Didn't Clinton say that also?
There are other similarities as well.
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Posted on 08/11/2003 7:52:06 AM PDT by areafiftyone
MONROVIA, Liberia, Aug. 11 — Liberia’s President Charles Taylor reluctantly gave up power on Monday under pressure from the United States to end slaughter that has gripped Liberia and West Africa for nearly 14 years.
AFTER CEDING POWER, Taylor was expected to leave the broken shell of a nation founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century. At least 2,000 people perished in the most recent fighting with rebels for the capital Monrovia.
The former warlord handed over power to Vice President Moses Blah, a former brother-in-arms from the Liberian leader’s days of bush war and in Libya’s guerrilla training camps.
President Thabo Mbeki of continental power South Africa attended the resignation ceremony. Also present were the leaders of Mozambique and Ghana — representing the African Union and West Africa’s regional bloc.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...
Oh, and before I forget........BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
That's the newest fad. No matter what happened in the past 14 years be sure to blame Bush. Even though he has only been President for 3 years. LOL
Liberia is on the West Coast of Africa (see map above), a few degrees north of the equator. With a total land area of 38,250 square miles (slightly larger than Tennessee). Once known as the Grain Coast, it attracted European traders due to the staple harvest of Melegueta Peppers. A very wet country, the chief rivers are the Mano, St. Johns, Cestos and Cavalla which all (except Cavalla) flow to the Atlantic Ocean. The environment is ideal for Tree crops with a warm year-round climate with alternating dry and rainy seasons (Tropical Monsoon from May through Oct) averaging 150 inches of rainfall.What would the people of 'Tennessee' do with all those resources?Forests cover nearly 14 million acres and contain 230 species of useable timber ranging form the light to heavy such as Mahogany, Walnut, and Makere. Wildlife is typically African with Elephants, Water Buffalo, and Big Cats.
The Liberian economy is primarily agrarian and raw materials, equipment and consumer goods are imported. The largest employer is the Government which owns several public corporations. There is no effective stock or capital markets. 40% of the workforce consist of women with more of them employed in agriculture than men. Liberia is rich in natural resources such as Iron Ore, diamonds, gold, lead, manganese, graphite and with possible oil reserves off the coast.
It just amazes me that not one country in the world's naturally richest continent cannot create even the semblance of modern civilization.
Yeah, that rotten old Apartheid sure was bad.
Maybe it's time for them to beg for Apartheid AGAIN. At least they had modern conveniences back then. And law and order. etc. etc. etc.
Didn't Clinton say that also?
Taylor resigns; U.S. warships approach Liberian coast08/11/2003
MONROVIA, Liberia - President Charles Taylor, blamed for 14 years of bloodshed in Liberia and indicted for war crimes in Sierra Leone, resigned Monday and surrendered power to his vice president.
Within two hours, three U.S. warships appeared on the horizon off the coast of the capital, Monrovia. Liberians rushed to the city beaches, hopeful that American peacekeepers were arriving to help end violence in this nation founded more than 150 years ago by freed American slaves.
It remained unclear, however, when -- or if -- Taylor would go into exile in Nigeria as promised, and rebels besieging the capital threatened more fighting if the former warlord does not leave the country immediately.
At his long-awaited resignation ceremony, Taylor claimed that history would judge him kindly and exhorted the international community to help Liberia. "We beg of you, we plead with you not to make this another press event."
Taylor had reneged on past promises to resign, but this time faced pressure from the United States as well as West African leaders.
"History will be kind to me. I have fulfilled my duties," he said, adding, "I have accepted this role as the sacrificial lamb ... I am the whipping boy."
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the warships belonged to the USS Iwo Jima amphibious group, on standby in the region to provide logistical support to a West African peace force.
President Bush has conditioned U.S. assistance on Taylor's departure and a cease-fire. So far, just seven U.S. Marines are on the ground in Monrovia as liaisons between the United States and peacekeepers.
Wearing a white safari suit and carrying his trademark staff, Taylor looked on as successor Moses Blah was sworn in under heavy security. Steel blinds guarded windows against assassination attempts, like a 1996 try on Taylor's life in the same building that killed two aides.
Placing his left hand on the Bible and raising his right, Blah pledged to "faithfully, conscientiously and impartially discharge the duties and functions of the Republic of Liberia."
