Transcripts For KQED Frontline 20150204

Investigate the deal. I have not seen this, and its kind of amazing. In looking at these conflicts, its always good to follow the money. Firestone and the warlord. Frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontline is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by the Park Foundation dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. At fordfoundation. Org. The wyncote foundation. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. Narrator this is a story about business and war. Its a story about a small group of americans and the choices they made many years ago. A story about the cost of operating in a volatile and remote country. Its setting is a rubber plantation in africa, owned and operated by the tire giant firestone. I am Charles Bradford pettit, and go by brad. I worked 31 years at firestone. I really kind of felt that we were above this war somehow, and that both sides wanted us there, so that theyre gonna leave us alone. We were one of the largest, if not the largest, employer in liberia, certainly paying taxes to the government, certainly providing a lot of employment for locals. And we would hope that they would honor that and just leave us alone and let us continue to do what we were doing. Unfortunately, that didnt occur. Wed been through several coups and nothing changed very much. We just expected to go right back to having our good life. Narrator they helped run the largest rubber plantation in the world a multimilliondollar investment stretching over 220 square miles. I dont think you ever realized how big it was, but yeah, my First Impression was, hey, this is a beautiful forest. Its a beautiful country. Oh, very pretty. The trees are all planted in a row and so forth. And a lot of humidity, a lot of rainfall, about 140 inches or more a year. And you can actually smell the what i would call must or decaying materials in the country, and its something you get used to. Narrator the two dozen expat managers who lived there along with their families were in their own world. Here is our houseboy. Hi, mom. What are you drinking . This is pure, filtered, boiled water from africa. Thats rick, our other yard boy. Where did mom go . I dont know. Shes over there. You really didnt feel any danger other than a few of the rogues who would either break into your house or try and steal your money when youre in town shopping. Nothing seemed unsettled to me. I loved it. It was very, very enjoyable. Narrator but outside the plantations perimeter, a rebellion was brewing. people shouting it was 1989. Liberias president , samuel doe, was losing his grip. Doe had cracked down jailing opponents, eliminating rivals. It all came to a head on christmas eve. Christmas eve, 1989, when a man called Charles Taylor emerged in the northern jungle declaring a revolution against does regime. chanting this is not a military coup. This is a pure civilian uprising. If doe opened pandoras box just a little bit, taylor, you know, ripped off the lid. chanting narrator the man behind the revolt was a littleknown, americaneducated, smooth talking charmer Charles Taylor. I have to honor these men that we must be able to make a difference. We must be able to bring back what weve, you know, what weve all wanted. He was very slick, you know kind of used car salesman slick, and not particularly threatening or overbearing, but not the kind of person youd buy a used car from. All i want to do is to bring back some sanity, some fair play in the country. An evil, venal sociopath who was charming and glib. I knew he was a criminal that hed absconded with almost a Million Dollars, that hed mysteriously escaped from jail in massachusetts. He was a very unsavory character. Narrator at the time of the uprising, taylor was running from the law, accused of embezzling nearly one Million Dollars from the liberian government. To pull together his guerrilla force, he had cozied up to several dictators in africa, including muammar qaddafi. Libya we knew at the time was a very prorevolutionary country under qaddafi. And they were training africans to be guerrilla fighters, and we had all sorts of intelligence informing us about that. And so taylor and other liberians whom he could recruit went into training there. Narrator newly trained taylor launched his offensive from the north with a small, ragtag army with little to no combat experience. gunfire you would have rebels advancing with their aks held above their heads, just firing randomly down the road. There wasnt a lot of marksmanship. There was a lot of firing in the air. There was a lot of running away. They were not in army uniforms. They were in, like, casual clothes, you know, wearing wigs on their head, having some white chalks on their body claiming it was some protection against bullets. They were weird looking, really. But they were mostly kids. These young fighters wearing fright wigs and, you know, shower caps and womens dresses and bathrobes and shooting wildly and wearing juju, you know, the talismans of liberian witchcraft. Narrator as taylors army in masquerade wound its way towards the plantation, elizabeth blunt, the bbcs correspondent for west africa, made a trip to firestone to find out if the managers were concerned. We were invited to sunday lunch. A