CharlesTaylorTrial.org (The Hague)
Alpha Sesay
10 November 2009
Prosecutors told Charles Taylor that he had "reason to lie" during his four months of testimony which he had spent rebutting charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in crimes during Sierra Leone's brutal conflict — and that he needed to prepare to be "honest" in cross-examination, which started today in The Hague.
Lead prosecution counsel, Ms. Brenda Hollis, who is conducting Mr. Taylor's cross-examination told the former president he has not been "honest" in direct-examination and that she is ready to prove that Mr. Taylor has been telling lies.
Ms. Hollis, briefly taking Mr. Taylor through a few documents that he had discussed in direct-examination, pointed out the absence of certain key words used by the accused former president. In a letter written by Mr. Taylor to former United States president George Bush, Ms. Hollis asked Mr. Taylor to point out in the letter where he had said to Mr. Bush that he would step down as Liberian president, as claimed by the former president in his direct examination.
In his response, Mr. Taylor said that the portion of the letter which read that "I have considered recusing myself from the political process" indicated his intention to step down as Liberian president.
"That is my understanding counsel, that is how I understand it," Mr. Taylor said.
Ms. Hollis, referencing Mr. Taylor's May 2000 meeting with United States Special Envoy for Africa, Rev. Jesse Jackson, accused Mr. Taylor of not giving Rev. Jackson an honest answer when he did not admit that former Revolutionary United Front (RUF) commander Sam Bockarie and his fighters were being trained as mercenaries by Mr. Taylor in Liberia. Mr. Taylor "misled" the US envoy, as Ms. Hollis put it to the accused.
Mr. Taylor denied the allegation, insisting that he gave an honest answer to the US Special Envoy.
"I object to the fact of mercinerization. I did give an honest answer to Special Envoy Jackson. Your suggestion that I was dishonest is not true and you should not allude to that," Mr. Taylor said.
"I was not being misleading and if Special Envoy Jackson had asked me whether I was training those men and I said no, then I would have been misleading," he added.
Mr. Taylor insisted that if he had been training Sierra Leonean rebel fighters and supplying arms and ammunition to RUF rebels, he would have said so. He also denied ever receiving diamonds from RUF rebels in Sierra Leone.
"If I had been training or supplying arms to the RUF, there is no reason why I would have denied it. If I had done so, I would have said so," the former president said.
As he denied allegations of his alleged support to RUF rebels and receiving diamonds mined in Sierra Leone, Mr. Taylor accused the prosecution of building its case on "lies."
"To suggest that I will deny something like that, remember, this whole case is a lie–my activities as president, that I sent arms to Sierra Leone, that I received diamonds from Sierra Leone, there is no evidence and your failure accept it, it's all lies," he said.
Ms. Hollis put it to Mr. Taylor that he has more reason to lie about his actions compared to the numerous witnesses who have testified against him. Mr. Taylor responded that "I have told this court the truth, unless you bring evidence that I am lying."
"We will prove that," Ms. Hollis responded.
Earlier in the day, as Mr. Taylor concluded his direct-examination, he discredited newspaper articles and intelligence reports on his alleged involvement in the conflict in Sierra Leone. The former Liberian president also challenged the honesty of the UN's actions in authorizing the freezing of his assets as well as UN Security Council Resolution 1688 of 2006 authorizing his trial in The Hague.
"This whole issue and how it has been handled has been strange but that is the nature of this case," he said.
Meanwhile, in a message to the press, the acting Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Mr. Joseph Kamara, also outlined how the prosecution intends to cross-examine Mr. Taylor.
"We will directly challenge Mr. Taylor in three ways–on the accuracy, the truthfulness and the completeness of his testimony," Mr. Kamara said.
Mr. Taylor has been charged with 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law committed by rebel forces in Sierra Leone. He has denied all charges.
Mr. Taylor's cross-examination continues tomorrow.
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In his piece entitled “ White Collar War Crimes, Black African Fall Guys,”
investigative journalist Keith Snow writes:
First note that the ICC can now be viewed as a tool of hegemonic U.S. foreign policy,
where the weapons deployed by the U.S. and its allies include the accusations of, and
indictments for, human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
To understand this, we can ask WHY NO WHITE MAN HAS YET BEEN CHARGED
with these or other offenses at the ICC (International Criminal Court) which now holds
five black African warlords and seeks to incarcerate and bring to trial another black man,
also an Arab, Omar Bashir.
Why hasn’t George W. Bush been indicted ? Or what about Donald Rumsfeld ?
Dick Cheney? Henry Kissinger? Ehud Olmert? Tony Blair?
