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TRC’s Final Report: An In depth Look at the Implications
Related to country: Liberia

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

When the Liberian Transitional Legislative Assembly enacted the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act in May 2005 to establish Liberia’s Truth Commission, the Act tasked the TRC “to promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation” by investigating gross human rights violations and violations of humanitarian law, sexual violations, and economic crimes that occurred between January 1979 and October 2003.


The Commission could also explore the period before 1979 as needed, and it (TRC) was also mandated to determine whether abuses were isolated incidents or part of a systematic pattern, establish the antecedents, circumstances, factors and context of such violations and abuses, and determine those responsible for the commission of the violations, their motives as well as the impact of the abuses on victims.
Additionally, the Commission was mandated to provide a forum against impunity, establish the record of the past and compile a public report with findings and recommendations.

Therefore, in fulfillment of that mandate, the TRC last Tuesday released its final report containing findings, determinations and recommendations made by the Commission to the National Legislature.

But exactly one week after the report was made public to the Liberian citizenry and the International community, there have been reactions both for and against the final report by many Liberians who themselves were victims of the civil war.

What is also interesting is that when the first volume of the TRC’s final report was released in December last year, there were not many rancors among Liberians. But now that the volume two report has been released and recommendations made for probable prosecution of those responsible for the carnage and mayhem caused Liberia and Liberians, the country has even become more divided than it was during the height of the civil war.

The division stems from the fact, among other pertinent issues, that the current Liberian leader, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is among several Liberians recommended to be banned from running or holding public office for thirty years.

By that recommendation, it seems president Sirleaf might be ineligible for a re-run for president come 2011 should the country’s National Legislature adopt the recommendations from the TRC.

Some Liberians are even of the view that the TRC did a disservice to Liberia’s post-war reconciliation drive. At issue also is that eight former Liberian war Lords, including former president Charles Taylor, have been recommended for prosecution.

Consequently, former war Lord, now lecturer of Mass Communication at the University of Liberia, Alhaji G.V. Kromah has questioned the transparency of the report. Mr. Kromah, speaking to the BBC in Monrovia outlined these questions for the TRC: “What is the integrity of the process? How did you come to the conclusions? Who are you? Did you use competent means? Explain to the public, what methodology did you use? We know in law what is admissible. Did you depend on hearsay? Did you depend on prejudice? Then you want to push to conclusions. Then you will have injustice.”

Except for some legal issues, but many of Mr. Kromah’s questions can be answered by even a competent well-informed 9th grade Liberian student. Liberians know who the TRC are. They saw the process and so Mr. Kromah’s questions, as much as he might have had a point, seem irrelevant given that at issue now is how Liberians would handle such a fragile situation in a country that is just about recovering from war.

Although TRC Chairman Cllr Jerome Verdier, Sr has told the International community that most of what they did is part of what they (Commissioners) already knew, it is very important that we tread with caution regarding these recommendations. We have gone through the entire report page by page and realistically speaking, the findings and recommendations hold semblance of truth in them.

However, what is going to happen to Liberia should the National Legislature adopt the recommendations? Consider the potential for reeling into violence again should the former war Lords say they will fight anybody that would attempt to arrest them as one of them, Nimba country senator Prince Johnson is reported to have indicated. Will Liberia really see peace that Liberians are yearning for?

Possibly. But if there are any arrests to be made for prosecutions, the International community will have to help in the process. Like they (International Community) played a key role in arresting and turning Charles Taylor over to the International Criminal Court for Sierra Leone, they will have to help with arresting all of them and prosecute them. One after the other.

Now that the TRC’s mandate has officially ended on June 22, 2009 it is very important to commend the people that helped the process succeed. Despite all the challenges and criticisms from a cross section of the Liberian people, the TRC tried everything humanly possible to ensure that Liberians know all those who have helped to destroy the country.

