The U.S. Open Door Policy
By Tarty Teh

Here is a bit of reporting that one cannot credibly blame on the Star Radio, which was shut down for reporting things the government of President Charles Taylor said might cause instability. It was easy to assume that President Taylor was afraid that Star Radio’s reporting – without saying whether it was true or not – might cause the people to revolt against his regime. In fact Taylor said as much.

However, given what is happening even after both independent radio stations in the country were closed down by the government, it is difficult to determine whether President Taylor was referring to political instability rather than the mental imbalance that is growing evident by the suggested arrest of the U.S. ambassador to Liberia. Stupidity is mostly an annoyance. It can be funny at times. But here is a dangerous brand of it.

However, streaks are confidence builders. In that regard, President Taylor has a dubious streak going in his dealings with the U.S. government:

1. He broke out of a U.S. prison;
2. He infiltrated the U.S. Department of State, stole some documents and had them plastered on the front page of West Africa magazine for a good measure in embarrassing the United States. Let’s skip the odious ramifications for American citizens caught in the web at the State Department;
3. Killed some of the Senegalese servicemen brought to Liberia at U.S. request and expense as peace keepers to assuage Taylor’s distrust of the Nigerians who dominated the Economic Community of West African States’ peace keeping force ECOMOG;
4. Killed five American nuns for their cars and provisions;
5. Attacked the U.S. embassy in Liberia and killed a Liberian on U.S. embassy ground after killing more than 300 in the city center;
6. Refused to claim the body of the dead Liberian his forces killed on U.S. embassy ground, so it was buried on embassy ground; and
7. Intercepted American NGOs’ convey and took their cars, which later plowed the streets of Monrovia even why Taylor’s government denied having anything to do with the car-jacking. To his credit however, President Taylor did offer to pay a certain amount for the high-jacked cars. But the NGOs said what President Taylor offered was only an eighth of what the vehicles cost. That was 1999.

Arresting the U.S. ambassador to Liberia would be a garden-variety embarrassment in the midst of the above. The U.S. has never been more emphatic with the Taylor government than when it demanded that the independent radio stations be opened "immediately without conditions." It was after that statement that the arrest of the U.S. ambassador to Liberia became an agenda item in President Taylor’s ruling circle. Yet, some of us somehow think it’s going to get better. When?

The Monrovia Guardian reports: "Utterance of an arrest threat against the envoy of the strongest power on the globe is in itself a declaration of hostility against the United States of America. This country, and indeed the ruling party, has no intention to engage the government and people of the United States in any antagonistic fashion." But that’s just the newspaper.

If the Taylor government is in agreement, it’s not saying. And therein lies the good news. If we are ever going to be truly free, we will have to free ourselves. The United States has left the door open for two years now. – Tarty Teh [Washington, D.C., March 25, 2000]