's bloody civil war to return to the negotiating table and to end a series of clashes that have cost thousands of civilian lives, including 300 in the capital, Monrovia, this week.

He spoke as the Liberian government claimed it had driven the rebels from the port area, a few miles from the heart of the capital, that they had occupied on Wednesday.

With a US Navy amphibious assault ship, the USS Kearsarge, just off the Liberian coast carrying 1,200 marines, Mr Bush has the option of ordering a significant deployment to one of Africa's most chaotic countries.

Liberia has close historic and traditional links with America. It was founded in the early 19th century as Africa's first republic by freed slaves from the United States.

For an intervention force, Sir Jeremy said, the United States is "the nation that everyone would think would be the natural candidate".

"I think that outside help of that kind at the present juncture, or ready to move when there is an agreement to stop fighting, an agreement that would need to be policed and observed, would look very constructive," he said.

"If there were a lead nation that was prepared to take action in Liberia, then I think that would be very broadly welcomed internationally. But we are not there yet."

It is unlikely that Sir Jeremy would have floated the idea of a US-led force without first having at least tacit approval from the Bush administration.

If America does send troops to Liberia, it will create a diplomatic symmetry in West Africa, matching Britain's deployment to Sierra Leone dating from 2000 and France's Ivory Coast operation since last year.

For the civilian population of Liberia, living in wretched conditions as one of Africa's poorest countries is again riven by heavy fighting, any peacekeeping deployment could not come fast enough.

Last week almost every civilian spoken to in a straw poll in Monrovia begged for military assistance from America to help break the cycle of violence. "We need the Americans to help us. They must come, it is our only hope," said Fatima Harrison, an elderly lady in an overcrowded slum in the centre of Monrovia.

Hopes were raised when the Kearsarge appeared on the horizon off Monrovia but its helicopters flew nothing but food and supplies into the US embassy on the city's Mamba Point promontory.

It echoed the 1990 deployment of US shipborne troops to Monrovia in a rescue operation for US passport holders that fell some way short of a full peacekeeping mission.

Civilians have routinely born the brunt of more than a decade of fighting in Liberia with rival militias killing civilians, raping women and looting property whenever fierce clashes occur.

[Sir Galahad]

But the questions are:
1.) Will this turn into another Somalia?
2.) Will the world say now "U.S. do something!" and then once we're committed turn around and say "U.S. imperialism!"?
3.) Will the people we go to save turn around and backshoot our troops once they oust the tyrant?


The problem is that since the fall of that nasty evil colonialism in Africa, the whole continent has been embroiled in a succession of dictator-of-the-month clubs and exercises in damming rivers with corpses. So, then, colonialism really wasn't as bad as it is made out to be given the light of the current situation? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

My thinking is that it is not the duty of the U.S. to save the whole Third World from itself. Generally, the U.S. gets a F+ on its report card by the UNcle of the world (who see standing and watching from afar Rwanda do its best Pol Pot imitation as infintely preferable to having to be there to physically stand aside and let genocide happen as UNcle peacekeepers did in Bosnia a few times) for it effors in helping people not kill each other. U.S. efforts are seen as "imperialism". So, unless we are directly threatened, to hell with it. It's not worth it. If someone wants to play world social worker, let them volunteer to go over there and do it with their own family, not those who signed up to defend America. This has nothing to do with us. It's time for the Third World to make a choice: You either be totally free and/or soveriegn and take what goes with that to include civil war, famine, etc, etc and you hash it out on your own and settle your own problems and feed your own people. OR---You become a subject of neo-colonial policy and you shut up and like it. As far as I'm concerned, what's in it for us? I want a decent return on my invested tax dollar. Africa grows pretty decent tobacco and coffee and, to me, there's a fair exchange for security and protection.

[Mil Novecientos Once]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3006215

Pressure Grows for Foreign Intervention in Liberia
Sat June 28, 2003 03:36 PM ET


By David Clarke
MONROVIA (Reuters) - Liberia said Saturday it was in talks with foreign countries to send a force to stop fighting that has left hundreds dead, as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan joined calls for urgent intervention.

Pressure has grown on the United States to lead a multinational force after the second bloody rebel assault within 10 days on the capital, Monrovia.

They are fighting to oust President Charles Taylor, a former warlord wanted for war crimes by an international court.

Liberia's government said talks on a force had already begun with the United States and West African countries.

Taylor, who was told to step down this week by President Bush, said Liberia would not hesitate to invite in American troops to bring calm.

"This government is interested in working with Washington on resolving this problem in the continued promotion of democracy," he told reporters.

Annan said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council that it should meet immediately to agree on intervention.

"We cannot be oblivious to the warning signs of an imminent possible catastrophe," said a Annan, a Ghanaian, whose West African home region has been poisoned by Liberia's strife.

Most eyes in Liberia turn to the United States because of its historical links with a country founded more than 150 years ago by freed slaves trying to establish a haven of liberty.

But so far, U.S. officials have said there is no plan to send peacekeepers.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said a U.S. lead was natural given that France was helping end civil war in Ivory Coast and Britain had played a big role in Sierra Leone.

Both those wars were offshoots of violence that has wracked Liberia for nearly 14 years, turning it into a breeding ground for armed, drugged-up youngsters with no qualms about murder, rape or pillage.

Taylor started Liberia's cycle of blood-letting in 1989 in a war to overthrow a brutal dictatorship. He was elected in 1997 after emerging as the dominant faction leader.

FEARS OF NEW BATTLE

Taylor's commanders said they would silence their guns on Friday after the rebels ordered a cease-fire, but fighters sped out of Monrovia toward the front Saturday and piled sandbags on a key bridge to prepare for any future attack.

In the city, thousands of residents trooped back to their homes after four days trapped by fighting, some to collect their belongings and flee, others to pick up the pieces of their lives knowing they could well be caught in another battle soon.

Authorities say at least 300 were killed in the worst bloodshed Monrovia has seen since the mid-1990s.

Negotiations in Ghana were adjourned for a week Friday, although both sides said they were committed to talks they began after a cease-fire last week that never really took hold.

Regional diplomats say there is talk Nigeria might send soldiers to Liberia, as it did during the civil war in the 1990s. That West African force failed to prevent some of the bloodiest episodes of a war that left 200,000 dead.

But for many Liberians, only the Americans could do the job.

Bands chanting "We want peace, no more war" marched to the U.S. embassy for the third day running to call for intervention from a country seen by many as the historic motherland.

"George Bush is the president of the whole world and everyone knows that," said Martin Luther Wesseh, demonstrating outside the U.S. mission. "America owns Liberia. That is a fact. We learned it in school." (Additional reporting by Alphonso Toweh in Monrovia, Anne Boher in Accra, Robert Evans in Geneva)

__________________

Annan Calls for Multinational Force for Liberia
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3006205

Annan Calls for Multinational Force for Liberia
Sat June 28, 2003 03:31 PM ET




By Robert Evans
GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on Saturday for the urgent dispatch of a multinational force to Liberia to halt fighting between government and rebel forces that has killed hundreds.

