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

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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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