As with anything, human nature is very hard to please. Liberians are an interesting set of people on the African continent. And as hard as you may try to please them, they will always find fault with you. But especially in politics, everybody has a stake. Imagine two commissioners, Cllr Pearl Brown Bull and Sheik Kafumba Konneh of the TRC publicly insinuating that the TRC’s final report is null and void simply because they did not append their signatures to it?

Well, that’s Liberia. However, the TRC members had this for their colleagues and Liberians: “We want to inform the Liberian people that diversity of opinions among the Commissioners does not undermine the credibility of the TRC Report, but rather lend credence to its contents. Furthermore, there is no law in the Commission’s mandate and rules and procedures stating that the absence of the signatures of one or two Commissioners renders a particular decision invalid. As a matter of fact the Rules and Procedures of the Commission calls for a 2/3 majority vote to arrive at decisions.”

The TRC added that “The mandate empowered the TRC to among other things address the issue of impunity pursuant to Article 7 Section 26, D of the TRC Act and to recommend prosecutions in particular cases as deemed appropriate, while Article 10 says the commission can recommend prosecution. We firmly believe that the report of the Commission is in no way contrary to its mandate.”

A press release from the TRC today states that “We therefore seize this opportunity to express our disappointment and regret over the way, manner, and form in which the TRC Report and the recommendations are being politicized by two commissioners, Pearl Brown-Bull and Sheik Kafumba Konneh and their political and former factional allies. This ugly act by the Commissioners Bull and Konneh, which include feeding the public with half truths and false information has the propensity to derail the recommendations and endanger the lives of some respectable men and women who served this nation through the TRC.”

What is also raising eye brows is that fact that the TRC even said today that its commissioners were distancing themselves from “the activities of these Commissioners (Bull and Konneh), who from the onset have worked to destroy the TRC process.”

Now, if these honorable commissioners have worked to destroy the TRC process, then why keep them with the TRC? These commissioners were appointed and could be replaced. But since they remained in the employ of the Liberian people, although their actions and inactions proved that they were out there to destroy the TRC and by extension, Liberia and yet they were allowed to do their schemes, in effect, it means that the work of the TRC is questionable.

If all those associated with former warring factions, their leaders, political decision makers, financiers, organizers, commanders, and foot soldiers are prosecuted or barred from political office for thirty years, it means that Liberia stands a chance of getting new breed of leaders who would take the country to new dimensions providing that they do not practice what they saw their fore-runners doing for the better part of Liberia’s national existence. But if they do follow in their footsteps, then Liberia truly is dome for life.

Why am I saying this? The truth is that Liberia has a huge pool of young talents from across this globe and their experiences living abroad and in dangerous times back home would be a good CV for leadership in a country where everybody feels that the resources of the land are elephant meat for anybody to just grab and eat at the expense of the poor and under-represented.

And if the Liberian people don’t go about this TRC report with care, only time could tell what awaits Liberia and Liberians again especiallty after the UN peacekeeprs shall have been gone for real out of Liberia.

August 11, 2009 | 5:42 PM Comments  0 comments

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New Job for Ghana's Former President
Related to country: Ghana

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Ghana's former president John Agyekum Kufuor has been named a Global Ambassador Against Hunger for the UN's World Food Program.Great Job!So,even after stepping down as president for the best country in Africa,there would have still been another job awaiting Mr. Kufuor.

President Kufuor's role,according to WFP's Executive Director,will be to focus on the need to provide good nutrition for the sixty-six million children who daily go to school hungry.

"Ensuring that every child has proper nutrition has to be the goal of every world leader," said president Kufuor after his appointment on July 20th. "I intend to inspire them all to strive for this goal."

I was very delighted when I got this news from the United Nations News Service yesterday.Why was I so delighted for my "former" president?Well,there is no great reason to be elated about his appointment except for the fact that he has been my " former" president in Ghana( I lived there for six years).

Mr. Kufuor won the elections in Ghana in 2000 when I had just arrived in that country and began living at the refugee camp known as Buduburam.Some people sometimes erroneously call it Bujumbura, mistaking it for the capital city and main port city of the Republic of Burundi, a country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa.