Annan's appeal came in a letter to the U.N. Security Council and was clearly aimed at stepping up pressure on the United States, which has close links to the west African country, to act to help end the chaos there.

The U.N. chief, on a visit to Geneva, said the council should meet immediately to agree on intervention "to prevent a major humanitarian tragedy and to stabilize the situation in the country."

So far, the Bush administration has not decided on sending any force, although the issue is under discussion. Britain's U.N. ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, last week publicly urged the United States to lead a multinational force.

"There are at least talks of further intervention, whether that's necessary or appropriate. I don't know at this point," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Friday.

Other U.N. sources said Washington was seeking evacuation of 50 American and European citizens from Liberia and had asked the U.N. operation in neighboring Sierra Leone whether it could send helicopters. The United Nations, however, said it would first have to check whether Russia would accompany any evacuation with helicopter gunships, also based in Sierra Leone, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Liberia's government said it was talking to foreign countries, including the United States, on deploying a force to stop the fighting.

Annan's call and Liberia's announcement came amid an on-off cease-fire between government and rebels who control most of the country and are seeking to overthrow President Charles Taylor.

A sudden offensive earlier this week brought the rebels close to capturing the capital Monrovia and left hundreds dead before Taylor's forces beat off the attempt.

In what diplomats said was a reference to the United States, Annan said the force should be "under the lead of a (U.N.) member state."

Annan's letter, first released by the United Nations in Geneva where he is to attend a meeting next week of the world body's Economic and Social Council, was sent to current Security Council President Sergei Lavrov of Russia.

HIGHLY TRAINED FORCE

"I would ... like to request that the Security Council take urgent action to authorize the deployment to Liberia of a highly trained and well-equipped multinational force, under the lead of a member state," Annan wrote.

The force was vital "to prevent a major humanitarian tragedy and to stabilize the situation in that country," he said.

"Our collective interest and our common humanity demand urgent and decisive action from the Security Council. We cannot be oblivious to the warning signs of an imminent possible catastrophe."

Earlier this week, President Bush called on Taylor, wanted by an international court for war crimes in Sierra Leone, to step down, but did not offer to help him go.

Diplomats said there was growing frustration among senior U.N. officials over the U.S. "hands-off" stance in a country founded by freed American slaves more than 150 years ago.

Greenstock pointed out that France was leading a multinational force in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is engaged in a peacekeeping effort in Ivory Coast, while Britain still has troops in Sierra Leone.

Annan said the consequences of letting the situation in Liberia spiral out of control "are too terrible to contemplate, not only for Liberia but also for the countries of the sub-region" -- especially Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

(Evelyn Leopold in New York contributed to this report)

[Sir Galahad]

This is the same Kofi Annan who would not back us in Iraq. Oh, so NOW he wants U.S. troops?:rolleyes: The same Kofi Annan who was too busy playing Mazola Twister to be concerned with what happened in Rwanda. I really like how the world whines about "the U.S. thinks it runs the world and that's wrong!" but when the SHTF somewhere and no one else has the cojones necessary to do the job right, it's "the U.S. should help, they are the rightful stewards of the world!" Is thaaaaaat right? Ya don't say! Well, world, for starters, how about freakin' PAYING the money you owe us?? Can't afford it? Frick you, pay us. You didn't think you had to pay it back? Frick you, pay us. Go talk to your courageous buddies the French. Or the Germans. I'm sure they'll be glad to sacrifice their young men so after you're liberated from a tyrant you can show your gratitude by shooting those soldiers that just five minutes back gave their whole morning ration to your kids. I'm sure they'll love to show up and have half the freakin' city turn out to drag one of their comrade's dead body through the streets and spit on it. Hey, save your own frickin' selves! If we don't see the writing on the wall on this one, we're dumber than I thought.

[Marko Kloos]

Great...yet another Third World hellhole where we can commit our young men. Will this be like the "year-long" intervention in Bosnia?

The fighting forces of the US Army and Marine Corps are not there to play traffic cop in Absurdistan and Upper Revolta.

[Mil Novecientos Once]

I totally agree with your comments. I don't think US should led another intervention/invasion, or whatever it's called, to overthrow some "dictator-of-the-month", especially if it has nothing to do with the USA.

Most these kind of countries wants US intervention because" America is the land of the free", and I may add the land of the dollar. These people just want that the US pour them some cash that they will never be able to pay, and both sides know it.

[Sir Galahad]

Africa wanted to be free from colonialism. They got it. And, along with it, all the evil bugaboos that come when a major world power with a huge army is not watching your six and doling out the chow in famines anymore in exchange for a large share of your GNP. So, it's time for Africa to buck up and handle it.

[Peter Gun]

Even though I didnt support going into Iraq, the european hypocrisy on this issue is blatantly obvious. "Oh, big bad US dont go invading another country (when it will make us look bad and give you more money than us), but please come stabilize this third world ????hole (that we (euros) cant be bothered with)"

[longeyes]

"Compassion" says we send 'em all the troops they need.

"Diversity" says we bring the Liberians back here, maybe to Maine
to neighbor it up with the Somalis.

Bush lusts to be loved. Ironically, he isn't, no matter what he does.
Not outside the U.S. anyway.

Instead of worrying about telemarketers interrrupting dinner, he
ought to be worrying about our wide-open borders. Rome's burning,
Mr. B, keep fiddling.

[Sir Galahad]

I actually think getting rid of telemarketers is more important than intervening in Africa.

[DonQatU]

The USS Kearsarge has already off-loaded the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Onslow Beach, N.C. today.

That doesn't mean that the US won't provide OTHER "peacekeepers" to Liberia. It only means that they decided it unwise to deploy a unit that had already seen plenty of action in Iraq on another "peacekeeping mission".

Don

[geegee]

Most eyes in Liberia turn to the United States because of its historical links with a country founded more than 150 years ago by freed slaves trying to establish a haven of liberty.
Hard to believe that a century and a half has just flown by, with our country fighting our own Civil War (and this nation's successful reconstruction), fought two world wars to rid the world of tyrannical dictators, built the most vibrant economy on the planet, and here's the Liberians saying "It's the American's responsibility to come back here and make everything right." :cuss:

How about we just have weekly flights of C-130's to Africa, that fly over the continent and dump bales of American $20 bills out the rear door? We could get the same results, and cut out all the middlemen. :banghead: geegee

[El Tejon]

Don, good grief, I hope the Marines were not keeping peace. We have a lot of people we need to kill over there.

