In Choreographed Move, Taylor Escapes

By Douglas Farah

In a stunning display of choreographed incompetence, the Nigerian government of president Obasanjo has let Charles Taylor slip away into the night. Nigeria, Liberia, the Bush administration and United Nations all bear a large dose of responsibility in the fiasco that will haunt the region for generations.

So, a man who sold diamonds to al Qaeda, bankrolled weapons dealer Viktor Bout while Bout was selling weapons to the Taliban and wreaked havoc on an entire region, has flown from the gilded cage, where the money he stole from his raped and pillaged country was able to buy him freedom.

Despite being indicted on 17 counts of crimes against humanity, he enjoyed almost three years of relatively unfettered freedom in his exile home in Calabar. From his gilded cage in Calabar, where he paid his Nigerian "security guards" to let him continue his deadly meddling unabated, to some undisclosed location where his cash reserves in France, Switzerland and offshore structures will buy him more protection.

Like a bad novel, Taylor's escape became a foregone conclusion when Obasanjo suddenly announced that Liberia could come and get Taylor. Obasanjo, who now, in classic Big Man African fashion, is ordering an "investigation" into how Taylor escaped, withdrew all of the guards from Taylor's compound. It was clear that was Taylor's signal to slip away. The U.S. did virtually nothing. The UN was paralyzed. The British ran for cover. The complete blog is here..

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