The most interesting tidbit in Colum Lynch’s recent article, about Liberian warlord Charles Taylor’s American contacts, is “Blood Diamond”-mining Taylor apparently got Pat “Haiti-deserved-it” Robertson in the gold business.
Per Lynch, Taylor claimed in his trial that Robertson took the concession and then lobbied George W. Bush to help keep Taylor in power. Apparently Robertson made a 2003 plea to Bush not to let “a Christian, Baptist president” fall from power, only to have “Muslim rebels to take over the country.” (No word yet on whether Taylor’s conversion to Judaism changes Robertson’s feelings on the matter.)
Robertson does not seem to remember it that way, says Lynch:
A spokesman for Robertson, Chris Roslan, acknowledged that Robertson was awarded the gold concession by the Liberian government but said there was no “quid pro quo” to provide Liberia with political favors in return.
That almost settles that. Except I can’t tell from this article whether Robertson took the gold concession. If so, I wonder what he’s doing with all that gold… Who wants to troll the 700 Club for “Buy Gold Now!” commercials? Let me know what you find.
I didn’t see anything in your article about Dr. Robertson’s comments about voodoo and Haiti even though you mentioned it in the title? And, what was the point of your comment? I’m sure you could have gone to Dr. Robertson’s website and searched for an answer to your question about gold and concession. I think you are just parroting something you heard but didn’t really research it. On Dr. Robertson’s website, you could have found a transcript of exactly what Dr. Robertson said about Haiti on his television show. Since most people were misquoting what Dr. Robertson had said I thought you would have looked for exactly what he said instead of just trying to make him look bad by misquoting what he said about Haiti. And, why would Dr. Robertson change his feelings just because Taylor changed his religion and became a Jew? Obviously, you didn’t do your homework. Perhaps, you should take your own advice and become the “troll” and see what you can find under the bridge at the 700 Club website. Report back to us please. It’s 2010 and you are writing about something that Dr. Robertson did legally in 2003? Do your homework. I’ve been watching the 700 Club show for years and there has never been any reference to the gold. I get so tired of people being so rude to Dr. Robertson. You don’t have a clue about all the free surgeries, medical and dental care, charity care, providing food, tools, seeds, work animals and training, rebuilding villages after disasters or wars destroy them, run orphanages all around the world along with providing current work training skills, clothing, so much more… So many around the world would be suffering if all of his organizations didn’t provide the free care around the world and in the USA. You just jump on the bandwagon when you hear someone else saying something negative but don’t bother to check out the facts. You just become a parrot passing on lies. And, if Dr. Robertson has the “ear’ of Presidents, then more power to him. His organizations just celebrated their 50 year anniversary and are going strong while may others have failed or their leaders have failed. If you want to do some good, then how about if you try to partner with Operation Blessing and see if they can provide free surgeries and new homes for the raped women in Congo.
Thanks, Sandra. It’s great to hear from a new voice. I’m not sure I follow the “Dr. Robertson is stalwart but Taylor changes religions” line of thinking, but I think I do get the gist of what you’re saying. I’m sure Dr. Robertson does good work in the world (although good deeds shouldn’t exempt one from scrutiny, which is true both of individuals and organizations. And you’ll find here some links to blogs that do a lot of good organizational scrutiny. One you won’t find, which I haven’t gotten around to adding to the blogroll yet, is Good Intentions are Not Enough. Smart woman, watching how we use aid. You might like it.).
I’m a journalist, though, so I don’t partner with any organization, but I often cover the kinds of places you describe, so I do understand how valuable the services can be. I’ve never come across a Robertson intervention, but one thing that always amazes is the network of people and organizations doing good. I write about that a lot, but not as often as I see it.
The other thing that’s true is that it’s a lot more complicated than just finding someone who can give free surgeries and new homes for raped women in Congo. But that’s another story…