The Wrong Focus

Bush has a tendency to focus on a single person to represent a particular problem. Saddam is a threat to world peace, Kim Jong Il is a dangerous pygmy, Charles Taylor is the problem in Liberia. I guess that's a natural thing, but it's a dangerously simplistic view of the world for a leader to have. Here's an analysis of the Liberia situation from AllAfrica.com:

As demanded by President George Bush, President Charles Taylor - a warlord turned president - stepped down from office on August 11, 2003, handed over power to his vice-president, Moses Blah, and left Liberia.

Rather than advance the cause for peace, his contrived departure adds more confusion and could potentially derail efforts to bring peace to Liberia.

The excessive focus on the departure of Charles Taylor elevated him to a status and conferred upon him a legitimacy he did not deserve.

An indicted war criminal, he committed acts of grotesque atrocities, and sponsored the savage RUF in Sierra Leone, whose trademark was hacking off the limbs of those that stood in their way.
...
Preoccupation with the departure of Taylor diverted attention from on-going peace talks in Accra, Ghana.
...
[T]hose talks, involving the government, two rebel factions (LURD and MODEL), 18 political parties and 5 civil society organizations, are faltering.
...
If the peace talks collapse, Moses Blah would continue to serve as president but would be rejected by the rebel movements as a clone of Taylor and not to be trusted.

It would be nice if simply getting rid of one person would solve all our ills, but it doesn't work that way.

ntodd  ¶ 10:23 AM