Let's get our people out. Seal the borders and provide better weapons and training. We can come back when the barbarians have all killed themselves.:)

[Preacherman]

To give you some idea of how sickeningly bad things are in Liberia today (and why a US intervention would probably not produce long-term stability), here's an article from the Sunday Telegraph, London (http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2003/06/29/do2910.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2003/06/29/ixop.html):

A bad man in Africa
By Anthony Daniels
(Filed: 29/06/2003)

Profile: Charles Taylor

Few men in recent history have wrought as much misery and destruction as Charles Taylor, the elected President of Liberia. His ambition and greed have caused not only the displacement of a million of his own countrymen out of a population of a mere three million, and brought about the death of a tenth of the population, but he has provoked civil war in two neighbouring states, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. Now his country is mostly under the control of two rebel movements that are besieging the capital, Monrovia, and it is only a matter of time before he is overthrown.

At the beginning of this month, Taylor was indicted for crimes against humanity by an international court sitting in Sierra Leone, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. This will hardly have encouraged him to stand down as President, as he had shortly before agreed to do, to allow the setting-up of an interim government. Now he wants to fight to the finish, however much bloodshed this might entail. At the age of 55 he still relishes the trappings of power and likes to be seen on thrones in golden robes. He has at least one wife, Jewel, who lives in the Ivory Coast. His daughter, Edena, came to public attention two years ago, when aged 13, she was publicly caned at her school by her father for indiscipline.

Taylor's career cannot be understood without some knowledge of Liberian history. He was the third of 15 children of Americo-Liberian parents: descendants of the freed American slaves who established the Liberian republic, and who dominated Liberia politically and economically for 133 years from its foundation until 1980, despite being only 3 per cent of the population.

He was sent to the United States by his father for university education and obtained a degree in economics from Bentley College in Massachusetts. To pay for his extravagant partying, he worked on the production line of a toy factory called Sweetheart Plastics. He was also involved in Liberian student politics of a radical nature, influenced by Marxist and Pan-African ideas, and at one time, advocated burning down the Liberian embassy in Washington.

Back in Liberia, in 1980 the semi-literate Master-Sergeant Samuel Doe led a violent coup in which the former President, William Tolbert, was disembowelled in his bed. Seeing an opportunity for real power, Taylor returned to Liberia, where he was appointed head of the General Services Agency, the new government's procurement organisation. This gave him not only cabinet rank but immense powers of patronage and possibilities for personal enrichment.

Doe came to power claiming to be a representative of the tribal people of Liberia, in opposition to their colonial masters, the Americo-Liberians; but, in practice, he soon started to favour members of his own tribe, the Krahn. This led him to conflict with other leaders of the 1980 coup, one of whom, Thomas Quiwonkpah, a member of the Gio tribe, led an invasion from the Ivory Coast to overthrow Doe. Quiwonkpah nearly succeeded, but was captured in Monrovia, and his corpse, according to witnesses, was dragged through the streets and parts of it were eaten by Doe's men. There were brutal reprisals in Nimba County, where many of Quiwonkpah's fellow tribesmen lived.

Taylor was believed to have been sympathetic to Quiwonkpah and, realising the danger he was in, he fled to the United States. Doe, then an ally of the US, claimed that Taylor had embezzled $900,000 from the General Services Agency, and Taylor was arrested in America at the request of Doe, who wanted him extradited to Liberia. He spent 15 months in a Massachusetts prison until, with four petty criminals, he sawed through his bars and escaped. No efforts were made to recapture him. His lawyer was Ramsey Clarke, a former Attorney-General, which is indicative of Taylor's ability to form valuable connections.

On his return to Africa, Taylor became the head of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, dedicated to overthrowing Doe. He received the backing of Col Gadaffi, who was trying to extend his influence in Africa, as well as Blaise Campaore, the President of Burkina Faso, and Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the President of the Ivory Coast.

In 1989, Taylor launched an invasion of Liberia from the Ivory coast and he soon came to control the entire country except the capital, Monrovia. A multinational West African military force prevented Taylor from taking the capital, but Doe was captured by a former ally of Taylor's, the self-styled Brigadier-General Field-Marshal Prince Y Johnson. Doe was stripped naked and filmed having his ears cut off with a knife while Johnson, drinking beer, interrogated him as to the numbers of his bank accounts. Doe died soon afterwards, and the video of his torture was sold in large numbers in West Africa.

Taylor's forces included children, who were often dressed in bizarre costumes and blond wigs. Frequently under the influence of drugs, they were notable for their childish brutality and up to 200,000 people were killed in this phase of the war. A stalemate ensued, with an "official" government installed in Monrovia, while Taylor controlled the rest of the country and ruled from a town called Gbarnga. He was able to amass a huge fortune through the continued sale of Liberia's plentiful natural resources such as diamonds, iron ore and timber..

Eventually, after about 15 failed peace conferences, elections were brokered in 1996, and the Liberian population realised that Taylor would seek the presidency by other means if they did not vote for him. Wanting an end to the war at any price, they voted for Taylor. This did not satisfy his ambitions, however. By the time he reached power, Monrovia was not an auspicious place from which to bestride the world. It had been more comprehensively destroyed than any capital in the world. Rubbish accumulated on the beaches, every important building was damaged by gunfire and thoroughly looted, the streets were potholed and no public services worked. A brief interregnum of reconstruction has been followed by another orgy of destruction.

Still theoretically a Pan-African and in practice a kleptomaniac who pillaged the wealth of the nation, Taylor attempted to install puppets in Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast by the same means that he had achieved power in Liberia. Most notoriously he backed and armed the collectively psychopathic Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone, whose murderous atrocities startled the world, and for whose arms he paid with the diamonds of Sierra Leone.

Now he is getting his comeuppance. In 1999, a rebel movement called Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd), backed by Guinea and based in Sierra Leone, invaded Liberia, using the same kind of tactics and soldiery that Taylor used. And the government of the Ivory Coast, exasperated by Taylor's interference, backed the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (Model). These rebels have now all but conquered Liberia, and Taylor faces the same fate as Samuel Doe, 13 years ago. But the triumph of Lurd and Model will not bring peace to Liberia: without clear leadership, they have no policy beyond killing anyone who might be a supporter of Taylor.

Taylor is not only a war criminal (he once attempted to sue The Times for suggesting that he was a cannibal, though the action was eventually struck out because of his unwillingness to appear in a London court), but he is also a Baptist preacher. Accused in the United Nations of being a gun-runner and a diamond smuggler, he dressed up in an angel's white robe and spoke at a mass prayer meeting. Accused by a journalist of being a murderer, he stated that Jesus was also accused of being a murderer in his time. It appears, however, that he will soon receive his earthly reward.

[DonQatU]

Don, good grief, I hope the Marines were not keeping peace.

El Tejon, bud... what do YOU think we should do/or not do in Liberia?

