So, Pat Robertson is horrified that Bush’s position on Liberia is threatening his investments there, and worse, that he’s speaking ill of one of the “good guys,” (Baptists,) in favour of the "bad guys, (Muslims.)
That, of course, depends on how you define “us.”
Just when you think Pat Robertson can’t sink any lower…
If only Saddam had had the smarts to be in bed with Pat Robertson in some sleazy financial deal. . . I’ll bet he’s kicking himself right now.
Very strange bedfellows indeed Pat Robertson,Bill and Hillary and last but not least the Rev.Jesse Jackson have been his big backers.
Charles Taylor is every bit the brutal thug that Saddam Hussein was. Taylor massacred entire villages during the Liberian civil war. He has also been indicted for war crimes in Sierre Leone. His “election” is every bit the joke that Hussein’s was and he rules by decree, with no democratic process whatever. He is under siege right now from Muslim insurgents and I say good for them.
What a pathetic and naked appeal to bigotry it is for Robertson to whine about a “Christian” being deposed by those awful Muslims. Why is that a bad thing? Is any “Christian” dictator automatically better than any Muslim no matter how repressive and vicious that Christian may be?
I would say that this should destroy Robertson’s credibility but he’s never really had any to begin with. This is the same guy, afyter all, who publicly opposed giving blacks the right to vote in South Africa (personal investments again). Robertson is a fucking scumbag. He’s nothing more than a carny show faith healer who hit it big on television. I can’t imagine why he’s ever been taken seriously as a political voice by anyone.
Diogenes
Unfortunately, this won’t do a damn thing to Robertson’s popularity. In order to decry Robertson’s position on Liberia you have to know where Liberia is. In all seriousness I doubt one in twenty know any more about Liberia than what Robertson tells them.
Taylor is worse, if possible, than Hussein. He has committed unspeakable acts to his people. Idi Amin might be a slight improvement on Taylor. This is despicable that Robertson should twist the issues involved this way.
HOLY SHIT!! Robertson has 8 million invested in a diamond mine thats expected to be worth 1.7 billion. He loses it all if Taylor’s overthrown. So much for the Christian bit.
You gotta wonder if Robertson knows that Taylor was last in this country when he broke out of a Massachusetts prison after being incarcerated for theft.
Who am I kidding? In a better world, Robertson probably would have been his cellmate.
Not a defender of Taylor here, but I’m not sure that this statement is accurate.
Jimmy Carter has pretty good street cred when it comes to elections. He seems to think that the election was fair.
Whatever the problems with Taylor now, I don’t think it’s fair or accurate to compare his election to Hussein’s.
Beagledave, I lived in Liberia for two years (before the war). I know something about it and I still know people who escaped from the Taylor regime. I don’t know what Carter thinks he’s talking about but I can tell you without a doubt that the election was a fraud. The results were probably accurate but they were accurate for the same reasons that Hussein’s results were accurate-- because people were terrified to vote for anyone else. I know. They told me. I have a friend who’s father was murdered for voting the wrong way. People are imprisoned, tortured and murdered for speaking out against Taylor. It’s very much like the Hussein regime.
Taylor didn’t just become corrupt since his election, he was insanely brutal from the time he started his rebellion against Doe. He had no scruples about slaughtering women and children. He also conscripted many children into his army and drugged them to keep them compliant. He used to take his little army into tribal villages and threaten to murder everyone in the village unless they swore allegiance to his cause. Whether they swore allegiance or not, his men would rape the women. Tens of thousand of men and women were murdered during Taylor’s campaign. After Doe had been tortured and murdered by Taylor’s forces nobody was going to dare vote against him or vocalize any opposition. Ask anyone from Liberia if that election was fair. People were fucking scared not to vote the way they were told… Believe it.
Since he was elected he has fostered and nurtured other civil wars and insurgencies in Sierre Leone (where he has been indicted for warcrimes inccluding the wholesale slaughter of civilians), the Ivory Coast and Guinea Bissau. He is also known to be harboring al Qaeda terrorists.
Taylor is as evil as it gets. Robertson’s support is so transparently self-serving, dishonest and flat out fucking immoral that it makes me sick.
and worse, that he’s speaking ill of one of the “good guys,” (Baptists,) in favour of the "bad guys, (Muslims.)
The President is Methodist, not Baptist (yes, there’s a difference).
I think Larry is speaking of Charles Taylor rather than George Bush. Taylor has actually styled himself as a lay Baptist preacher, and used a show of religious devotion to help deflect criticism that his government was involved in illegal arms and diamond smuggling in 1999.
Read_Neck, can we get a cite on this, please?
The Bill, Hillary, and Jesse part, that is.
He says he is a friend of BC. We know he’s buddy buddy with Roberston.
I don’t know what Taylor bases his statement that he is “friends” with Clinton on but my guess is that he simply met Clinton once during Clinton’s tour of Africa a few years ago. Is there any other linkage of “support” from Bill and Hillary other than Taylor claiming he’s “friends” with Bill.
There are obvious reasons to question the veracity of what Charles Taylor says. He’s not what you’d call a good cite.
"From AllAfrica, Inc. Africa News, Liberian Daily News Bulletin
BYLINE: Star Radio (Monrovia)
April 24, 1998
Liberia's First Lady Jewel Howard-Taylor has met with Mrs. Hilary Clinton, wife of U.S. President Bill Clinton in Washington. The meeting focused on the plight of Liberian children and ways to seek assistance for their welfare. The meeting was the first between the two first ladies. Mrs. Taylor led the Liberian delegation to the just-ended reunion conference in Chicago, U.S.A. It was organized by President Clinton's special envoy to Africa, Rev. Jesse Jackson. Mrs. Taylor held similar meetings with prominent individuals and groups including the mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley."
It seems that Taylor had a representative in Washington named Lester Hyman that was promoting Taylor and was insturmental in getting charges dropped in Massachusetts steming from an escape from prison in 1985.
Yes; a Methodist is a Baptist who can read – at least that’s what they say down here in Atlanta 
cmon, folks. It’s all a game of semantics. On the face of it, its hard to deny that same-gender molesters are committing homosexual acts. On the other hand, to proclaim that the average homosexual male is more inclined to molest young boys, well, thats a ludicrous conclusion.
I personally am loathe to label people, but if people get their jollies by insisting that same-gender molesters aren’t homosexuals, well bully for them. I can go with the flow on that one. But to say that there is absolutely nothing in common between acts that are, well, almost alike other than consensuality is pushing things.
oops, wrong thread