by Johnny Dwyer
16. Menephar interviews.
17. Prosecutor vs. Taylor, Trial Transcript, May 15, 2008.
18. Republic of Liberia, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “Witness: Moses Blah Participated in Sam Bockarie’s Killing,” January 31, 2009, http://trcofliberia.org/press_releases/48.
19. Tucker Carlson, “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” Esquire, November 1, 2003.
20. Robert Ferguson, interviews by author, June 10–11, 2010.
21. “David M. Crane,” Syracuse University College of Law, http://www.law.syr.edu/deans-faculty-staff/profile.aspx?fac=152.
22. U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations, “The Impact of Liberia’s Election on West Africa,” hearing, 109th Congress, 2nd session, February 8, 2006.
23. Ferguson interviews.
24. Menephar interviews.
25. Henderson interviews.
26. Ibid.
27. U.S. ambassador to Liberia to U.S. ambassador to Ghana, June 10, 2003, U.S. Department of State, Document E540, National Security Archive, George Washington University.
28. Henderson interviews.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31. Roy Belfast (aka Chucky Taylor), interview by author, April 15, 2012.
32. Henderson interviews.
33. Nimley interviews.
34. Ferguson interviews.
35. Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (New York: Viking, 2011), loc. 11863, online.
CHAPTER 13 Exile
1. U.S. secretary of state to all diplomatic and consular posts, July 26, 2003, U.S. Department of State, Document E60, National Security Archive, George Washington University.
2. Ibid.
3. Kirk Semple with Somini Sengupta, “Pushing Peace in Africa, Bush Tells Liberian President to Quit,” New York Times, June 26, 2003.
4. Robert Ferguson, interviews by author, June 10–11, 2010.
5. U.S. ambassador to Liberia to U.S. secretary of state, June 27, 2003, U.S. Department of State, Document E550, National Security Archive, George Washington University.
6. Christopher Menephar, interviews by author, June 18–19, 2009; August 2010; December 12, 2010.
7. Samuel Nimley, interview by author, June 3, 2007; April 22 and June 17, 2009.
8. Yolanda Belfast vs. Roy Belfast, Circuit Court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, Orange County, Florida, Case no. DR03-7541, “Request for Admissions,” p. 4.
9. Craig Timberg, “Liberia’s Taylor Found and Arrested,” Washington Post, March 30, 2006.
10. “Former Liberia Leader Was Denied an Opportunity to Run the Country, Says Ex-Wife,” Trinidad Guardian, August 15, 2003.
11. Dion Camacho and Sean Poland, interviews by author, May 8–9, 2010.
12. Lynn Henderson to author, May 3–4, 2010.
13. United States vs. Roy M. Belfast, Jr., U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, Trial Transcript, October 8, 2008.
14. John Tarnue, interview by author, June 2007.
15. Chucky Taylor, statement, August 17, 2008.
16. Lynn Henderson, interviews by author, January 15 and May 24, 2008; May 30, 2009; April 8, 2010; and June 2, 2011.
17. Lynn Henderson v. Charles McArthur Taylor Jr., Circuit Court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, Orange County, Florida, Case no. DR05-13790, “Verified Petition for Dissolution of Marriage,” June 15, 2005.
18. Henderson interviews.
19. Camacho and Poland interviews.
20. Ibid.
CHAPTER 14 ICE
1. Matthew Baechtle, interviews by author, May 25 and August 16, 2010.
2. Thomas J. Ridge and Lary Bloom, The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege … And How We Can Be Safe Again (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2009).
3. Baechtle interviews.
4. George W. Bush, “Blocking Property of Certain Persons and Prohibiting the Importation of Certain Goods from Liberia,” Executive Order 13348, July 27, 2004, http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Documents/13348.pdf.