Don

[DonQatU]

Taylor faces the same fate as Samuel Doe, 13 years ago.

I wouldn't surrender, if I were given Sgt. Doe's fate! He was tortured to death (forced to eat his chopped off ears) on video.

Mr. Taylor must be thinking about this!

Don

[Sergeant Bob]

"Diversity" says we bring the Liberians back here, maybe to Maine to neighbor it up with the Somalis.

Ding-ding ding!! We have a winner! Why not just fly over the country dropping plane tickets to Lewiston, and save all that hard work.

[Tamara]

Send in the Marines.

Extract any and all US citizens that wish to be extracted.

Pull out the embassy and inform them that we'll send the ambassador back as soon as there's a government to send the ambassador back to.

Extract the Marines.

Go home.

Roast wiener dogs on the beach at Camp LeJeune.

End of story.

[El Tejon]

Don, what we should do in Africa? Hunting is good. There are some great restaurants in Suid Afrika. That's about it.

Best thing we can do for Africa is ignore it and allow the Africans to work it out themselves. Our meddling only makes things far worse.

[DonQatU]

Best thing we can do for Africa is ignore it and allow the Africans to work it out themselves. Our meddling only makes things far worse.

El Tejon, I think you have the right idea. Let the locals sort it out themselves.

But, I don't think this is what is going to happen. The POTUS has already called for "regime change" and the UN is putting pressure on the US to send in "peace keeping" forces.

There is also internal political pressure for the US to intervene. Remember the screams of outrage when the US didn't stop the ethnic violence in Rwanda?

This it what happens when happens when you become "world policeman".

Call me an isolationist....... but unless US security interests are at stake, I say just let them beat themselves bloody until they get tired of it.... without US money, support or troops.

Don

[Mike Irwin]

"what do YOU think we should do/or not do in Liberia?"

I think we should let the European Union field this one.

France want's to be the large swinging Richard in Europe, let them stand up to the task instead of scurrying away like rats.

[DonQatU]

Pull out the embassy and inform them that we'll send the ambassador back as soon as there's a government to send the ambassador back to.

Tamara, the US has wisely chosen to send the USS Kearsarge and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Bde. home for R&R.

But, the administration is probably thinking of sending others to take their place.

Don

[DonQatU]

I think we should let the European Union field this one.

Mike, don't think this is going to happen.

The Brits saved the day in Sierra Leon. And the French took care of the Ivory Coast situation. I think the world is expecting the US to take care of this new "tar-baby" crisis (since Liberia was mostly a US invention).

It would have been much easier if the POTUS hadn't called for "regime change"! :mad:

Don

[El Tejon]

Don, of course, it is possible to have regime change without sending in troops. [Touching wood] Just like (maybe) Iran!:cool:

[DonQatU]

Don, of course, it is possible to have regime change without sending in troops. [Touching wood] Just like (maybe) Iran!

ET, I may be wrong......... but the "Iran collapsing on it's own" scenario sounds like wishfull thinking to me.

Don

[jsalcedo]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I say leave them to their own devices.

[El Tejon]

The CCCP was predicted to go on and on for another 100 years by the CIA. Those in Washington worship government and will always be on the side of their angels--the government no matter who it is.

Never discount the power of people desiring freedom. To paraphrase P.J. O'Rourke the most Evil of Empires with all its secret police, slave camps, tanks and nuclear weapons was destroyed by women refusing to stand in line to buy Bulgarian shoes.

Iran with its religious secret police, its illiterate holy men, and 12th century worldview of a planned society, may be destroyed by 19 year olds wanting to purchase Madonna albums.:D

[DonQatU]

Iran with its religious secret police, its illiterate holy men, and 12th century worldview of a planned society, may be destroyed by 19 year olds wanting to purchase Madonna albums.

ET, I saw that quote in some OpEd article. If Iran throws off their secular chains,......... I hope it's not about Modanna albums!

The NON-secular government they overthrew before their current government was also pretty bad. Although the 19 year olds can't remember the abuses of the SAVAK, most middle-age Iranians still do.

Did you know it was General Schwarzkopf that assisted the Shah to set up the SAVAK?

Don

[El Tejon]

Don, well, The Bear and the boys from the Office of Planning and Research at the FBI. Same plans on file for here some day.:uhoh:

[DonQatU]

The Bear and the boys from the Office of Planning and Research at the FBI. Same plans on file for here some day.

Don't know exactly what you mean. Could you explain? TIA! Don

[El Tejon]

Don, The Bear is Stormin' Norman's other nickname.

Setting up secret police is something that DoD has been working with the FBI for some time purportedly. I met a couple of febbie types at gun skul and they discussed their office's work on internal security here. The big concern was a tax revolt (could be anything--Patriot Act, gun law, etc.) as the feds understand that as the Congress piles greater and greater burdens upon the productive class in order to further entrench themselves, Atlas may start to shrug and the productive must be kept in line--Nanny State power packs.

This more than anything is what drove the Branch Davidian investigation (people attempting to isolate themselves from the Nanny State). The feds are now preparing for more of this in order to nip it in the bud. The plan is to get ahead of any crisis by being proactive. The Internet monitoring is just one aspect of this (AFTE's forward tracing and gun registration are another aspect).

Granted the project is multi-headed and huge, but the feds are hoping changing technology will help them get a handle on us.

[Mike Irwin]

"If Iran throws off their secular chains..."

Iran doesn't have any secular chains to throw off right now.

Iran is currently under religious rule, which replaced the secular government of the Shah in 1979.

"I think the world is expecting the US to take care of this new "tar-baby" crisis (since Liberia was mostly a US invention)."

So freaking what?

As I said, France has indicated that it wants to be the world counterweight to the United States.

What better way than by taking over the peacekeeping role that has been largely filled by the United States in the last couple of decades.

Put up or shut up, Frogs.

[Mil Novecientos Once]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=3015543



U.S. Resists Pressure to Intervene in Liberia
Mon June 30, 2003 07:13 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States resisted on Monday making any firm commitment to lead a peacekeeping mission to Liberia but said it was considering what it could do to help bring an end to the fighting.
"We are looking at a variety of options and plans and we will discuss it in greater detail tomorrow, but no decisions have been made yet," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview.

Appearing on the PBS program "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," Powell said the Bush administration was deeply concerned about the situation in Liberia and that U.S. national security officials had met on the subject over the weekend.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States was "looking at a range of options" in Liberia.

Asked about U.S. participation in a multinational force, Rumsfeld he told a Pentagon briefing: "That's a call the president (George W. Bush) would make, if and when he decided to make such a call. And he has not."

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan kept up the pressure on the United States on Monday to lead an intervention in Liberia as troops strengthened defenses around battle-worn Monrovia in fear of another rebel attack.