couple of other journalists and myself, we went off to firestone, and it was beautiful. It was green, it was peaceful. We had lunch in the clubhouse. I think our hosts were working very, very hard to persuade us that everything was normal. I dont think it was as normal as they made it look. And i think they were hoping that if the rebels did come, that they might be able to carry on. Narrator and for a while at least, they did carry on. It really didnt affect us much, until we knew that they were getting closer to monrovia, and therefore, obviously, closer to us. I was hoping that, actually, the rebels would go around the plantation, not come onto the plantation, and we would be able to continue to operate. There was a lot of political turmoil, but conditions were pretty good then even under the circumstances, so we expected that if a civil war did get to liberia or monrovia that it would be very quick and things would return to normal. Narrator for the expats, life on the plantation was enjoyable. We actually had a ninehole golf course. The greens were oiled sand. Certainly, during the rainy season, the fairways were nicer than they were in the dry season. You would have at least the length of your club to find some grass in which to put your ball. But it was nice. We would stay at each others houses so all the golf teams didnt have anything to worry about. Clubs would be open for the evening for the ones that really liked to party. There also was a fishing club there that nearly everybody had a boat for. And wed go deepsea fishing have Fishing Tournaments etcetera. Youd have a boat boy that took care of your boat and all that good stuff. And it was fantastic because off the west coast of africa, some of the best fishing in the world wahoo, marlin, tuna sail fish, everything is there. It was fantastic. Narrator for taylor, it also had the makings of a perfect base. The plantations center was in harbel, named after the companys founder, Harvey Firestone, and his wife idabelle. It was strategically located only 45 minutes away from the capital, monrovia, and right next to a key Regional Airport Roberts International. They were just such tempting targets. They had everything that a rebel army would want. They had fuel supplies, they had generators, they had communications, they had food, and they had nice facilities. They had clinics and they had really nice houses, so it was a very, very good base to operate from. I would say whoever was going to run liberia needed firestone, and i think taylor felt that he was going to be that man, so yes, he needed firestone. Lets say we were very influential on what happened in the country and what went on in the country. music playing narrator the story of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of akron, ohio, begins in 1900. By the roaring 20s, the company was a household name, and Harvey Firestone had become one of the top industrialists of that gilded age. There are few people who realize the importance of rubber and what it means to our commerce and welfare. Narrator with its Auto Industry booming, the United States was consuming around 70 of the worlds rubber, most of it imported from british colonies in the far east. Harvey firestone was determined to find his very own source of rubber. And i urge upon the United States to get relief by investing in a country under their own control. This can be accomplished in liberia. Narrator liberia was ideal. The country was an ally of the United States. It had a large, untapped labor pool and miles and miles of land for planting rubber trees. The 90,000 acres was divided into 45 divisions, each division having hundreds of trees about 12 feet apart by 15 feet apart. So you had eightandahalf million rubber trees all in rows. Narrator in 1926, liberia offered firestone a chance to develop up to a million acres of land at six cents an acre. The liberian negotiators were not knowledgeable about these things. So firestone got the deal that said they would rent huge acres of land for small amounts, for a long period of time. But i dont think that original deal was in the very best interest of the country. Narrator the deal was controversial from the start. But for the liberian government, it marked the beginning of a convenient business partnership. Firestone was huge in every way, and the revenues were absolutely crucial. So what would happen would be that the government, when it ran out of money, would anticipate the revenues. They would get firestone to pay future revenues up front. So the government was always in hock to firestone. Narrator it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. I put a spell on you because youre mine. Narrator firestone eagerly courted liberias elites holding parties like this one, where management invited nina simone to sing. Thats Harvey Firestones son, harvey jr. , on the right, next to the guest of honor, liberias longruling president , william tubman. The country had been ruled since the 1930s by a man called William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman jr. , who smoked cigars, wore homburgs, and appeared at official functions in tails. Narrator president tubman was an americoliberian, a member of liberias ruling class, many of whom were descendants of the freed american slaves who founded the country