5. Baechtle interviews.
6. Johnny Dwyer, “Trying Times in Little Liberia,” Village Voice, August 19, 2003.
7. UN Security Council, Report of the Panel of Experts Pursuant to Resolution 1343 (2001), Paragraph 19, Concerning Liberia, October 26, 2001, S/2001/1015, http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/committees/Liberia2/1015e.pdf.
8. Baechtle interviews.
9. John Tarnue, interview by author, June 2007.
10. Prosecutor vs. Charles Ghankay Taylor, Special Court for Sierra Leone, Case no. SCSL-2003-01-T, Trial Chamber II, Trial Transcript, February 18, 2010.
11. Tarnue interview.
12. Prosecutor vs. Taylor, Trial Transcript, February 18, 2010.
13. Tarnue interview.
14. Hassan Bility, interview by author, May 2007.
15. United States vs. Roy M. Belfast, Jr., U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, Trial Transcript, October 16, 2008.
16. Mona Ragheb, interview by author, May 25, 2010.
17. Ibid.
18. U.S. secretary of state to all diplomatic and consular posts, July 26, 2003, U.S. Department of State, Document E60, National Security Archive, George Washington University.
19. Chief of mission of U.S. embassy in Monrovia, Liberia, to U.S. ambassador in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso, June 9, 1995, U.S. Department of State, Document E1, National Security Archive, George Washington University.
20. U.S. secretary of state to U.S. ambassador to Liberia, March 23, 2005, U.S. Department of State, Document E82, National Security Archive, George Washington University.
21. Ibid.
22. U.S. ambassador to Trinidad to U.S. ambassador to Liberia, March 23, 2005, U.S. Department of State, Document E82, National Security Archive, George Washington University.
23. United States vs. Belfast, “Government Exhibit CE-5,” October 1, 2008.
24. Baechtle interviews.
25. United States vs. Belfast, “United States’ Supplemental Pleading on Defendant’s Pre-Trial Motions Referred to Magistrate Judge,” Case no.1:06-cr-207 58-CMA, June 18, 2007.
26. Samuel Nimley, interviews by author, June 3, 2007; April 22 and June 17, 2009.
27. Michael D. Bayer, The Blue Planet: Informal International Police Networks and National Intelligence (Washington, D.C.: National Defense Intelligence College, Center for Strategic Intelligence Research, NDIC Press, 2010), p. 106.
28. United States vs. Charles McArthur Emmanuel, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Criminal no. 06-2355-PRP, “Affidavit of Special Agent Christopher Malone in Support of an Arrest Warrant and Criminal Complaint,” March 30, 2008.
29. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa’s First Woman President (New York: Harper, 2009), p. 179.
30. “Liberia: Staying Focused,” International Crisis Group, January 13, 2006, http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/west-africa/liberia/B036-liberia-staying-focused.aspx.
31. U.S. House of Representatives, “Address by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia,” 109th Congress, 2nd session, March 15, 2006, http://1.usa.gov/1nXeajt.
32. Baechtle interviews.
33. Ibid.
34. 18 US Code § 2340, http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2340.
35. U.S. Congress, Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995, H.R. 2333, 103rd Congress (1993–94), https://beta.congress.gov/bill/103rd-congress/house-bill/2333.
36. Jay Bybee, “Memorandum for Alberto R. Gonzales, Counsel to the President, Re: Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340-2340A,” U.S. Department of Jus
tice, Office of Legal Counsel, August 1, 2002.
37. Baechtle interviews.
38. Ragheb interview.
39. Zachary Mills, “Does the World Need Knights Errant to Combat Enemies of All Mankind? Universal Jurisdiction, Connecting Links, and Civil Liability,” Washington and Lee Law Review 66, no. 3 (2009): 1315–67.
40. Henry Kissinger, “The Pitfalls of Universal Jurisdiction,” Foreign Affairs (July–August 2001), online.
41. Baechtle interviews.
CHAPTER 15 Flight
1. United States vs. Roy M. Belfast, Jr., U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, Trial Transcript, October 16, 2008.
