Showing posts with label charles taylor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charles taylor. Show all posts
Monday, June 04, 2007
The war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor has opened amid dramatic scenes in The Hague, with the accused refusing to attend.
Mr Taylor said his trial would not be fair because he only had one defence lawyer. His counsel walked out, defying the judge's order to stay seated.
Mr Taylor is accused of backing rebels in Sierra Leone who killed and maimed thousands of civilians over 11 years.
I keep mentioning that Taylor is Pat Robertson's friend because the media doesn't. Pat can be quoted on bashing fags, abortion, and how God wants to cause earthquakes in the San Fernando valley to get the porn producers, yet his collaboration with a genocidal madman doesn't even receive much of a notice.
Other than Monica Goodling graduating from Pat's law school, his antics aren't getting scrutinized enough lately. He fleeces poor old people, sells blood diamonds with a mass murderer, and yet I see him on my tv all the time.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
What's more, to hear Robertson tell it, one of the abominations prompting God to hide his face from America is this country's self-indulgence, pursuit of financial gain and focus on wealth.
Which is the subject of today's column, and the basis for this humble question: What, pray tell, does the Good Lord make of Pat Robertson's gold-mining venture in Liberia with Charles Taylor, international pariah and one of the most ruthless, greedy and terror-producing heads of state in all of sub-Saharan Africa?
What? He didn't know?
Well it probably slipped Robertson's mind, busy as he is in getting people to send in those checks, money orders and love offerings to support his cause. How the reverend found time to hook up with Taylor, I'll never know.
But in May 1999, Robertson, through Freedom Gold Limited, an offshore company registered in the Cayman Islands but based at CBN headquarters in Virginia Beach, signed an agreement with Taylor and key cabinet members allowing the for-profit Freedom Gold to explore and receive mining rights in southeastern Liberia, where gold is believed to be in the ground.
It's a great deal for Liberia, which is now an economic basket case thanks to the long civil war and Taylor's corruption. It's also good for Freedom Gold, which was formed by Robertson in 1998. Liberia -- and for all practical purposes we're talking Taylor -- gains 10 percent ownership of Freedom Gold.
Today, there is news on Taylor's upcoming trial.
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor goes on trial next week charged with instigating murder, rape and terrorism during Sierra Leone's civil war in a case prosecutors say could end impunity for African strongmen.
Taylor, once one of Africa's most feared warlords, faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, including recruiting child soldiers during the 1991-2002 conflict.
The 59-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
He was a driving force behind intertwined wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone which killed more than a quarter of a million people and shocked the world with stories and images of child soldiers high on drugs, killing, raping and looting.
"Charles Taylor caused the biggest atrocities in this war. I support the trial because then other people will fear to do the same," said Freetown trader Mohamed Kolokah, 28, whose business partner was killed by rebels supported by Taylor.
The trial starts in The Hague on Monday.
Pat Robertson has said that Taylor was only being targeted due to "his Christianity". Pat Robertson is an asshole.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Intriguing article from McClatchy with the details about allegations that an investigation into Charles Taylor was quashed due to pressure from the John Ashcroft DOJ. Taylor owns Blue Ridge Savings & Loan, a bank headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina.
Four years ago in Asheville, N.C., a lawyer filed a document that contained a scandalous accusation: The U.S. attorney general had intervened in a local bank-fraud case and prevented investigators from questioning one of Congress' most powerful members, Rep. Charles Taylor.
But many in the western part of the state recall a particular case a few years back that was handled quietly in the North Carolina mountains, when a pair of lawyers thought that Taylor, a North Carolina Republican, ought to be questioned over a loan-fraud case that involved the bank he owns.
"Essentially the question is, `Why was he not interrogated? Why was he not interviewed?'" asked Forrest A. Ferrell, the lawyer who leveled the charges in 2003. "He knew about it all and should've at least been interrogated about it."
There were suggestions that Charles Taylor approved the loans himself, knowing they were fraudulent but he was never interviewed even though he owned the bank. Lingering questions remain as to why he was never questioned.
Charles Taylor also was the first American to own a bank in Russia. There are questions about who is parteners are in that operation. Taylor would do "fact-finding" missions to Russia, and conduct personal business all on the dime of his campaign, and the taxpayers according to allegations. Thank goodness Heath Shuler beat him in November.
This is serious business here. Taylor was accused by the Wall Street Journal of putting in earmarks to help his businesses, and threatened to sue. Two examples were funding a park in front of the main branch of his bank, and another was building a road that ran next to a parcel of land he owned. The guy is a crook who hasn't been caught yet is all.
He likely isn't the only one here who got "protection" from the DOJ. I don't know what kind of an agenda the democrats can accomplish when they will be so very busy investigating all the crooked things done by this administration.
Subscribe to:
Comment Feed (RSS)