The sad fact is that the International Criminal Court has become terribly
politicized, as has the entire international justice apparatus.
The ICC has issued indictments, for the first time in history, against a sitting head of
state. Meanwhile, according to Snow, an Israeli weapons dealer, also a reputed Mossad
operative, is revealed to be shipping weapons into Sudan with Pentagon support.
And Belgium changed its law rather than prosecute Ariel Sharon for war crimes.
The double standard cries out to us.
One country in the West, however, increasingly stands out as a place where
justice can be found?and that is Spain. With its landmark indictment of
Pinochet and its current consideration of Israeli war crimes in Lebanon and
U.S. torture in Guantanamo, we increasingly look to the Spanish Courts with
hope. It was the Spanish courts that returned indictments against Rwandan
soldiers for genocide even as the world coddles U.S. proxy Rwanda and its
leader, Paul Kagame.
[allthingscynthiamckinney.com]
BY PEACE SHALL Many Be deceived (Daniel 8:25) .
DOES THE TERM PEACEKEEPERS ring a Bell ?
Ask the people in Rwanda (who survived that Peace-keeping) about the UN PEACEKEEPERS .
President Obama’s UNITED NATIONS AMBASSADOR SUSAN RICE cut her teeth on the RWANDA MASSACRE….OOOPs!!! She said.
(Here’s a Search Link To Many Witnesses To THE NEW U.N. RICE MONSTER)
[http://ixquick.com/do/metasearch.pl?query=Susan+Rice+Rwanda&cat=web&pl=ff& language=english]
OBAMA DECEPTIONS
#1
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrpRocaEfQE]
#2 Here is evidence of Point 2 of the Georgia Guidestones on Reproduction .
Don't be deceived :
[http://www.infowars.com/?p=7259]
Here are search result links to what the Georgia Guidestones are
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones ]
#3
BY PEACE SHALL Many Be deceived (Daniel 8:25) .
DOES THE TERM PEACEKEEPERS ring a Bell ?
Ask the people in Rwanda (who survived that Peace-keeping) about the
United Nations PEACEKEEPERS .
President Obama’s UNITED NATIONS AMBASSADOR SUSAN RICE cut her teeth on
the RWANDA MASSACRE…. OOOPs!!! She said.
(Here’s a Search Link To Many Witnesses To THE NEW U.N. RICE MONSTER)
[http://ixquick.com/do/metasearch.pl?query=Susan+Rice+Rwanda&cat=web&pl=ff& language=english]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
[ www.libradio.net ]
[gcnlive.com] /
Life Is A Game. Have Fun .
Luke 18:17 - Isaiah 11:6
Dear "Uplift", You're finally writing some sensical sentences, thank goodness. Remember that racism is racism, it doesn't just apply to whites. If you hate whites because they're white, you qualify as a racist: the same gang as whites hating black because they're black (of anything else).
HAHAHA.. The beginning of the cross examination was really funny. Brenda Hollis is not a match for taylor. i could see the smile in taylor´s lawyer face.. Taylor smartly responded to her , and even told her how to ask the questions.The OTP is not ready to take taylor down as they said.
Hello Senior Associates of Taylor, Do you really think the focus will be on Taylor’s letter to Bush?If Taylor ever wrote to Bush,the content of said letter was only limited to Liberian politics and not the matter for which Taylor is being held on trial in The Netherlands.
Remember,Taylor has already succumbed that “he was duped”by Obasanjo to abandone article 61 of the Liberian consititution-a provision which Taylor misconceived hence abused quite entirely while in power.Those empty praises are never even mistakenly likely to take Taylor anywhere.Some of us began hearing such praises being heaped on Taylor when we were mere kids.Same praises were again heard when Taylor abandoned the June 4 2003 peace talks in Ghana.Infact,who else among you associates of Taylor ever imagined Taylor could be arrested?
So,let’s really wait and see.Truly,the end often tells the means.
I agree that the letter is not important. But you have to write the OTP and tell them.
What is going on with the prosecution team? After a month of listening to Taylor testimony, they failed to commence their cross examination of mr taylor. Just for the first 30 minutes, B hollis got the shock that sent the prosecution back to their office to replan for monday.
When it comes to public oratory, the like of former Liberian president , Charles Taylor, is one of a kind. I still remember how some of my compatriot in Sierra leone were mesmerized by Mr Taylor during our civil war. I was often frustrated when i heard people talking about how good Mr Taylor was in his exchanges with BBC journalists. He appears to be doing the same at this trial. The prosecution should not fall for that. Present the hard facts that you have. Do not give him any more public forum. He has enough of it already. Ibrahim Jalloh aka BJ
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