Hopeful, not helpless

Monday, 8/4/97 Hopeful, not helpless LIBERIA: African nation
should stand firm on its independence, decline aid from United
States

"With our hearts united, we’ll shout the freedom of a race
benighted, long live Liberia happy land." Liberian National Anthem
There’s an old saying that when two elephants collide, it is always
the grass that gets trampled. Unfortunately, in its attempts to win
the Cold War, the United States has trampled on a lot of people.
Such is the case with Liberia, a once peaceful, beautiful country
on the west coast of Africa, which has been shattered by a brutal
civil conflict. This month Liberians celebrated the 150th
anniversary of their country’s independence. Yet the celebration
was bittersweet, for Liberia just ended a seven-year war which
claimed the lives of over 200,000 people. Many Liberians proudly
recall the founding of their nation, when a group of "free" African
American slaves arrived on the shores of West Africa in search of a
new home. It was far away from the United States, which at the time
was at the height of perfecting its slavery-based economy. These
colonists looked forward to the fulfillment of a promise granted by
America: the promise of freedom, and the pursuit of the same
democratic principles that their former oppressors held so dear.
Little did Liberians then know that down the line American
influence would not be a promise fulfilled, but a promise betrayed.
Liberia’s modern-day problems began in early 1980, when the
government was overthrown by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe, who
murdered Liberian President Tolbert, his son, and broadcasted live
on television the execution of 27 members of the government. What
was the U.S. response to this brutal overthrow of a democratic
government? William J. Casey, Ronald Reagan’s trusted advisor,
selected Doe as one of the 12 heads of state from around the world
to receive support from a Special Security Assistance Program. The
operations were designed to provide extraordinary protection for
leaders like Doe (regardless of whether or not they were corrupt).
The CIA received otherwise unobtainable information and access in
return. The purpose of this was to strengthen the U.S.’s Cold War
strategic advantage. Between 1980 and 1985 the United States
supplied President Doe with over $400 billion dollars in aid, most
of which was military. This was done in spite of the fact that Doe
was known for committing such horrors as dismembering political
opponents, creating ethnic rivalries, and massacring hundreds of
Liberians. The CIA deemed Liberia of strategic importance because
of the threat of Libya’s Qadadfi, Ronald Reagan’s new Islamic/Cold
War enemy. Besides supplying Doe’s murderous regime with weapons,
the U.S. also trained Doe’s soldiers and made high-tech
improvements to communications facilities in Monrovia (Washington
would not have been able to bomb Tripoli with such efficiency had
they not utilized Liberia in their strategic plans). Why would
Washington seek to embrace a leader such as Doe, despite his
apparent lack of respect for human life? According to Dr. Levi
Zangai, Former Minister of Education of Liberia, although there is
no direct proof linking the CIA to the 1980 overthrow of President
Tolbert, there are many who believe that Master Sergeant Doe was
put in place partly through some type of CIA covert operation.
President Tolbert was supposedly moving towards African
nationalism, and away from policies which favored a strong
relationship between the United States and Liberia. With Master
Sergeant Doe in control of Liberia, Washington would have full
reign over the strategic and economic options Liberia’s position
offered to U.S Cold War efforts. As the Cold War began to wind down
in the late 1980s, Washington began to supply Liberia with less aid
because the strategic importance of Liberian was lessened. Yet the
damage to Liberia had already been done. Washington had created Doe
into a Cold War strongman, who through constant U.S. military
support turned once-peaceful Liberia into a military state, while
Liberia’s health care and education were seriously neglected. The
Doe government had also defaulted on several International Monetary
Fund loans. By 1989 it would owe the U.S. an estimated $183
million. On Christmas Eve, 1989, Charles Taylor, the one-time
director of the General Services Agency under President Doe,
invaded Liberia through the neighboring Ivory Coast, triggering the
beginning of a seven-year war. In this war the murderous regime,
trained and supplied with weapons by the by the U.S. military,
indiscriminately massacred hundreds of Liberians. In retaliation,
Taylor’s forces began to massacre members of Doe’s Krahn people.
The war continued to escalate, and hundreds of U.S.-provided
weapons ended up in the hands of children, many of whom had been
orphaned during the war. As the death toll in Liberia began to
approach the tens of thousands, the world continued to completely
turn a blind eye. While the world paid close attention to the
conflict occurring in former Yugoslavia, the Liberian conflict in
the world community was merely a non-issue. Ironically, after
supporting the Doe government for almost ten years, the U.S. now
merely evacuated their personnel and civilians from the U.S.
embassy. In the end, it would be the Economic Union of West African
States (ECOWAS) which would clean up the mess largely started by
the United States. Headed by Nigeria, ECOWAS sent an intervention
force to Liberia , and in late 1996 was successful in ending the
Liberian conflict with the signing of the Abuja Accord. ECOWAS was
also successful in disarming tens of thousands of Liberian
fighters, and setting up the elections which occurred on July 19,
1997. With the Cold War now supposedly at an end, it seems as if
countries like Liberia have a lot of cleaning up to do as a result
of accepting U.S. promises. According to California Peace Action,
over 90 percent of weapons sold around the world still originate
from the United States. This year our government (and we as
taxpayers) will spend over $255 billion dollars on building
weapons. Many of these weapons will be sold to nations like Liberia
with corrupt leaders who will use them on their own people, in the
interest of the United States. Why should Americans spend their tax
dollars on weapons to oppress, maim, and kill around the world,
when we could use these funds instead to improve health and
education here? Although the United States may not be solely
responsible for the problems which plague Liberia today, we must
hold our government responsible for supporting murderous regimes
with tax payers’ dollars throughout the world. Without substantial
U.S. support, it is doubtful that a criminal like President Doe
would be able to stay in power for very long. The promise of
democracy in the so-called Third World too often has meant arming
these nations. As in the case of Liberia, this has led to disaster.
Had the United States not flooded Liberia with millions of dollars
worth of destructive weapons, and placed them in the hands of
murderers, the war which destroyed Liberia might never have taken
place. How could the United States pretend to stand for democracy,
while creating and keeping military strongmen such as Doe, whom the
people cannot relieve from power, because they have grown so strong
from U.S. support? Hopefully, now that the Cold War is over,
nations like Liberia can pursue responsible leadership without
nations like the United States keeping leaders that the people do
not support in power. In order for Liberia to truly be successful
in the long run, the key is self-reliance. What ECOWAS did to end
the seven-year war in Liberia must be applauded, for it showed the
world that so-called Third World nations can take care of one
another without the poison of western influence. Too often the
United Nations and the United States have been given kudos for
cleaning up conflicts which would have never started in the first
place had the West decided to stick to its own affairs. Hopefully,
the twenty-first century will be a time when African nations
realize that the promise of success does not lie in becoming more
like America, but in African Nationalism. By depending on the West,
the only thing that Africa and the Third World will look forward to
is another century of exploitation. Related Link Liberia: A
Casualty of the Cold War’s End