2. Samuel Nimley, interview by author, June 3, 2007; April 22 and June 17, 2009.
3. Courtenay Griffiths, interview by author, June 12, 2009.
4. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, October 16, 2008.
5. Craig Timberg, “Liberia’s Taylor Found and Arrested,” Washington Post, March 30, 2006.
6. Matthew Baechtle, interviews by author, May 25 and August 16, 2010.
7. United States vs. Charles McArthur Emmanuel, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Criminal no. 06-2355-PRP, “Affidavit of Special Agent Christopher Malone in Support of an Arrest Warrant and Criminal Complaint,” March 30, 2008.
8. Baechtle interviews.
9. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, October 16, 2008.
10. Caroline Heck Miller, “United States Supplemental Pleading on Pre-trial Motions Referred to Magistrate Judge,” June 18, 2007.
11. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, October 16, 2008.
12. Ibid., “Government Exhibit CE-5,” October 1, 2008.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid., Trial Transcript, October 16, 2008.
CHAPTER 16 18 U.S.C. § 2340
1. Gregory Naples, interview by author, August 17, 2010.
2. United States vs. Roy M. Belfast, Jr., U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, Trial Transcript, September 30, 2008.
3. John Kroger, Convictions: A Prosecutor’s Battles Against Mafia Killers, Drug Kingpins, and Enron Thieves (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008).
4. Hamza Abdul Aziz (aka Chucky Taylor) to author, March 15, 2007.
5. Alexander Acosta, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, interview by author, October 1, 2009.
6. Caroline Heck Miller, assistant U.S. attorney, interview by author, December 16, 2009.
7. Karen Rochlin, assistant U.S. attorney, interview by author, December 16, 2009.
8. Naples interview.
9. Acosta interview.
10. Matthew Baechtle, interviews by author, May 25 and August 16, 2010.
11. Lori Lightfoot to author, June 1, 2010.
12. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, October 14, 2008.
13. Naples interview.
14. United States vs. Belfast, “Second Superceding Indictment,” November 7, 2007.
15. “Charles Emmanuel to Honorable Judge Graham,” Document 12-2, Case no. 1:06-CR-20758-CMA, United States District Court Southern District of Florida Miami Division, December 21, 2006.
16. Boadicea Cole to author, August 12, 2007.
17. Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals (New York: Doubleday, 2008), p. 198.
18. Carl Levin, floor speech on the nomination of Alice Fisher for assistant attorney general, September 19, 2006, http://1.usa.gov/UOruty.
19. Hamza Abdul Aziz (aka Chucky Taylor) to author, March 15, 2007.
20. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, October 28, 2008.
21. Ibid., October 16, 2008.
22. Rufus Kpadeh, interview by author, December 15, 2009.
23. Author’s notes, Gbatala, June 2007.
24. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, October 16, 2008.
25. Ibid., October 28, 2008.
26. Ibid., October 16, 2008.
CHAPTER 17 Testimony
1. Hamza Abdul Aziz (aka Chucky Taylor) to author, November 14, 2009.
2. United States vs. Roy M. Belfast, Jr., U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, “Second Superceding Indictment,” November 7, 2007.
3. John Wylie, interviews by author, May 21 and September 30, 2010.
4. Anonymous, interview by author, June 17, 2009.
5. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Diana Tsang, branch chief, to George Waldroup, senior special agent, September 29, 2008.
6. Johnny Dwyer, “Bush Torture Memo Slapped Down by Court,” Time, November 3, 2008.
7. Alexander Acosta, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, interview by author, October 1, 2009.
8. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, October 16, 2008.
9. Hassan Bility, interview by author, September 2008.
10. Christopher Graveline and Michael Clemens, The Secrets of Abu Ghraib Revealed: American Soldiers on Trial (Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2010).
11. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, September 29, 2008.
12. Ibid.
13. Wylie interviews.
14. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, September 30, 2008.
