1. freepatriot says:

    so our dealing with charles taylor are a mirror image of our dealings with Saddam Hussain

    Imagine that

    at least we’re consistant …

  2. Anonymous says:

    freep

    I was thinking that when I was excerpting the timeline. This was all happening at the same time as everyone was trying to figure out what to do with the LAST brutal dictator that went bad.

  3. oldtree says:

    our â€democratic†government has loved dictators (and adores despots) the most since we came home from the war in europe. if the dictator doesn’t act like it is told, it is removed, put into exile or liquidated. two very good examples, Iraq and Iran. most of south and central america qualify too. forgot the african nations. the mujahadeem fighting the ruskies,
    wonder why we keep having trouble? only the very worst people in the world could want to come to this country. look at what we advertise.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Where is the â€genocide†which headlines this commentary? None of the timeline notes referenced even begin to address genocide. Was Taylor guilty of criminal aggression? Yes. Was he guilty of brutality? Yes. Was he guilty of crimes against humanity? Yes. But even summing all of that does not make it genocide.

    Using that word incorrectly robs it of its power, of its ability to force the reader to reconsider what has happened. Has anything like the deliberate destruction of a group different in religion, race or ethnicity from the perpetrator happened here? The references sure don’t show it, although Taylor was clearly a thug out of the mold of Mbutu, Sukharno, and host of other tyrants who the US has supported over the last century.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Praha

    I thought about that after I posted–with your comment I’ve changed it.