He began his presidency with a moment of silence for all those have died in Liberia's wars. "Let the nation begin to heal," Blah said. "Let all of us unite as one people and work to peace."
Rebels have rejected Taylor's choice of successor -- a longtime ally and comrade in arms -- and demanded that a neutral candidate be chosen to preside over a transition government until elections can be held.
Inside the velvet-draped room in the Executive Mansion, Ghana's President John Kufuor told about 300 Liberian and other dignitaries that Blah would hand power to a transitional government in October.
"Today's ceremony marks the end of an era in Liberia," Kufuor said, speaking as head of a West African bloc that has sent peacekeepers to Liberia. "It is our expectation that today the war in Liberia has ended.
He also said South Africa would be contributing troops to the West African force, which started deploying last week.
Outside, Monrovia's beleaguered people cheered Nigerian peacekeepers, part of a vanguard peace force meant to build to 3,250 West African soldiers. The crowd had reserved celebrations over Taylor's resignation until it was official.
"I can hardly believe it. He has brought too much suffering on the Liberian people," said Henry Philips, 38, a former security official. "His absence is better than his presence."
Taylor had pledged to hand over power at one minute before noon (7:59 a.m. EDT) but was delayed at the airport where he welcomed Kufuor, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano and Togolese Prime Minister Koffi Sama.
Pickup trucks full of armed rebels raced toward the front Monday as insurgents threatened to resume fighting if Taylor stays in the country. While he has accepted an asylum offer in Nigeria, he has hedged on when he will go.
"Unless Taylor leaves the country by one minute past 12 noon, I shall attack," rebel Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Abdulla Seyeah Sheriff said from Monrovia's rebel-held island port area. "If Taylor leaves the country, there'll be peace."
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo did not attend the resignation ceremony, but sent his foreign minister. Obasanjo aides said Taylor was expected in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Monday.
Two months of intermittent rebel sieges have left over 1,000 civilians dead in Monrovia, as government and insurgent forces duel with the city of 1.3 million as their battlefield. The war has left Taylor controlling little but downtown, referred to derisively by rebels as Taylor's "Federal Republic of Central Monrovia."
The president remained defiant to the end, on Sunday calling the rebel uprising an "American war" and suggesting it was motivated by U.S. eagerness for Liberia's gold, diamonds and other reserves.
"They can call off their dogs now," Taylor said of the United States' alleged support of the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, or LURD. "We can have peace."
U.S. Ambassador John Blaney dismissed the charge as he waited for Taylor's resignation ceremony to begin.
Taylor launched Liberia's 14 years of near-constant conflict with a 1989-96 insurgency. International aid agencies estimate virtually all of Liberia's roughly 3 million people have been chased from their home by war, at one time or another.
He was elected president in 1997 on threats of plunging the country into renewed bloodshed. Rebels -- including some of Taylor's rivals from the previous war -- took up arms against him two years later.
His ragtag forces, paid by looting, are accused by rights groups and Liberia's people of routine raping, robbing, torture, forced labor and summary killings. Rebels, to a lesser extent so far, likewise are accused of abuse.
Taylor was indicted by U.N.-backed court for war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone, where he allegedly supported a rebel movement notorious for hacking off the limbs of civilians.
Perhaps crucially, Taylor made no mention Sunday of his vow to leave Liberia, declaring: "I will always remember you wherever I am, and I say, God willing, I will be back."
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/081103dnintliberia.b745b.html
Maybe it isn't surprising . . . .Consider the difference between the provenance of the U.S. and that of the French, Spanish, and Portugese colonies in the Western Hemisphere.
Canada:As between South America with its gold and silver, and North America with its wild forrests suitable for farmland, which placed value on work above political loyalty? And which became democratic root and branch?All the French wanted to do was trade with the natives and control navigation on the St. Lawrence River. So all they sent to Canada were gentlemen who could be relied on to do the military work necessary.Brazil:lots of work to be done, Portugal imported about as many African slaves as there were natives in the population to begin with.Spanish South America:plenty of rich resources, gold, silver--and a going bronze-age civilization. Spanish just sent over gentlement who could be relied on to milk the gold and silver for the king.British North America:No resources but timber and raw potential farmland needing to be cleared to be worth anything.
Didn't Clinton say that also?
There are other similarities as well.
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