When president Kufuor won the Ghanaian presidential election,there was a kind of uneasiness among Liberian refugees because Kufuor's political party's acronym was similar to Charles Taylor's party that won presidential election in 1997 in Liberia.

Kufuor's New Patriotic Party(NPP) was somehow wrongfully associated with Taylor's National Patriotic Party(NPP),such that many Liberian refugees thought the two presidents had some kind of "connections" or philosophies.

Therefore,unlike the NDC-led government of Jerry John Rawlings,Liberians did not have much liking for the NPP-led government of Kufuor.

In fact, some Liberians in Ghana at the time blamed Kufuor,South African president Thabo Mbeki,Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, and Burkina Fasoa's Blaise Campaore for refusing to arrest Charles Taylor when a Special Court for Sierra Leone issued an arrest warrant for him on June 4th,2003 while attending peace talks with Liberian rebel groups in Accra,Ghana.

Besides,many Liberians feel and think that the NDC-led government better handled refugee issues than did the NPP-led government.

But as an individual who also was a refugee and a journalist,there were more to critically think about than easily agree with what others were saying about the NPP.

Yes,there were more dramatic displays between Liberian refugees during the Kufuor administration than there were during the Rawlings administration.

However, it was during the Kufuor administration that Liberians finally saw peace.And I bet president Kufuor might have played a pivotal role in ensuring that Liberians return to a peaceful settlement.

But president Kufuor was appointed WFP ambassador not because of what I have just explained, but because,as in the words of WFP Director Sheeran,Ghana has been a leader in nourishing its children.

And Director Sheeran added that Mr. Kufuor not only talks the talk,but he walks the walk, and he can be a leader in getting other leaders to follow his good example.I hope our leaders will listen to Mr. Kufuor and help put food on the table for Liberian school kids who daily go to school hungry.

Ghana has koko yams,corns,rice and a variety of food that their school children eat before and even after going to school.Things may not also be easy on Ghanaian school-going children.However, their government and farmers do a great deal to help with hungry.

In Liberia, we have fertile and rich soil but most of what we produce is rice, and so no matter what you give Liberian kids to eat,if they do not eat rice,they have not eaten anything at all.Can our government encourage and support our farmers get involved in the production of multiple food-crops?

I wish those words could be said about any former Liberian leader.But the last time I checked,I found that Liberia does not even have a former elected leader who is alive today aside from Charles Taylor whose fate is in limbo in Europe.

Some Liberians may argue that Liberia has former presidents like Dr. Amos Sawyer,Bismarck Kuyon,Philip Banks,David Kpormakor,Wilton Sankawulo,Ruth Perry,and Charles Gyude Bryant.But those were not elected;they were interim leaders.

And what about Moses Blah, Some may ask? He was not elected either.He only completed Mr. Taylor's term from August to October 2003.

So, in Liberia's longest historic journey of being the first independent nation-state in Africa to electing the first female head of state,we can not account for any of our past presidents.

We have either been killing or eating them.Oh yeah,we eat our presidents.Ask Prince Johnson where the late Samuel Doe's body parts are.He will be the best person to tell you, and yet Liberians elected him honorable man to make laws.Any yet we keep bragging about making history.Oh yeah! That's history,too-the eating or killing of our past presidents.

Therefore,there is no way such a statement attributed to Ghana's former president,Kufuor can be attributed to any of our former presidents. Not yet.

Maybe we would be able to say that of our Iron lady if we don't kill or eat her,too.

But Kufuor is not the first and only former leader that will be serving a role of such nature.His predecessor,Mr.Rawlings, was a joint recipient of World Hunger Award in 1993.
Ghana may also have some of their presidents dead,but they still have two former ones living now that we know of.Can we show one that is living besides controversial Taylor?
I betcha!

August 11, 2009 | 5:39 PM Comments  0 comments



Is U.S President Promoting Smoking?
Related to country: United States

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

I was seriously reading through many lenses to fully comprehend the meaning of what United States president Barack Obama meant when he said today that "Doctors Don't Get Paid If They Stopped Patients From Smoking".