West African countries pledged troops for a peacekeeping force on Sunday, but they want help from the United States to prevent a blood bath in the capital and end nearly 14 years of violence that have infected the impoverished region.

Powell said in the interview that he had spoken with Annan on Monday.

"He and I have been in very close touch on this situation, following it closely, and all of this will be presented to the president in the very near future and then we'll make our decision," Powell said.

U.S. forces are stretched thin by deployments abroad in areas which the Bush administration thinks are of greater strategic significance, especially Iraq and Afghanistan.

The United States does however plan to provide one military expert to an international verification team which would monitor a cease-fire in Liberia.

Western diplomats said the battle for support for intervention in Liberia was far from won in Washington. Even though some State Department officials appeared to be in favor, the Pentagon was still generally uneasy.

Rumsfeld said the State Department has not requested an evacuation operation out of Monrovia.

[DonQatU]

El Tejon, it was Norman Schwarzkopf SENIOR (Stormin' Norman's dad) who helped set up the SAVAK.

"We are looking at a variety of options and plans........
............"looking at a range of options" in Liberia....... "That's a call the president (George W. Bush) would make, if and when he decided to make such a call. And he has not."

NOT YET AT LEAST!

"US forcess are stretched thin by deployments abroad in areas which the Bush administration thinks are of greater strategic significance, especially Iraq and Afghanistan."

Don

[Selfdfenz]

I vote we stay the heck out. That cover the Rocket Science part of this instructional session.

I also vote that if we really do roast wiener dogs in the back yard we are not a people to be greatly admired.

Weiners yes....weiners dogs no!.


S_

Sorry T., I almost all way agree with you but this is going toooooo far.:p

[DonQatU]

.... we should send US peackeepers to Liberia!

So, the neocons are apparently all for intervention. It figures!

But, I'll leave it to you to figure out "WHY"? :scrutiny:

Don

"Ultimately, our money, weapons, and interventionist policies never buy us friends for long……

....and more often we simply arm our future enemies." – Rep. Ron Paul

[Mil Novecientos Once]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/931163.asp?vts=070320030601

WASHINGTON, July 2 — President Bush, who makes his first visit to Africa next week, is considering deployment of troops to the war-torn West African nation of Liberia, but has yet to decide under what circumstances he would do so and exactly what the troops would do there, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday. Later in the day, Bush publicly lamented Liberians’ suffering and unrest but stopped short of saying he would send troops. “We’re exploring all options,” he said.

President Bush would send the U.S. troops only if Liberian President Charles Taylor left the country, sources said. NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski reports.



RELUCTANT TO GET involved in another military fight, the Bush administration debated how to respond to international pressure that it send in peacekeepers.
“It is premature to say an announcement is forthcoming in the next day or so,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said after consulting with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Sources said that no final decision had been made but that Bush would likely send several dozen Marines to shore security at the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia, the capital, followed by 650 to 850 Army ground troops who would join a larger peacekeeping contingent that included African forces, perhaps under U.N. direction.
Army troops could be on the ground in Liberia within two weeks, the sources said. But they would be there under strict conditions: Their stay would be limited to only 60 to 90 days, and they would remain under the command of a U.S. officer.

BUSH: “TAYLOR NEEDS TO LEAVE NOW’
Most important, the sources said, Bush would commit the ground troops only if Liberian President Charles Taylor left the country, where street fighting has killed an estimated 700 people in recent weeks. Bush would not send the troops into the middle of the country’s vicious civil war, they stressed.
Bush said Wednesday that Powell was working with the United Nations to determine the best way to keep a cease-fire in place. He called again for Taylor to step down.
“One thing has to happen: Mr. Taylor needs to leave the country,” Bush said. “In order for there to be peace and stability in Liberia, Charles Taylor needs to leave now.”
Taylor told CBS Radio on Wednesday that U.S. troops would be welcomed inside the country, that he would be willing to leave Liberia in about three months and called for the United Nations war crimes charges against him to be dropped.
I’m not sure if “asking the democratically elected president to leave is the solution, but I will leave,” he said.
“Of course,” Taylor added later, “that is subject to hearing what President Bush has to say.”

U.S.-LIBERIAN TIES STRONG
The strife has put Bush under pressure to act because of the United States’ historical ties to Liberia, which was founded by freed American slaves in 1822. The U.N.’s Annan, Britain, France, several West African countries and desperate Liberians have all called for U.S. troops to take the lead in restoring peace.
Speaking Wednesday to reporters at the White House, Bush urged Taylor to leave the country, saying he was “exploring all options as to how to keep the situation peaceful and stable.”

DECISION EXPECTED SOON



U.S. sources told NBC News that Bush would decide whether to send U.S. forces within the next day or so, before he left Monday for his trip to Africa. Bush is scheduled to be interviewed Thursday by African journalists ahead of his trip, which will take him to Senegal, Uganda, Nigeria, Botswana and South Africa. The president will not visit Liberia next week.
Bush was said to be considering two other, more limited, options besides the commitment to join an international peacekeeping force.
Also on the table, but less likely, the sources said, were a proposal to send only the Marine reinforcements to protect the embassy and other U.S. interests in Monrovia, as well as a proposal to simply provide military logistics and intelligence support for other international peacekeepers.

NIGERIAN ASYLUM REJECTED
There have been wide calls for Taylor to go into exile, but the situation is complicated by his indictment on war crimes charges by a U.N.-backed court in Sierra Leone.
U.N. diplomats said in New York that Taylor had already rejected an offer of asylum from Nigeria, which has no law under which he could be extradited to face the court.
Taylor, who is accused of fanning more than a decade of conflict in the region, has demanded that the indictment be dropped. West African leaders also suggest that exile might be the best way to end Liberia’s war and help ensure peace elsewhere.
“It may not satisfy purists on one side or the other, but we are not just looking at the fate of one man but that of 3 million people,” Ghanaian Foreign Minister Nana Akufo-Addo said.
A Nigerian envoy met Taylor for several hours in Monrovia before flying back to Abuja with Liberia’s foreign minister.

PROSECUTION VOWS TO PURSUE TAYLOR
A spokesman for the court’s prosecution vowed that even if he went to Nigeria, it “would pursue the indictment of Charles Taylor until the court gets hold of him.”
Taylor’s fate is seen as the key to resolving Liberia’s crisis. His foes from a civil war that cost 200,000 lives in the 1990s started a new war to oust him three years ago. They now control nearly two-thirds of the country.
Taylor’s case poses additional problems, because any force that came to Liberia while he was still in power might effectively be protecting him but could also come under pressure from the war crimes court to arrest him.
A U.N. Security Council mission flew to Ghana for meetings Wednesday with all of Liberia’s factions. The team of ambassadors has said it wants a transition government that does not involve Taylor or any of the warring groups.
Taylor won elections in 1997 after emerging as the dominant faction leader in the first war. His term expires in January.

