Dear Roger,
My name is Brandon and I'm in Mr. Theriault's Semester 2 World Issues class. Mr. Theriault gave us the opportunity to choose a genocide to present to the class and educate them about it. I chose to work by myself and present on Liberia and Charles Taylor. Seeing as it was sort of a special project, I asked him what kind of criteria he had for me, after giving me a list of what he would like me to have, he told me to ask you about Taylor.
I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell me exactly what influenced Taylor's actions, but at the same time putting your own twist on it because I was told that you escorted (protected) Taylor to The Hague to be put on trial, and could tell me first hand because you were there. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my e-mail.
Brandon Thompson.
1 comment:
Hi Brandon and again I apologize for not getting back to you sooner.
First please let me clarify the issue of my involvement with Charles Taylor. Although I would dearly have loved to escort him to The Hague I cannot take credit for that. I would lose your confidence if you then found out that I was not there when he got arrested.
My period with then President Taylor was between 1999 and 2002. I was there for when the first shots were fired upcountry to the time we had to leave Liberia because the LIURD Rebels (who overthrew Taylor) were knocking on our doorstep and we had to evacuate for Security Reasons.
(I must tell you however that yes I was and still involved in getting people to The Hague. At least two (2) trials are now ongoing for people that we put on the airplanes bound for Europe. Others are waiting in jail for their time.
While we are on the subject of The Hague may I also clear up a point of order on why Charles Taylor is in The Hague. Oddly enough he is on trial not for the things he did in Liberia but for his activities with the RUF in Sierra Leone.
The RUF Rebels were the ones fighting the Government but were known for their excessive cruelty. You may have heard that they would cut people’s hands and feet off to terrorize the population. That part of their methodology came as a result of the Government’s slogan during their attempt at getting elected. The posters would read
“VOTE – your future is in your hands”
The RUF to spite this attempt would tell people “Aha since the future is in your hands let us see how you do it without them??” Then they would cut their hands off.
So you see Liberia and especially the time of Charles Taylor is a very muddled affair. His involvement with the RUF came as a result of his own Rebellion to gain power in Liberia. He needed a place to set up his operations and he needed manpower. He got both by operating in Sierra Leone.
If you watch the movie with Leo de Caprio called “Blood Diamonds” it is set in Sierra Leone but could just as easily have described life in Liberia.
It would be very simple to merely accuse Taylor of being a Rebel and have people believe that he was just greedy for wealth and power. It is true that this is just a part of the whole scenario. Let me give you a bit of a History Lesson on Liberia.
Liberia was never “colonized” overtly by any European Country. However, Liberia had long standing “ties” with the United States of America? (Good Old USA). Back in 1822 and after, the USA wanted to get out of the “Slavery Market Business”. There were White people ready to help so they got all the Blacks who wanted to go back to Africa to accept a deal. Money was donated and the Blacks landed in Liberia. These came from a variety of “ethnic” backgrounds and were not all from the same Tribe and of course not “Liberians”.
Therefore to this day they are called “Liberio-Americans”.
There is an “ironic” twist to the above tale. There were already “Indigenous Tribes” established on the land that had never been colonized. Therefore the “new arrivals” (Liberio-Americans) did what all other colonizers did before them. They either bartered for the land or they forcibly took it.
The irony mentioned above is that the “Freed Returning Slaves” had in fact been educated in America and considered themselves “superior” to the local inhabitants. Additionally, all the cruelty administered to them as slaves taught them on how to be cruel to others so as to control them.
Therefore the Freed Slaves became Slave Owners in Liberia. Nobody ever bothered to compare the Liberia situation with the Apartheid Regime in South Africa although the conditions were the same. Instead of it being Whites discriminating against Blacks in South Africa it was Blacks discriminating against Blacks in Liberia.
Even today in Liberia five (5) % of the people control 95% of the population and all the wealth in Liberia.
This is the background into which Charles Taylor was born and bred. Other people were not Human. They were just considered barbarians and not worthy of thought. Life under these conditions becomes very “cheap”>
Liberia has Diamonds, Gold, other minerals and Rubber Plantations and Timberland. For one of the smallest countries in Africa it is one with the most riches.
Charles Taylor was and is Liberio-American. Can you guess where I’m coming from. The recipe is all there with Greed and Power at the root of troubles.
During the Cold War the USA’s only foothold in Africa was in Liberia. It had the Radio Broadcast System called Voice of America close to Monrovia the Capital. It had the largest CIA Base there also. America paid the Governments of Liberia billions of dollars just for being allowed to operate there. (All Presidents except one have been Liberio-Americans).
Charles Taylor just wanted his share or in fact he wanted all of it.
I will now perhaps get to your question of “Genocide”. I might suggest that in most cases these conflicts do not start with the express purpose of Genocide. They are not all conceived into being like the Policy of Adolf Hitler against the Jewish people of Germany.
Genocide has the connotation that you wish to “eliminate” a “specific” people by systematically wiping them off the face of the earth. Charles Taylor just wanted to eliminate “anyone who stood in his way”.
As I said above, Taylor is in The Hague with charges of such things as “Crimes against Humanity” for his actions in Sierra Leone. Even after he gets proven guilty of these (of which we still have to wait for the verdict) he might even have to stand on trial for the things he did in Liberia.
Charles Taylor was a Master at instilling “FEAR” among the population of Liberia. He knew exactly how to push all the right buttons to scare the people into submission. His Death Squads (my words) would have freedom of action if a person was even suspected of being anti Taylor.
Taylor was an expert at “manipulating” the International Community since once again no one could believe that such an educated individual could be responsible for all the atrocities that he was being accused of. Unfortunately sometimes the International Community only sees what it wishes to see.
Sometimes “self-interest” blinds one??
I could go on and on in the above manner but I think you get the drift??
One of the main problems I saw in Liberia was that once Charles Taylor began his rule, he had to fight every inch of the way to maintain it. The rebellion got out of hand and therefore ran out of control.
-Roger
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