The president made that statement in Raleigh,North Carolina during his Presidential Town Hall Health Care Reform discussions.

As I watched Cable News Network(CNN) this morning,I was asking myself many,many questions about the president's remark.And,as if to re-echo what Obama said,CNN repeatedly displayed excerpts of his remark on the bottom of the screen.

So,what did the president mean? Was(is) he saying that if people don't smoke,then doctors won't get paid? Should the president even make such a statement?

By the president's statement,it means that people should smoke daily so that if they get cancer(smokers' hearts would definitely be damaged due to smoke),they will have to seek medical attention which of course will not be free.

I am seriously disappointed in the president's statement.No matter his intents regarding the promotion of his radical health care reform in this country,it does not justify his making of that statement.

And what was also baffling me was that no media critics or members from "the other side" shun the president's remark.

To many who were also listening to the president this morning,it is clear to them that his statement can make a big difference between life and death.Although many people within and without the U.S admire his inspiring speeches,he has to really take some time to keenly think about some statements before he utters them.

There are thousands,if not millions of young people out there who look up to this young president as their role model.And it breaks my heart( and theirs) to also see that it's this same young president that is encouraging young people to smoke so that doctors will receive their salaries.

So,Mr. president,with all other health-related problems that lead to the hospital,doctors will be unable to get their pay if people don't smoke? How much of the smoking money actually goes to the State and Federal government and how much goes to the doctors?

With such a statement coming from my own president,I am just wondering what others will say about the president's smoking habit?

August 11, 2009 | 5:37 PM Comments  0 comments

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Young Liberians Urged to Forget Past,Move On
Related to country: Liberia

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

She was born Oct 23,1992 just after a protracted period of war waged on residents of Monrovia by then rebel leader-turned president Charles Taylor.Many Liberians referred to that war as "Octopus" because it started in the middle of October and because the NPFL rebel force that attacked the people of Monrovia was a powerful rebel outfit that had widespread influence and many followers.

After having gone through a lot as a little child,she is calling on all Liberian youth,irrespective of where they currently live,to forget their bitter past and move on with new vigor,determination,and hope for their once beloved and prosperous nation.

Lovetta Conto is not a typical little girl.She thinks as a woman ,an educator,a businesswoman,a humanitarian,and she is soon to be an actress and writer.

Meeting her in the twin cities on July 2 was an honor and a blessing for me.I have a girl child,too.But though mine is not the age of Lovetta,seeing a girl child speaks the way Lovetta did when I met her was so encouraging for me as a father,then as a mentor,a journalist and an advocate.

I contacted her website once and that was it.She called my phone all day and left me countless messages.Although I was very busy at the time she was visiting family members in the twin cities,I had to buy out time for this young Liberian girl who has so much energy and passion for deserving but needy kids of Liberia and Africa.

Lovetta is changing lives in Liberia, and she is one in a million of children who has a big heart but not enough hands to reach out.
I never knew that she is the little girl whose father was my friend in the Liberian refugee camp in Buduburam,Ghana.She has grown big and exposed to many international audiences that even adults become nervous about speaking among.

Lovetta is a small girl by Liberian standards but very smart,intelligent and eloquent by American standards.Here in the United States, some children at 16 are just about becoming adults.In fact,in some instances some girls at that age begin sexual activities because they are just about to officially become adults.But by Liberian standards,she would have to be close to 25 or so before we officially consider her a woman or an adult.

But here is a girl turned-woman because of the big things that she is doing.At age 12,Lovetta became a fellow of Strongheartfellowship,a U.S based program that serves as a groundbreaking social entrepreneurship outfit designed to help bright,resilient young people from extremely chanllenging circumstances around the world develop into compassionate,innovative problem-solvers and leaders that can effect significant change in the world.

Since then,Lovetta has been creating businesses by helping to inspire young people from Liberia aimed at assisting them rebuild their country.At that young age, she is already a role model.

Lovetta's project actually involves working on jewelries made from bullets used during the Liberian civil war to kill children and their parents.