TROOPS STATIONED IN SPAIN
Because of the recent violence — but apart from the question of U.S. peacekeepers — several dozen U.S. Marines have for days been on standby at a Spanish military base in case they are needed for quick deployment as extra security at the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia or to evacuate Americans.
The U.S. military has plenty on its plate without sending troops to Liberia.
More than 10,000 American troops are still working in and around Afghanistan, and nearly 150,000 troops are stationed in a violent and troubled postwar Iraq.

NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Reuters contributed to this report.

[Tom B]

Send Jimmy Carter over there and let him tell the dipstick that "the planes are in the air!" He will move faster than a camel being "bricked" getting out of there. Hey there are a few things that Jimmy does well!

[DontShootMe]

1. Send in the troops
2. Occupy the area
3. Win

[M1911]

Let's see. Liberia is not an ally. We have no strategic interests in Liberia. We have no significant commercial interests in Liberia.

So why should we care that the savages are killing each other?

I'm sorry, let the Euro-trash go in if they care that much about it. Between them all they ought to be able scare up an expeditionary force -- two gendarmes and a few german border guards....

[Zeke Menuar]

I am sick and tired of my hard earned tax dollars being spent on policing the planet. We have bigger issues here in America. It really pisses me off that this country can spend billions to squash every Napoleon wannabe that comes along and the local school district has to close three weeks early because they have no money. If GWB keeps playing planet-policeman he is likely to start the next Vietnam......or Somalia

Keep our boys at home for a change

ZM

[Skunkabilly]

I'm surprised the race card hasn't come up yet.

[Sean Smith]

There is no way in hell we should go to Liberia.

We have no interests in Africa, aside from getting footage for "Animal Planet."

Nothing in Africa poses a threat, as long as you have the sense to stay out of Africa. With the exception of "allies" like Egypt, anyway (see Al-Qaeda's personnel files for details).

America will be hated by the disease-ridden subliterate scum of the world no matter what we do, and the Liberians probalby won't like us either. So why not just be hated for free?

I've come to the conclusion that American foreign policy is doomed no matter what we do. We can't give away free food to starving people and make it work. We take out a foreigner with a moustache who throws people in a wood chipper, gases people, and starts wars with 2 countries in a decade's time, and our president is the one compared to Hitler. Stopping genocide in Bosnia just made all 3 major factions (and about 50 minor ones) hate our guts. Mexico gets pissed when pregnant women shoot border-hopping criminals who bust down her screen door. Canada sends Celine Dion after us.

Why bother? Screw the world, they all talk funny, and anyway we can get all the good foreign food we want now thanks to our immigration "laws."

:evil:

[mercedesrules]

U. S. imperialism!

MR

[Skunkabilly]

So why not just be hated for free?
Ya daaaaamn right.
We lose either way.

[Tom B]

We must free Liberia now as there have been rumors that they have WMD! :what:

[Delmar]

Issue every human being in the country a rifle and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. When they are done slaughtering each other, send a few congressmen over (why waste military lives-the fat cats can stop bullets just as well!) and see who is in charge. If we don't like them-bomb the little silly.

[Waitone]

The European Union thinks it can take the field against the US. OK, guys. Suit up and head for Liberia. Fix the problem there and demonstrate you belong in the NFL. Otherwise shut up. An historic relationship is meanngless. We have an historic relationship with France that pre-dates our interest in Liberia. I see no reason to involve ourselves in something that is ugly by irrelevant.

It took time but Gulliver was eventually tied down.

[DonQatU]

QUOTE]I see no reason to involve ourselves in something that is ugly by irrelevant.[/QUOTE] Waitone

I'm surprised the race card hasn't come up yet. Skunkabilly

The EU has "no dog in the fight". Why should they be eager to jump in on another police action in the area?

The British took care of the situation in Sierra Leon.... the French took care of the Ivory Coast.

I think if Dubyah jumps in....... it is because he wants to win black votes in the next election.

And IF successful, we can also get back our CIA and NSA listening posts in Monrovia.

And DeBeers can set up shop in Liberia again!

Cynical? Who.......ME??! :rolleyes: Don

[LostOneToo]

I agree with Sir Galahad; we are damned if we do and damned if we don't.

Why waste American blood on people who will only be unappreciative and have the world call us imperialists?

Those people have been killing one another for centuries and our intervention will not change any of that in the long run.:what:

[DonQatU]

....... and gives a darn good summary of the situation in Liberia at the same time!

A long read ....... but in the X- ring!

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j070703.html

Don

[HBK]

I'm thinking we shouldn't go to Liberia. I am starting to think we shoudl pull all our troops out of everywhere, tighten up our borders to the point that they are locked, develop a stellar missle defense system, and say to hell with the rest of the world.

[DonQatU]

HBK, did you read this article?

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j070703.html

Don

[HBK]

I skimmed it just now, will read it later when I get back. I have to go to the gun store today. If I agree with someone from antiwar.com, I am going to be worried, but it looks like I do.

[DonQatU]

I skimmed it just now, will read it later when I get back. I have to go to the gun store today. If I agree with someone from antiwar.com, I am going to be worried, but it looks like I do.

HBK, try to read all points of view on an issue (especially EXTREME views). Set your "BS" meter on MAXIMUM..... then check for truth and accuracy!

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j070703.html

Don

[Cosmoline]

This has "VERY BAD IDEA" written all over it.

Putting our boys between two extremely violent, extremely nasty factions? To quote Tom Sizemore's character in Black Hawk Down, "What's not to like?"

[HBK]

On second thought, we should pull everyone out, then nuke the place from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.:neener: Seriously, no way should our troops gp in there.

[Ten Dollar Man]

Liberia is one of the few places in the world as dangerous AND irrelevant as Somalia. I've heard some first hand stories that indicate the only thing they excel at is new and creative means of torture.

If Bush sends US troops there, then I may have to finally conclude that he is irredeemable.

I see from previous posts that the Frogs and Brits have done their part already. So I humbly propose another option for this adventure:

The Germans

They seemed to have had plenty of advice for us regarding the Iraq conflict. Here's a good chance to show us how it's done!

Wake me up when the first panzer division hits the beach in Monrovia.

[brookstexas]

President Bush has war with Iraq, failing economy,commits troops to African hellhole, champions assault weapons ban, loses presidency.


Looks like his son George is doing the same thing....

[DonQatU]

Why Liberia? Why now? The place has been in a state of bloody chaos for more than a decade.

Could it be that the Bush administration needs a distraction?

Weapons of mass destruction, the main reason for going after Saddam Hussein, have not been found. Neither has Hussein been found. Iraq's vast oil fields are not working. The talk from the president - when he's not doing his macho "Bring them on" - is that Americans will be in Iraq for a long and dangerous time.

