One has to carefully look at what Taylor did in Liberia in the past eleven years and where we may be headed. There is indeed a time to call it quit. While it has already imposed its own sanctions on the Taylor government, banning officials, their families, members of that government from travelling to the United States, the U. S. government in support of the UN Panel of Experts report, last week formally introduced a UN resolution calling for global embargo on Liberia's diamond and timber exports, a flight and travel ban, and other sanctions intended to stop diamond smuggling and gunrunning with Sierra Leone's RUF rebels. As the saying goes heaven helps those who help themselves. However Burkinabes may see their President, his place in West African history is reserved for a man who held and lit the destructive flames that have sent tens of thousands of people to their death and others in difficult to escape misery.
Experience is one's best teacher.
Throughout the years, Liberians have learned from past experiences. The dictatorial regime of Charles Taylor in Liberia may have been nightmarishly watching the US Presidential election twisting with a potential Al Gore victory. Earlier this year, the Clinton-Gore Administration banned Taylor government officials from entering the United States, finally deciding to apply more stick than carrot in dealing with the Liberian dictator. The greatness of America has come from it being a beacon of hope for the helpless and the deprived on the one hand, and the brightest minds and the most talented on the other hand. America has offered hope and opportunity to many immigrants.