Instead of using them this time around to kill children,Lovetta is literally using those bullets and turning them into beautiful necklaces that people can buy from her and use the proceeds for charity.

Isn't that incredible!

Here is a little girl who went through a lot when her country was been destroyed by greedy political leaders and their followers.

"I know what it means to be hungry," she told me during an interview in July."I also know what it means to be put out of school for lack of money.And that is why I want to do this to help lots of young people go to school to better their lives and help improve our country."

She told me she believes every kid has a right to a better education."That is very close to my heart," she said.

She also knows how it feels to be without support and motherly love in particular."You want to go to school,you want to eat, but your mother is not there to prepare you food because either she does not have the money,or she is not home with you," she told me.

Like many other children growing up with a single parent,she grew up without her mother home.Only her father was there at times, but he, too, would always leave home in search of opportunities for himself and his little girl.

Lovetta said her dad and mom had their differences but sitting there without the other parent did not just make her lose hope.In fact,it motivated her just by knowing that it happened to other children too.

Although Liberia's president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is an inspiration to Lovetta,Oprah Winfrey,America's talk show queen,is her biggest inspiration."Oprah came from a poor family growing up on the farm with her grandmother," Lovetta said."But look at where she is today.Despite many challenges,Oprah beat all barriers and rose to the top,so she is my biggest role model. If she could do it,I can do and other kids can do it,too"

Lovetta was lacked of words,however, to describe how she feels about Africa's and Liberia's first elected female president,Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.But she also greatly admires U.S president Barack Obama.

"If she can become president for Liberia, and Obama can become president for America,it motivates me to the extend that I feel whatever goal I set my mind on,I can reach it," said Lovetta.

Miss Conto has also been touring the United States giving public speeches,hosting fund-raising parties and raising funds through other means for the needy.

Although she is strong in heart,she knows that at times the challenges can be daunting on her.

"When I was addressing the Texas Women Conference in Texas,I was frankly nervous because these were educated women from all walks of life, and there I was a little girl from Liberia still in High School addressing them," she said. "And It was a big challenge for me because I nearly lost my composure."

But those are not the only challenges that Lovetta faces at times.As a young girl with International appeal,many young boys too look at her with admiration but also with some intents she's very well aware of.

"Oh yeah," she admits."I know how easily girls can get pregnant at this age,but that's why I don't have friends.The temptation out there is too much,but I have a lot to do that I hardly have anytime for boys."

"The upbringing from my father is helping me a lot.My dad would spank me if I did not do the right thing, and he has the right to still spank me today if I do the wrong things."

As I was typing this write up,Lovetta was already leaving Austin,Texas where she had gone for another conference and flying to Canada to meet and discuss with her teachers at a High School from where she will be attending school online.

Miss Conto has been given a scholarship from Canada to further her education.And because she does not have the time to attend traditional High School in Monrovia,Liberia, her online study will be as interesting as the traditional High Schooling.

And as Lovetta continues to inspire many young people from Liberia, her project is also building a Strongheart house there where needy kids would live and attend school for free.

Like her, kids joining Strongheart have to be creative,diligent,determined and brilliant to be accepted.

But in the up-coming years,Lovetta will be publishing Teens Magazine in Liberia that would feature fashion,entertainment,health,advice for teenage pregnancy,music and role models.

Additionally,She wants to also become an actress and whatever money she makes in acting would be used to create charities around the world.

What a girl! What a woman! What a Liberian!

August 11, 2009 | 5:35 PM Comments  0 comments



Prince Johnson's "Amazing Revelations":How Serious?
Related to country: Liberia

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Last week,The Reformer Newspaper in Monrovia reported that Nimba County Senior Senator,Prince Yomie Johnson,who also commandeered the defunct Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia(INPFL),shocked Liberians and the International Community again when he revealed that the United States and certain super powers provided American dollars $10 million to him and others,presumably Charles Taylor,to wage war on Liberians and Liberia.

The report says that Senator Johnson made the revelations when he addressed members of the Liberian Council of Churches(LCC), an interfaith Mediation Committee of Liberia.

