As a general rule, coddling dictators is unwise. Coddling dictators who are on the ropes is just plain dumb. Coddling dictators who no longer hold power over their own people but who can still do tremendous damage is repugnant. Let these truisms stand for a moment while we consider the situation of Charles Taylor, the ruthless thug who ruled over the Vampire regime of Liberia as state President, before which he had been a murderous warlord who helped to destabilize several countries in West Africa, including not only his own state, but also Sierra Leone, where he supported the ruthless Revolutionary United Front, a rebel group responsible for that country’s descent into chaos in the 1990s.

In 2003 the United States helped to midwife a deal that allowed Taylor to flee Liberia, which was on the verge of a potentially catastrophic civil war, for safe haven in Nigeria. Never mind that the United States was the main backer of the Special Court for Sierra Leone that had indicted Taylor for war crimes. At the time, allowing Taylor exile to Nigeria seemed the best way to avert more devastation in a region that had seen too much of it. It may not have seemed an ideal solution, but for the short term, it avoided the worst disasters and might have given Liberia a fighting chance of getting to its feet. Taylor was supposed to forsake all involvement with Liberia in exchange for rather posh seaside surroundings in Calabar. The State Department never believed that the deal left Taylor immune from justice.

Even if the deal had left Taylor untouchable, perhaps it would have been worth it had he been left neutered and unable to impose his will even indirectly on the country he helped to leave in tatters. Alas, at the moment it appears that Taylor is both untouchable and that he is fomenting violence. For more than a year he has broken even rudimentary terms of his exile agreement, but recently he is believed to have been behind an attempted assassination attempt on the beleaguered President of Guinea, Lansana Conte. Most rumors imply that Taylor has greater (worse?) ambitions, up to and including returning to Liberia as a sort of prodigal president. He has made it clear that a return to Liberia is part of his larger plan.

Two people have the power the thwart Taylor’s ambitions. One is Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s president. The other is George W. Bush. Obasanjo is worried that his credibility as an honest broker in West Africa will be scuttled if he violates what he perceives as the terms of Taylor’s exile. President Bush should have no such worries. It is time for Obasanjo and Bush, who met last week, to work together to ensure that Charles Taylor is one of the dinosaurs in Africa whose kind goes extinct.

chris l pettit - 5/9/2005

First, I am on a bit of hiatus, but you might want to check out the blog for a brilliant Holocaust piece by my colleague (http://eitr.blogspot.com).

Second...as you are aware of the US/UK influence behind the unsuccessful coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea, do you have any doubt that there was not at least implicit support of Taylor's little plan from certain sources? I am not implying material support, but more what US scholars love to argue, that which is not condemned is allowable. Unfortunately, once again, short term "peace" (which is never that) has won out over long term solutions (like trying Taylor for his crimes) in the name of "humanitarian concerns." This is simply unacceptable. It was politically expedient for certain governments and individuals to allow Taylor to go into exile, so they did. I have no doubt that there were some misguided souls that still buy into the pipe dream of short term fixes and avoidance of hard decisions, but when will we learn from failures of the policy worldwide? There need to be major changes of the institutions; the short term fixes, reactionary policies, and fixing of problems at the periphery (which only causes more problems) is simply ineffective. Bush has no practical credibility to deal with Taylor, as his war crimes and crimes against humanity are as bad if not worse...and the clean hands policy applies in terms of humanitarian intervention or assistance. Obasanjo has horses in the race as well, and it is unlikely that his self interest would correspond well with reigning in Taylor (at least not in the narrowminded short term thinking of nation state governments). In addition, unless the government is Belgium or the Netherlands, what makes one think that there is even the most remote possibility that Nigeria either will or has the ability to reign in Taylor? It is like asking Afghanistan or Pakistan to reign in bin Laden in a lot of ways.

This is not to say I don't agree with the sentiment...the man should be in front of the tribunal...but I question the history, the political decisions, the refusal by governments to learn anything, the power politics, and most importantly, the solutions that do nothing to address core problems, but are like putting a finger in a dike that is about to burst if it has not already.

Taylor needs to be extinct (meaning tried for crimes, not anything violent), as does Bush, as does Putin, as does Mugabe, as does Sharon, as does Suharto, as do many other politicians and state governments. I still think the need is in reforming the institutions, not finding ways to get things done on the periphery.

CP