Edited severely to just the new stuff.
Embattled President Charles Taylor accepted an offer of asylum in Nigeria on Sunday, but gave no timeframe for quitting power and insisted the transition must be orderly. He urged the United States to send peacekeepers.
Wondering if Chuckles thinks that, if he can stay alive in charge until the Marines arrive, he can then ludicrously claim that, as the president of Liberia, why he just has to be allowed to stay on?
Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned Nigeria's President Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Saturday, said State Department spokeswoman Amanda Batt. She did not say what the two discussed.
| I'd think it had something to do with Chuck... |
Taylor is under intense international pressure to step down — Bush has said he would ``not take 'no' for an answer'' — and is holed up in a capital surrounded by rebels. But Taylor has insisted peacekeepers deploy before he will go to ensure fighting does not erupt again. Another complication is the threat of trial on war crimes charges that hangs over Taylor after his indictment by a U.N.-backed court in Sierra Leone.
| How 'bout if we send in the Marines to arrest Chuck and drop him off in Sierra Leone? That sounds like a pretty sensible intervention, if we've got to intervene at all. I don't think anybody really thinks he'll leave willingly — there are too many corpses he climbed over to get where he is now. And if he does leave because he's forced to, he'll be putting together another gang before you can say "Jack Robinson." |
The Bush administration reacted coldly to any delay in Taylor quitting. White House spokesman Jimmy Orr said: ``What the president has said is Mr. Taylor needs to leave and leave soon. He needs to leave so peace can be restored.'' One rebel official welcomed the news but said he had no confidence Taylor would follow through and leave Liberia. Taylor has broken promises in the past to step down. ``I hope this time around Mr. Taylor will act on his words,'' rebel leader Kabineh Janeh said in Accra, Ghana. ``Far too often he has failed to honor what he says. We don't trust him. Not at all.''
Shrewd judge of character.
Taylor made his announcement after Nigeria's president met him at Monrovia's airport to personally offer asylum in his country. ``I thank my big brother for coming,'' Taylor said at a news conference with Obasanjo before the Nigerian leader left Liberia. ``He has extended an invitation and we have accepted an invitation.'' But, Taylor said, ``it is not unreasonable to request that there be an orderly exit from power.'' He said U.S. participation in an international peacekeeping force planned for Liberia was ``crucial in every way.'' Taylor and Obasanjo would not say when the Liberian president would step down, but both warned that too hasty a flight departure could spark new celebration fighting in the West African nation. The visit by Obasanjo to bring the asylum offer in person underlined the urgency of international appeals for the Liberian leader to leave. Obasanjo arrived by jet in Monrovia airport, stepping into an embrace and kisses on both cheeks by Taylor. Taylor's retinue handed Obasanjo, dressed in flowing traditional robes, a live white chicken and some kola nuts - a customary Liberian gift symbolizing purity of heart and peace. Among the hundreds of Taylor supporters on the airport tarmac, many carried banners, one reading, ``U.N. please drop the charges against President Taylor, for peace sake.''
All signs being heartfelt expressions of the Children™. |