The LCC also met with other former faction leaders and discussed matters regarding the Truth Commission's report during the week-end meeting in Monrovia.

Well,this is not news anyway.Mr. Taylor had already said that the U.S helped free him from jail in Massachusetts and also provided huge some of money to oust the late Samuel Doe regime.He made it clear when he took the stands for the first time to testify in his ongoing trial in The Hague,the Netherlands a few weeks ago.

Now,what makes this news and very damning, at least in the minds of some Liberians, is Mr. Johnson's accusation of the Chairman of Liberia's Truth Commission,Cllr. Jerome Verdier.

The honorable Senator claimed that Cllr. Verdier,including former Interim leader of Liberia,Dr. Amos Sawyer,was among a group of Liberians in the United States that allegedly negotiated and arranged for the $10 million dollars from the U.S.

Senator Johnson claimed this group was based in America, and it was named the Association of Constitutional Democracy in Liberia(ACDL).

What baffles me is that why the Honorable Senator did not say this long time ago,even before his name could be listed for prosecution as a war criminal or perpetrator? Is it because it has been proven beyond any reasonable doubts that he was involved in the indiscriminate killing of women,children and men during the Liberian civil war? Why should we believe him?

There are many more lingering questions about the Honorable man's "amazing revelations" than he can imagine, and if there is to be any substance in his claims, we need more information from him devoid of scapegoating,malice,jealousy, and hatred.

But in order to refute or corroborate Senator Johnson's claims,we contacted the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs of the District of Columbia(DC)in Washington,D.C on the phone today, and indeed,they confirmed that such association existed in DC.

They said it was registered as a domestic non-profit Corporation in the State of the DC on December 16,1988 with Ezekiel Pajibo as its registered agent.

The file number for ACDL was 884688, and its address was 1242 Newton St,N.E,Washington,DC 20017.Its status is now revoked,however.

With such information at our disposal,it seems what Senator Johnson has said might have some substance.However, we need more details than can meet the eye.

And if it is indeed true that Cllr. verdier was apart of and actively negotiated for the $10 Million dollars to wage war on Liberia, then the entire TRC report is indeed questionable and he,Cllr.Verdier, needs to tell us more about it in order to add him on the list of evil doers of Liberia.

Additionally,Ezekiel Pajibo,now executive director for the Center for Democratic Empowerment(CEDE), needs to come out and talk to the Liberian people about ACDL since he was the registered agent for the outfit.

Mr. Pajibo was a student leader in the 1980s who was even jailed and sentenced by the late Samuel Doe regime for daring to say what others could not say.He spent over a decade in exile and,like many other Liberians,returned home in 2003 when the civil war ended.

He has been the head of CEDE, a center for social and political advocacy and research which was founded by Dr.Sawyer.

Mr. Pajibo might have more details about ACDL and Cllr. Verdier than Senator Johnson, that is why he would do us more good if he could speak to the Liberian people now.There is no joke about such allegations.No! Not at this time when the country really needs healing.

When I read Mr. Johnson's allegations,I initially rebuked him.However,having talked to people here in the U.S about this Liberian Association,there is more to it than the Senator is saying, and we need to know everything about it.

We have also contacted officials at the U.S State Department in Washington,D.C,but it has been over two weeks since we communicated with them, and we are still waiting to hear from them.They said they will react to what Mr. Taylor has said.

But going back to Authoritarianism and U.S foreign Policy,it would be good that we examine the past.

During the Cold War, the U.S. frequently accused the Soviet Union of undermining anti-U.S terrorist groups around the world with money and arms.The Soviets responded that the U.S government did the same when it was in the U.S interests to do so.

Now,when World War II ended,the U.S found itself engaged in a Cold war with the Soviet Union.But what is amazing is that the Cold War was not a natural rivalry thing between two great powers.It was a struggle to death between two rival systems of capitalism for the United States and Communism for the Soviet Union.