15. Caroline Heck Miller, assistant U.S. attorney, interview by author, December 16, 2009.
16. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, October 1, 2008.
17. Ibid., Trial Transcript, October 2, 2008.
18. Baechtle interviews.
19. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, October 2, 2008.
20. Ibid., Trial Transcript, October 10, 2008.
21. Ibid., Trial Transcript, October 16, 2008.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. Baechtle interviews.
25. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, October 28, 2008.
26. Baechtle interviews.
27. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, October 10, 2008.
28. Barbara Medina to author, October 30, 2008.
29. United States vs. Belfast, Trial Transcript, January 9, 2009.
30. Lynn Henderson to author, November 3, 2008.
31. United States vs. Roy M. Belfast Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Appeal no. 09-10461-AA, “Brief for the Appellant Roy M. Belfast,” January 23, 2009.
32. Rufus Kpadeh et al. vs. Charles McCarthur Emmanuel, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, “Complaint—Class Action,” January 9, 2009.
33. Ibid.
34. “United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL),” UN News Center, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/unmil/.
35. Republic of Liberia, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Final Report (Monrovia, June 29, 2009), p. 341, http://trcofliberia.org/resources/reports/final/trc-of-liberia-final-report-volume-ii.pdf.
36. “Remarks by the President and CEO of National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) at 1st General Staff Meeting,” National Oil Company of Liberia, February 1, 2013, http://bit.ly/1o9PRgV (accessed June 24, 2014).
37. Author’s notes, Monrovia, October 2011.
38. Roy M. Belfast, Jr. vs. United States, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, no. 10-8120, February 22, 2011.
39. Roy Belfast, Jr. (aka Chucky Taylor), interview by author, July 28, 2011.
A NOTE ON SOURCES
1. Michael Biddle, interview by author, June 2007.
2. Hamza Abdul Aziz (aka Chucky Taylor) to author, November 14, 2009.
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
All photographs are courtesy of the author and Lynn Henderson except for the following:
1.1 President Charles Taylor meeting Reverend Jesse Jackson: Courtesy of Associated Press
1.2 Taylor in Buchanan, Liberia; Courtesy of Getty images
1.3 The Gbatala base, Bong Cou
nty, Liberia: Courtesy of Christopher Herwig
1.4 Assistant United States Attorney Karen Rochlin: Courtesy of Karen Rochlin
1.5 Immigration and Customs Enforcement Speial Agent Matthew Baechtle: Courtesy of Chris Gravelin
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Johnny Dwyer is a reporter living in New York City. He has written for Esquire, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Time, Foreign Policy, and The New York Times. American Warlord is his first book.
Chucky Taylor (right) appearing with his father before reporters at an unknown location in Liberia
A defaced photograph of Charles Taylor found among Chucky’s personal effects
President Charles Taylor meets Reverend Jesse Jackson, a Clinton administration special envoy, on February 11, 1998, in Monrovia. On the visit, Jackson told Taylor that his purpose was not to “scold Liberia for the excesses committed during the war,” but “to revive the warm partnership relationship that has always existed between the two countries.” (illustration credit i1.1)
Taylor in Buchanan, Liberia, on May 29, 1990, on the offensive against the Armed Forces of Liberia en route to securing vital port access (illustration credit i1.2)
Chucky Taylor in Monrovia in 2003, celebrating his visiting son’s birthday
Chucky in Liberia at an unknown date and location
A torn photograph of a teenage Chucky at his childhood home in Orlando in the early 1990s
Chucky wearing body armor (center, left) and others at an unknown date and location in Liberia
Chucky with his personal firearm at an unknown date and location in Liberia
Chucky on an unknown date and location in Liberia
Chucky with Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) and other security in Gbatala, Liberia, on an unknown date
Chucky with Benjamin Yeaten at the funeral of a colleague at an unknown location in Liberia
Chucky discussing maneuvers with ATU comrades in Monrovia in 2003 with his brother, Philip (far left), looking on