FYI
I might have to differ with you about the “black Beret” being the same as the other groups and just changed their names. The black beret though formed during the war, was a project of the interim government (under Dr. Sawyer). The constitutionality of the formation of this unit is still hanging in the balance. It is true that some of its members were former elements of factional groups (mainly NPFL, AFL, INPFL and the national police). They fought along side ECOMOG.

I hope that clarifies any misunderstanding that is out there.

We tend to deviate from the trial…sorry

Thanks

Sorry in my delay in responding to you on this. We plan to do a larger piece on JCE more generally which we will post sometime down the line. Can you give us some time to develop it and get back to you on this site?

Best,
Tracey

Hey, what am I hearing about this JCE situation with the commanders of Kono who resided in Freetown. I learned that the court (in SL) threw out those charges because they were not physically present in Kono when the crimes were committed? If so, this could be a seismic shift in this case? Please help me out here. If this is true, the defense has a window.

thanks

These are some of the behavior on the part of the international community that tells me that they have no concern for the abuses and sufferings of ordinary people, and that this whole prosecution of Charles Taylor is simply due to Taylor refusal to grant concession contracts to Haliburton Company and many of the other multi-national companies for pennies on the dollar. I remember quite well in 1990 after Taylor’s NPFL Forces capture Firestone Rubber Plantation. Taylor spoke on the radio and demanded that Firestone must pay Liberian workers according to U.S. dollar value because Firestone had been exploiting Liberian workers for a long time. Problem ensued and Taylor began dealing with a Japanese company. These activities were publicly done in Liberia at the time.

I can also recall the issue with Buchannan Hydro-Carbon Company, this was one of the areas that Haliburton was interested in doing renewable energy and other actitivies but wanted to pay peanuts. Taylor refused and the demonization began. So let Joe Wylie keep posting, let Joe Wylie enjoy freedom , and let Joe Wylie keep laughing at our sufferings due to the wicked and inhuman abuses that all of their forces treated Liberians. I am talking about AFL, LPC, ULIMO-J, ULIMO-K, LDF, LURD, MODEL, and BLACK BERETS. All these groups were one and the same people, they kept changing from one name to the other once their inhumane destruction were rejected by the Liberian people.

This does not mean that NPFL forces under Charles Taylor command did not abused civillians or committed henious crimes. Most of us are witnesses to some of the serious human right abuses by NPFL militia but we are aware that most of those abuses were either personal vendatta committed mainly by people from Nimba county against government officials, members of Krahn or Mandingo tribes, and government security personels. Sometimes they got the wrong people. These acts were terrible and terrifying if you was ever in such situation before. We need justice and not fake outrage against human rights abuses.

After the American Revolution , the competing parties settled their differences and today America is a great nation, the same happened with the Frenchs, Russians and many other European nations. We need peace in Africa and not REVENGE JUSTICE. Let the SL make peace among themselves and let Liberians make peace among themselves. This court should simply leave Mr. Taylor and let him return to his homeland.

Thank you for your post and I understand your distress, and those of other commenters on the site, if the Joe Wiley who is posting here is the same person whom you think he is. But alas, we will never know for sure. People’s screen names are not always their real names. Some people pose as others. And on the internet, we have absolutely no way of working it out in cases like this one.

This is partly why as a matter of policy I ask all readers to focus on the issues and the substance of the postings and comments on this site, and not the personalities who make the postings. As a technical matter of moderating the site, we also reserve the right not to post comments which do not meet our terms and conditions for using the site.

Thanks again for contributing and I hope you will continue to post your thoughts on the trial,

Best
Tracey