At that time, and even until recently,the U.S pursued a Foreign Policy that was based on the theory that Communism would finally collapse while the Soviet Union drew upon Karl Marx's prediction that Capitalism would be in the "dustbin of History".

That is how the two parties divided the entire world into two halves:East and West,Communism and Capitalism, and Good and Evil.

But the two powers agreed on one thing:that the notion of neutrality was not possible.They said all nations on earth,only with few exceptions,would have to choose which side to align with.

While this was going on,many countries in the so-called Third World decided to remain nonaligned at all.Therefore,Egypt,India, and Indonesia tried to launch a nonaligned Movement in the 1950s.And it was beginning to get off the ground.

And as soon as it was about to get off the ground,the Cold War Power Fighters cajoled,pressured and enticed the leaders of the fledgling states,guess with what? Foreign aid,weapons transfer, and cash.

Yes! America used those things to get people on its side of the fighting divide.So, by the end of the mid 1960s,most governments in Africa(Possibly Liberia included),Asia and Latin America decided to choose sides.You can guess which side Liberia chose anyway.

In this rush to recruit Third World leaders who jumped on the anti-communism bandwagon for a price,the U.S frequently found itself using what Political Scientist,Thomas Magstadt calls "dollar diplomacy" and other inducements to prop up right-wing dictatorships at the same time looking the other way when "friendly" regimes committed gross violations of human rights.

Although the Cold War has since been over,the legacy of this policy lives on.

Let's look at Iraq.The United States secretly supported Saddam Hussein during the bloody Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s with weapons to battle Iran.

And after arming the tyrant,he ruled his people through a tightly controlled monolithic political organization known as the Ba'ath party,by turning Iraq into a vast prison.The same U.S that armed Saddam turned against him and invaded Iraq in 2003 under the pretext of raiding Saddam of Weapons of Mass Destruction(WMD).

Let's go to Afghanistan.That country was a monarchy from 1747 to 1973.But it soon fell into trouble when the many groups fought for political supremacy after 1973 until the Soviet Union intervened to back its favorite thug who was a Communist in 1979.

Consequently,a brutal and protracted war erupted but the Soviets eventually withdrew in defeat in 1989 after a decade of debilitating and humiliating warfare.

Now,remember that the U.S had secretly backed the Islamic Resistance Force called the Mujahideen by supplying weapons and other aid to the rebel forces.Note one thing here folks:at this time,amazingly,the U.S and Osama Bin Laden fought side by side to defeat the Soviets.

What resulted was that the oppositions overthrew the Communist regime and seized power in 1992.But the new strongman refused to give up power when his term officially ended.

That led the Talibans to assault the capital and ousted him in 1996.Here is what is also interesting:when the new Taliban regime took over,reports say it instituted a totalitarian system of rule fashioned after Islam but based on the perversions of the Qur'an and Sharia law.

Women and girls were forbidden to work outside the home,to go to school,or to express opinions at variance with the government.

The government banned television,movies,music,dancing and most other forms of entertainment.Children's games and activities were restricted.

When the U.S was attacked in 2001,the U.S invaded Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban.Folks,how do you view the U.S foreign policy?

Should we begin to give credence to what Mr. Taylor and Senator Johnson are saying about the U.S giving them money to kill Liberians through a civil war,given the background that I have just mentioned? What does history tell us? How do we go about prosecuting those who committed diabolical crimes against us?

Mr. Taylor is in The Hague facing trial not for crimes he committed in Liberia,but the ones in nearby Sierra Leone.What about those who supported the civil war in Liberia? What about the presidents of Libya,Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso who directly aided Charles Taylor to kill Liberians? Why are they not on trial for supporting any and all faction leaders in Liberia.What about Guinea? In fact,given what we now know,what about the U.S?

When it comes to U.S foreign policy,the records of U.S relations with authoritarian states,including Liberia then,is replete with inconsistencies and contradictions.

These have weakened America's moral position in international politics,complicated its diplomatic efforts, and led many to charge America of hypocrisy.

August 11, 2009 | 5:26 PM Comments  0 comments

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