in 1847. Liberia was one of the very few parts of africa that had not been colonized by a european power. It was settled in its more or less modern configuration by freed american slaves, and this group became known as the americoliberians. Narrator the americos had established their own brand of servitude, which excluded from power local ethnic tribes, like the kpelle, the bassa, the kru. The americoliberians to some extent, replicated the society that they had left in the United States, but they became the plantation owners and the liberians became the workers. drumming not surprisingly, the workers resented this status. Narrator life in much of liberia mirrored the plantations of the american south. Some saw echoes of that at firestone. The entire structure of the work on the plantation was like in the south. That means you had laborers, and you had head men. You got gang leaders. You have overseers, you know the same thing that used to operate in the south to control the work force. The people at firestone imported here a lifestyle, and it was a lifestyle that was designed for the americans who came from the United States to work for firestone. Officers on the plantation lived very nicely in attractive, comfortable, wellfurnished homes. You know, their lifestyle was obviously on a plane greatly superior to that of the liberians who were working with them. Narrator the plantation had over 8,000 workers, most of them tappers. I had never seen Something Like this in my life before, this scene of the tappers with the buckets slinging on their shoulders, moving around emptying the cups of latex one after the other, and going to the truck and emptying it there and so forth. Narrator collecting sap was grueling work, sometimes done by entire families for a few dollars a day. Its hard work, its demeaning, and the pay is very small. If someone tries to complain even though we were little, but we hear them say, well, if you try to complain, you know, people will tell you, arent you counting yourself lucky that you have a job . You gotta stop complaining. so people just live with it like that. Narrator liberian middle managers had it a little better. Im justin knuckles. I was hired in firestone in the year 1973. And i worked for firestone in various positions up to 1990. The first house i have what i can say were terrible, because you had to get out and go and use the bathroom outside. You had to do everything outside. And a lot of flies. It were terrible. The houses have now changed. But up to 2002, that was the type of housing they had. I mean, no running water. And about 90 of the people live in that condition. Narrator but in one of the poorest countries in the world firestone offered its workers generous benefits. I got a scholarship coming from junior high school, because i was the second in my class. And then i got a scholarship again to go to college. So they paid my tuition in college. I can say you consider yourself blessed if you were in liberia working for firestone because firestone had a good educational program. They get you food. They get you water. You didnt make much money, but for man to live, you gotta have certain, certain things, and firestone provided those things. Narrator but the firestone workers were not immune to the resentment that was building across liberia. After 133 years of americoliberian rule, a young enlisted man from the krahn tribe changed the course of liberias history on april 12, 1980. Liberias president william tolbert, a descendant of american slaves and a good friend of the u. S. , was assassinated today in a coup lead by an Army Enlisted man who said that theyre fed up with government corruption. The new head of the government is the 28yearold sergeant named samuel doe. Master Sergeant Samuel doe eviscerated tolbert in bed. Disemboweled him. Doe then invited the worlds press to come to liberia to witness the execution of all the cabinet ministers that he could lay his hands on. It was very shocking, really, because of the way they executed the cabinet, who were old men, who were civilians. I think people would expect them to be locked up after a coup. They wouldnt expect them to be tied on the beach outside town and shot. The execution of the tolbert cabinet on the beach, broadcast live on liberian television, sent a pretty clear message that this was his country to control. gunfire for the First Time Since its birth, liberia was no longer run by these mulatto, lighter skinned liberoamericans, but from someone from the interior. Narrator doe gradually filled government posts with members of his krahn tribe many who were uneducated and illprepared to run a country. One of the notable exceptions was Charles Taylor, who had recently returned from boston, where he had received a degree in economics from bentley college. He worked his connections and became the head of the General Services agency. Doe, who was a pretty uncultured man at the time, had the good sense to put taylor in charge of the office, which appropriates funds for government purchases. Narrator taylor used the position to gain influence with does staff. He bought new cars for the cabinet and surprised doe with a stretch limousine. But as head of procurement there were other opportunities. As you can imagine, that was a very lucrative job, and he made