Not a happy picture.

Imagine how delightful, under the circumstances, it would be to go to a place like Liberia where people are being shown on television pleading for the United States to come and rescue their country. All those happy faces cheerfully welcoming U.S. troops dispatched by President Bush.

Don

[DonQatU]

Bush's first speech in Africa will be on slavery on Goree Island off the coast of Senegal. There, many Africans bound in chains for the New World had their last glimpse of their homeland.



Let's see ..... flight suit aboard the USS Lincoln.

Teddy Roosevelt painting in the background as he gave his tough talk "bring 'em on! speech.

Trying not to be cynical......... but I bet that Duhbya poses before some background theme that glorifies his action in Liberia when he announces that he is sending US troops in!

Don

[Waitone]

Why Liberia? Why now? The place has been in a state of bloody chaos for more than a decade.

Could it be that the Bush administration needs a distraction? You have the right view from the wrong end of the telescope.

Item--Bush is running for re-election
Item--Bush is in a "give the democrats any thing they want to shut 'em up" mode
Item--Democrats have a grand fear the Bush is making inroads into the African-American vote
Item--Bush previously scheduled the African tour long before Liberia heated up.
Item--Democrats figured to wedge African American votes off Bush by demanding US intervention in Liberia.

Conclusion--Bush did it to himself. The smart play would be to cancel the trip until Liberia was resolved. Because he is pandering to domestic voters he is walking eyes wide open into a bear trap.

No sympathy here. He put himself into a position where democrats can take pot shots at him with no chance for him to return fire. Bad tactical planning and execution.

[2dogs]

Taylor Escaped from Mass. Jail in 1985







Tuesday, July 08, 2003

BOSTON — Indicted for war crimes, his country torn apart by civil conflict, poised to go into exile — Liberian President Charles Taylor (search) is at the center of a gripping international drama.





But he was once just a young man with an unremarkable name who pumped gas, worked in a plastics factory, and studied at a Massachusetts college.

He also earned a share of notoriety by becoming the only escapee from the Plymouth County (search) jail who wasn't caught.

The Liberian-born Taylor, now 55, spent the 1970s in Boston, earning an economics degree from Bentley College (search) in Waltham in 1977 and working as an activist on Liberian issues.

Delores Adighibe, of Boston, said she lived in the same apartment building as Taylor for about five years in the early 1970s, when both were students at Bentley. She described Taylor as "political and generous."

"He was very big-hearted, very giving, but extremely political and concerned about Liberia," she said. "We were all very active."

Adighibe, who is co-chairman of the Liberian Community Association of Massachusetts, said she has been disappointed with Taylor, though, since he was elected the country's president in 1997.

"I think greed took him ... overpowered him," she said.

She spoke as President Bush, embarking on a five-day tour of Africa, is demanding that Taylor relinquish power.

Mohammed Kromah, 53, of Baltimore, said he remembered Taylor from when the two worked together as activists in the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas during the 1970s, trying to inform the world of what was happening in Liberia.

Kromah, now president of the organization, said he and many of Taylor's friends are disappointed with Taylor's tenure as president. He was articulate and idealistic during his six years in power, but achieved little, Kromah said.

"There's not a single thing in the country that you can proudly say that 'Mr. Taylor did this,"' he said. "It's a waste, a vacuum, an emptiness in Liberian history."

Taylor, who was raised in a suburb of the Liberian capital of Monrovia, went back to Liberia in 1979 after a regime change. He won a top job in the new government of Samuel Doe, but was charged with embezzling $1 million as head of Liberia's General Services Administration.

Taylor fled to the United States, but he was arrested and incarcerated in the Plymouth County jail.

On Sept. 15, 1985, Taylor cut through bars with a hacksaw and climbed down a knotted sheet to gain his freedom, avoiding extradition and trial in his home country.

Back in Liberia, Taylor led rebels against Doe in a bloody conflict that killed hundreds of thousands in the late '80s. Acknowledged as the country's strongest warlord, he was then elected as president of the country in 1997. But rebels have been fighting for three years to oust him.

Taylor has been indicted by a U.N.-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone for allegedly supporting rebels in a bloody conflict in that country.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,91301,00.html

[longeyes]

When did Bush turn into Bono?

Is it about the African-American votes or is it the MTV votes?
Will someone, anyone, call Karl Rove and please find out?

Bush talked about slavery "over there." He didn't quite apologize
for stuff that happened eight generations ago in the U.S. But
as the Conscience of the World he came damn close. Did he mention
that slavery exists today, right there in Africa?

I also read that Africa needs "infrastructure" (can anyone say
Bechtel?!!!) and "heavy machinery." O-kay. But do we have to
pay for President Wade's presidential yacht too? Dude doesn't
have farm equipment but he's got to put on a good show, I guess,
for visiting dignitaries?

$16 billion for AIDS in Africa and pennies for shoring up our
own borders. Our states are going broke but Bush wants the WTO to
go easy on African debt.

And high blackrobe Stephen Breyer wonders aloud, on tv, how relevant
our Constitution is in an era of globalism and whether it will
fit into the governing documents of other nations? Can anyone spell
IMPEACH?

Oh, whatever...!

[BigG]

For those in those $XXXholes (cue Willam Munny music) of their own making, let them drown in their own sewage. Others said it better than me, but colonialism was a blessing compared to the conditions they have created for themselves in the turdworld. :scrutiny:

[rrader]

US to Liberia, aren't we already over-extended?

[DonQatU]

Gee, only takes a day!

Trying not to be cynical......... but I bet that Duhbya poses before some background theme that glorifies his action in Liberia when he announces that he is sending US troops in!

LOOK AT THE PHOTOS! :eek:

Don

[DonQatU]

I also read that Africa needs "infrastructure" (can anyone say Bechtel)?

Could also be Kellogg, Brown & Root (subsidiary of Halliburton). ;-)

Don

[Tom B]

And Bush still can't poll more than 10% of the Black vote here! :p

[saddenedcitizen]

an essay by Kim Du Toit (try www.kimdutoit.com) regarding Africa.
According to his essay,

1) He was raised there
2) was able to get the he!! out
3) basically says that ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING that the U.S.
and/or the rest of the world has tried and/or will try will fail. 'cause
ITS ALL BEEN TRIED BEFORE with zero improvement .

Take a look

[DonQatU]

saddenedcitizen, not only will the mission fail....... it will cost US lives!

Don

[Waitone]

And Bush still can't poll more than 10% of the Black vote here Bush needs to peel off only 7% of the Black vote on a national basis to create a train wreck in the democrat party.

[DonQatU]

You know what, waitone? The life of even ONE US soldier, sailor, marine, airman is MUCH more important to me than Bush's popularity among black voters!

Don

[DonQatU]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=DUQ0JRD43DJBACRBAEOCFEY?type=topNews&storyID=3054412

Get ready! They're not going to be throwing flowers at us!

