Transcripts of M.G. "Pat" Robertson's commentaries on Liberia in recent broadcasts of his television program, The 700 Club.
June 26:
"Liberia was set up, as you remember, by President Monroe as a homeland for freed American slaves. That's why the capital is called Monrovia and the country is called Liberia, which means free. The first president was a pastor from Norfolk, Virginia. This country has had a close relationship with the United States over the years, but of late -- the last oh, four, five, six years -- the United States State Department has tried as hard as it can to destabilize Liberia and to bring about the very outcome we're seeing now. They had no endgame, they have no plan of what to do, they only wanted to destroy the sitting president and his government, and as a result, the place is being plunged into chaos. And it breaks my heart to see many Christian people being over run. Because the people who are coming in now are the Mandingos, who are Muslims. They're being supported by Guinea, which is a Muslim country. Liberia has been predominantly a Christian country. And the United States State Department is paving the way for the Muslims to take over Liberia. Now that's where your tax dollars are going, ladies and gentlemen, and in my opinion it's an absolute scandal."
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July 1:
"I wrote the Secretary of State approximately two years ago asking for us to lift sanctions on Liberia through the United Nations. He wrote back that he was going to continue the policy of the Clinton administration to keep sanctions on. I, a year ago, I wrote the undersecretary of state for African affairs warning him of the trouble that was going to happen if the United States continued to support Guinea, to give funding to Guinea, which is a Muslim country with a terrible dictator in charge, and that if we continued to undermine the regime of the sitting president of Liberia that there was going to be chaos, and I said to him then, 'You have no endgame.'
"Well, they haven't had an endgame, all they've wanted to do is destroy the government of Liberia, which they have succeeded in doing. And they have emboldened the LURD guerrillas to come in and bring about terrible fighting. So now there's cholera, now there are various types of disease, bodies are being stacked up outside the American Embassy. It's a horrible bloodbath brought on by the United States State Department. And then what we're now saying is we don't have a plan, we don't know what we should do and we're not sure we should send in troops. Of course we should send in troops and stop that bloodshed. We allowed it to happen. If we hadn't undermined the government over there, there wouldn't have been this bloodshed to begin with. The LURD guerrillas would have been put down in a relatively short period of time. Whatever you think of Taylor, he has agreed to step down, and there needs to be a peaceful transition. We had no endgame -- one more example of the feckless nature of the United States State Department. For them to say they don't have a plan and don't know what to do, to me is just the height of hypocrisy."
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July 7:
"Well, I've spent a lot of time in Africa, and believe me it is a problem. But I think the United States State Department has mismanaged the situation in nation after nation after nation. The situation in Rwanda, I was there with relief aid when that Rwanda crisis was just beginning, interviewed people coming out, went into a refugee camp, talked to the people, we had medical teams in there. The United States, the United Nations did absolutely nothing. We've got the terrible problem down in Zimbabwe with that awful dictator and nothing's really being done to get him out of there. We've had corruption in nation after nation after nation. We engineered the removal of Mobutu from Zaire and then turned the country essentially over to a communist thug, Kabila, and out of that maybe as many as three and a half million people have died. There was an article in our local paper here, syndicated columnist said, 'How much blood has got to be spilled in Africa before we wake up to our responsibilities?' It's just like we've ignored that place and allowed these things to fester.
"And now I think what we have to remember is, in Liberia -- and, ladies and gentlemen, I've watched this for several years -- the State Department under Bill Clinton set the United Nations against Liberia and forced sanctions on Liberia, which in turn weakened the government of the president who had been freely elected by his people, and consequently the outcome was certain. Now who have we favored? We have given money to a Muslim country, Guinea, and the rebels who are coming against Taylor are Muslims, and the fighting in Africa that's taking place right now is an example of the Muslims trying to overrun the Christian countries, and they're being funded out of Saudi Arabia. A huge amount of money is now going into what's now called the Democratic Republic of Congo to overturn and undermine. Same thing is happening in Ivory Coast.
"It's country after country, but the State Department doesn't wake up, they don't understand what the game is, and consequently they make bad decisions. So we're undermining a Christian, Baptist president to bring in Muslim rebels to take over the country. And how dare the president of the United States say to the duly elected president of another country, 'You've got to step down.' How can he do that? It's one thing to say, 'We will give you money if you step down,' or 'We will send troops if you step down.' But just to order him to step down? He doesn't work for us. But that's the arrogance that comes through in this whole thing. So I mean, I'm appalled. I've watched it, I've watched it in country after country and I've seen mismanagement constantly, and undoubtedly the president is not going to be briefed properly by the State Department. and when he gets through this trip, it's probably going to have very little significance."
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July 8:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I've been warning you about what's happening in Liberia for some time, and I must say, surprise surprise, the United States government is lying to you. Because there were captured two containers of arms on the port in Monrovia destined for the rebels, sent by the United States of America. Furthermore, we know for a fact the U.S. has given through the Defense Department $3 million to Guinea, and they have been training forces there, and some of the rebels say they have been trained by the United States of America. Guinea is an extremist Islamic state. The LURD are Islamic extremists, and the United States government is financing them. And they deny it, but they have been. And they also put into effect sanctions under the Clinton administration, Susan Rice and a guy named Moose put that into effect, urged the United Nations to put sanctions on the government of Liberia, which meant it was impossible for them to defend themselves. Consequently the rebels were sure to win. And what we're saying is, the U.S. owes something. They can't walk away and say, 'How did this ever happen?' They brought it on. And ladies and gentlemen, it's just one more example of the mismanagement of the State Department in Africa. So I hope the president has a happy trip, but nevertheless these problems will go with him as he tours that continent."
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July 9:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I would remind the senators that we sent our troops to Kosovo to back up a Muslim group over there, to help them against the Christian Serbs. In this case, we're looking at Muslim rebels trying to overthrow a Christian nation. This is a nation that looks to America for leadership. This is a nation who considers America as its big brother. This is a nation who was founded by the United States of America. We owe them an obligation. Somalia's a totally different ballgame. They were rebel lords over there, warlords who hated America. They were filled with violence, and we didn't handle that very well. In Liberia just a few of our troops come there and they wave American flags and shout Hosanna. This is a country that wants to see America to help them, and they're begging for help. And for senators to say 'But we're not sure we need to commit troops there,' they certainly committed them to Kosovo, and if we can go out and defend Muslims, it looks like to me we can certainly defend Christians as well. And if we don't, there is something seriously wrong, because we undermined that country to begin with."