a lot of money. And nobody really minded until the money he made was president does money, and then he fell out with the president and fled to the United States. Narrator doe accused taylor of embezzlement, demanding his extradition. Taylor was arrested and locked up, but not for long. Charles taylor makes a rather dramatic prison break from a jail in massachusetts, along with several other inmates. All of those inmates are eventually captured. Taylor is not, and regales in the afterwards that it was the cia who helped break him out of that prison, because he was destined to lead the rebellion to bring down samuel doe. Theres all kinds of legend around it, but it seems he had a kind of underground network of people who helped him. He literally disappeared. Nobody knew where he was. Wed heard all the rumors that he had been to the states and escaped from jail and was making his way back to liberia. Narrator four years after the jailbreak, taylors forces began their assault, heading towards the Firestone Plantation. loud gunfire chanting narrator day one tuesday, june 5, 1990. Last evening, 8 00 p. M. , reported rebels crossing river towards factory area. Donald ensminger was the head of the Firestone Plantation when taylors rebels stormed in and seized control. Much of what we know about what happened comes from ensmingers diary and a phone interview. He declined to apear on camera. I found him to be very genuine, a very nice man. He genuinely cared for us as expats and for the rest of the people who worked for liberia. We found ensminger to be very rude, very uncooperative and a very arrogant son of whatever. Narrator ensminger notes that eight to ten rebels burst into the golf club, demanding vehicles. Later, they also took fuel, bags of rice, handheld radios and petty cash, including 40 to the rebel leader, peter, a hothead and drunk. Ken gerhart was stationed down the road from the plantation at the cocacola bottling plant a property of firestone. He was in constant communication with ensminger. We still had radio communications, he and i. And they were saying things were heating up because they were getting so many demands from taylors army. Money, food, whatever, you know . They wanted whatever they could get. And unfortunately, when they couldnt get it, they would go out in the villages and take what they wanted. So things were really heating up. We knew we were gonna be out for trouble. They go into your house. If you had a private vehicle or even a firestone vehicle parked in your yard, they will take the vehicle. Take valuables. And they said that they were at war with mandingos and krahns, so they were looking for mandingos and krahns and as they identified them, they were killing them. Narrator president does forces, the afl, were mainly krahn. Doe gave the order to push taylor off the plantation. The afl came in too you know, got on the scene and targeted people for no business and killed them, you know . This was a kind of a seesaw, you know, battle that was happening. It appeared, from my perspective, that it was turning more into a tribal warfare in essence. Doe, was a krahn, from the krahn tribe, certainly didnt have any love lost between some of the other tribes that were, apparently, joining in the rebellion with Charles Taylor. And we knew that people were getting killed. We knew that it was very dangerous for them. From my perspective, a little apprehensive to determine what we would have to do, whether it would be safe for us to stay on the plantation or whether we would have to evacuate. Narrator the u. S. Embassy had advised u. S. Citizens to evacuate. But the managers stayed put. On june 7, day three thousands of firestone workers fled their homes. Steve raimo took these photos. Many of the workers sought shelter at ensmingers mansion. We started to see people walking towards the house, and then more. Then more. And we estimated somewhere around 1,500 people were standing in front of the general managers house seeking refuge. They were crying, they were afraid, and they wanted refuge. Narrator many of the expats too gathered at the main house. We would during the day kind of try and keep ourselves occupied. So i still played golf. laughs some of the other guys did too, and we just watched to see what would occur. We were hoping that once they had this initial battle, that things would move off the plantation. That was my hope, anyway. Narrator as the battle raged, firestone workers continued to seek refuge at the main house. But ensminger says he had no other choice but to turn them away. They told us that he cannot take us in because we are the ones who will be protecting him, not he protecting us. He said, its liberians that are coming. You are gonna be safe among your own people. You dont need to come in. So only the expats can come in. Not the liberian staff. It made me feel very bad that that present management did not care about the wellbeing of the black staff. You know, hell was breaking loose, and they didnt care for them. We were concerned about them because certainly, being a part of the tribe that doe was a part of, we knew that they were gonna be targeted. But as far as being able to protect them, we had no way to do that. It was a very emotional moment, to say to all these people, im sorry. We cannot harbor you. We