Charles G. Taylor: three cheers for lip service

Former Liberian dictator Charles G. Taylor was found trying to cross the Nigerian border into Cameroon. He is now on his way to Liberia to be prosecuted for war crimes.

The United States has pressured Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to bring Taylor to trial. On the surface, zeal for prosecuting bloody dictators seems admirable. However, one remains curious as to what is going on below the surface.

The call for justice by Western powers always happens after the train has run spectacularly off the tracks and hundreds of the thousand of innocents have died. Interventions to prevent the tragedy never receive much attention.

In another odd coincidence, trials for war criminals have an uncanny way of mitigating against those who are not Westerners. “Countries such as the U. S. do not torture people or kill innocent civilians unless they really deserve or need it,” some say. Oh well, let’s move on.

We did breathe some fresh air this week. The West seems to have rescued the apostate Rahman from the clutches of Afghani Islamic law. The event coincidentally scores a nice public relations coup while obscuring the heroic struggle for human rights by dissidents in the Muslim world, those dissidents who happen to be less than friendly to the West’s globalization agenda.

The West scores a hat trick. The current Afghani government appears enlightened, the West proves its commitment to human rights, and the West avoids dealing with another group of rowdy uncontrollable dissidents.

However, I have grown cynical and maudlin while mucking around in this issue. A hat tip to and three cheers for international justice.