U.S. Efforts to Get Taylor Extradited Go Belly Up
By Douglas Farah
There was a brief feeling of optimism in recent days over shifting the U.S. position on having Charles Taylor stand trial for crimes against humanity. Now it seems that a senior Bush administration official has assured Nigerian president Obasanjo that the issue of Taylor will not even be raised during Obasanjo's brief visit with Bush on Thursday.
But let me back up.
After years of silence and inactivity, it seemed that the Bush administration was going to be proactive in presenting Obasanjo with evidence of Taylor's violation of his asylum agreement. Taylor was granted asylum in Nigeria in August 2003, when his criminal empire in Liberia was overrun by other warlords and gangs. Taylor, in return, promised not to meddle in Liberia's internal affairs or destabilize the region. Taylor, remember, aided and abetted both Hezbollah and al Qaeda in their diamond purchases for many years. For more information, see my recent Washington Post op-ed here or my book. For my complete blog on how this fell apart, go here.
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