Don

[Skunkabilly]

Gun-waving Liberian troops blocked a U.S. military team from entering a refugee camp on Tuesday as President Bush vowed to work with the United Nations and Africans for peace in the country....[snip]"We got turned around. The military turned us around," a U.S. embassy official told Reuters. "I don't know why."

Um....becuase it's a foreign military invasion? Hell if the Liberians came steaming up Newport Bay ya damn right I'd turn 'em around! Duhhhh.....

[Destructo6]

You know what, waitone? The life of even ONE US soldier, sailor, marine, airman is MUCH more important to me than Bush's popularity among black voters!
Somehow I get the feeling that the life of a stinkbug is quite a bit more important to you than anything regarding GW's reelection.

[HeavyHaul]

My granddad told me to clean my own backyard, before complaining about, or cleaning, my neighbors. Seems to me, that's what we need to do now. Get our own country's problems fixed, before trying to fix everybody else's country. Lock the doors, fix our problems, then kick anyones butt that don't like it. JMHO.

Bill

[Preacherman]

Interesting editorial in the Telegraph, London (http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2003/07/09/do0901.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2003/07/09/ixopinion.html):

The tragedy of Liberia is entirely of its own making
By Anthony Daniels
(Filed: 09/07/2003)

There is only one thing worse, morally speaking, than American intervention, and that is American non-intervention. With President Bush in Africa this week, attention turns to a much-cited example of what the latter can do.

Liberians of every political stripe compare American activism in Iraq with American passivity in Liberia and they take the view that the great Republic over the water is acting less as Liberia's benevolent godparent, than as its neglectful stepmother. American inaction, they believe, is responsible for the way Liberians have been slaughtering one another for the past 14 years.

Much of the world agrees. After all, as Liberians never ceased to point out to me when I visited Monrovia during a brief lull in the civil war, a detachment of 500 trained troops could have put an end to the violence there in a couple of weeks. A few marines would have saved 200,000 lives.

The trouble is that life is lived forwards, not backwards. If the marines had been dispatched, no one would have known how many lives they saved, and then the very same people who condemn the Americans for not having dispatched them would have blamed the Americans for other reasons. They would have said that the Americans were trying to secure West African diamonds, or its iron and manganese deposits. There is no pleasing some people.

But why should the Americans be more responsible than anyone else for what happens in Liberia? It is far from being the only country able to dispatch 500 troops sufficiently well-trained to bring order to Liberia.

What, then, gives America its special responsibility towards Liberia? The answer is always that the historical links between the two countries create this special responsibility: no mention of Liberia is ever quite complete without reference to the fact that it was founded as a refuge for freed slaves from America.

Whether this foundation was an act of generosity or was intended to remove free men of colour from America lest they infect slaves with dreams of freedom is still debated: but what is never disputed is that the foundation conferred on America a moral responsibility that, presumably, will stretch to all eternity.

Liberia attained its independence as a republic in 1847. The Americo-Liberians, or Congos as they came to be called, stood in more or less the same relation to the native population as white colonists in Africa were later to do. Only three per cent of the population, they believed themselves to be in possession of a superior civilisation whose advantages it was their duty to spread to the benighted tribes around them.

The Americo-Liberians remained in power, through the influence of their all-pervasive True Whig Party, until 1980. Under the leadership of President Tubman (who died in 1971 after a cataract operation at the London Clinic), Liberia enjoyed for some years the highest growth rate of any country in the world.

At that time, the country seemed almost a fiefdom of the Firestone Rubber Company, Harvey S Firestone having planted 1,000,000 acres of Liberia, granted on easy terms, with rubber in the 1920s to break the British world monopoly on rubber production. To the American cultural influence was now added economic predominance.

Moreover, Liberia had suddenly become politically important to America. During the Second World War, the airfield at Robertfield was granted to the Americans as a re-fuelling station; and during the Cold War, Liberia became America's principal strategic listening-post and satellite station.

As the economy developed, the Americo-Liberians were forced by reality to co-opt more of the "native" population into the elite. Ever more students were sent to America for higher education, where many of them picked up the radical ideas of the time, and became rabble-rousers and demagogues.

After the violent and destructive riots in 1979 about a rise in the price of rice, fomented and fanned by the demagogues, William Tolbert, the last True Whig president of Liberia (who was also a Baptist minister, and was soon to be disembowelled in his bed), felt constrained as a sop to the demagogues to distance himself from Liberia's traditional policy of alliance with America, and turned, rhetorically at least, to the Left.

When Tolbert was overthrown in 1980 by a group of NCOs, of whom the semi-literate Samuel K Doe was soon to emerge the leader, and his cabinet massacred on the beach, there was popular rejoicing, and the demagogues thought they had come into their own. It appeared for a time as though the people had taken power from the top-hatted and tailed Americo-Liberian elite.

But Doe's idea of a popular revolution was soon revealed to be a clan-based kleptocracy, with himself as kleptocrat-in-chief. His ethnic group, the Krahn, was, by coincidence, three per cent of the population, the same proportion as the displaced Americo-Liberians. After a brief burst of revolutionary rhetoric, he discovered which side of his Cold War bread was buttered, and he chose the Americans.

After Doe turned to America, the Liberian demagogue-class, of whom Charles Taylor is the finest flower, discovered the hidden hand of the CIA in the 1980 coup. The CIA wanted Tolbert out of the way: and not a sparrow, let alone a president, fell in Liberia without a push from the Americans.

Undoubted American influence was thus inflated in the minds of Liberians into American omnipotence. With omnipotence, however, comes responsibility for everything: and so Liberians could slaughter one another, and it would still be the Americans' fault. Only the Americans could act of their own volition: that is to say, only they were full members of the human race.

From a combination of abject psychological dependence and deep resentment, no decent political culture can possibly emerge. American-led intervention in Liberia would bring about peace, but it will be an imposed, imperial peace. The underlying problem would remain: a problem that only Liberians, freed of their own psychological dependence, can solve.

Anthony Daniels is the author of Monrovia Mon Amour (John Murray)

[longeyes]

And you guys think that the messianic Christian who delivered the
eloquent speech on the rights of man in Senegal is really PRO-GUN?

Bush is either obsessed with his own righteousness or he's one of the
most opportunistic vote-addicts in recorded political history.

Bush gives homilies abroad but is oddly quiet about many issues that
affect Americans here at home. He had precious little to say about
that grossly misguided affirmative action decision. Leave Africa
to the Africans.

[Sean Smith]

There is only one thing worse, morally speaking, than American intervention, and that is American non-intervention.

Well, at least they are admitting that they will talk smack about the U.S. no matter what we do. :banghead:

Nice to see that SOMEBODY over there recognizes the absurdity of it all.