cannot protect you. I felt like crying. It was sad, very sad. In fact, i get choked up, like im nearly getting choked up now each time i tell this story. And it was very emotional. Narrator another entry in the diary says that the workers were fed rice and told to leave. We cant offer them protection from either soldiers or ff. Ff, freedom fighters, a reference to taylors forces. gunfire by day four, heavy fighting erupted between taylors rebels and does army. Like many workers on the plantation, mary pollee had no place to go. Narrator she recalls the day does forces barged into her house looking for taylor rebels. Narrator day nine. We are totally helpless the final blow was when they came to his house, where he had assembled most of the managers so that they could be together. One of them threatened to shoot him with a rpg if he was there the next day. And then we got them all out and left the country. Narrator after ten days, ensminger ended his diary with these words. But for the firestone employees on the plantation, the ordeal was just beginning. Justin knuckles awoke to find a note from management on his door. And how did that make you feel . Narrator over the course of the next several months the killing continued. Well, if they were the right tribe, they survived. If they werent, they didnt. Narrator gerharts employees at the cocacola bottling plant were not spared. I had approximately 300 350 people. And 17 of them had been killed. My driver, my secretary. The story that bothered me the most was my driver. First time, he was beaten. Second time, they cut the soles off his feet. Third time, they shot him. They cut the soles off of his feet . Yeah, right, with a machete. It changed my whole perspective of what was happening in the country. No longer did any of us feel that it was going to be a swift coup and so forth and human rights would be, you know, adhered to, but they were not. It pretty much got really out of hand then. gunfire shouting narrator over the following months, competing factions fought for control of the country. It was a civil war marked by atrocities on all sides. After months of bloodletting taylor and his npfl gained the upper hand. By the fall of 1990, taylor had seized most of liberia, with the exception of monrovia. The capital was still up for grabs contested terrain. And president doe became the most prominent casualty. He was captured and stripped to his underwear by a former taylor commander, the warlord prince johnson. screaming elizabeth blunt was trying to set up an interview when gunfire erupted. I was stuck in the press Officers Office with a gun battle going on all around me. While id been lying there with my eyes shut, i heard the president s voice, which mustve been when they were taking him away. And i heard what i was sure was the president s voice going, please, i beg you, i beg you, and i knew his voice. He was bleeding very heavily. I think he probably just died from loss of blood, but they were trying to interrogate him. He died sometime during the night. Its hard to process, sometimes. Certainly, evil was taking reign in liberia. When evil is given opportunity to reign freely, these things occur. And we experience them. Narrator in the late 80s, 40 of the latex used in america came from firestones plantation in liberia. In the industry, firestones product was considered some of the highest quality latex in the world. At company headquarters, top managers were under pressure to get the liberia operation back up and running. When you cant produce latex, cant produce block rubber cant get it sent out to the end users, i would assume we were losing lots of money. It was a big deal because it was their own source of rubber for the tires. And it was the largest plantation in the world, and they had the market established over many, many years, so it was very important to them. Narrator firestone had been bought by the japanese conglomerate bridgestone in 1988, and the corporation had been losing money. Executives in akron began to plot their return. Firestones intent was to make money. Always has and always will. Were in the business to make money. So if its not making money, lets make it so it does. Why did we go back . Because we felt sorry for the people that were there . Probably not. We wanted to get the investment earning money again. Narrator one of the first things management did was hire a liberian attorney based in the u. S. The meetings actually took place in akron in 1990 at the old, big firestone headquarters, the big building there in akron. The discussions focused on what to do next. Would you have to deal with Charles Taylor . Could you do that . There was tremendous worry about the safety of their employees, most particularly the 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 liberians that they employed. So how can we help these people . What do we do next . So it was a real dilemma for the company, and a lot of, i would say, soulsearching and really tough, tough decisionmaking that had to be done. Narrator much of what we know from the era comes from corporate records that until now were buried in a longforgotten court file and hundreds of state Department Cables obtained through the freedom of information act. One of the earliest documents we found was a letter signed by Donald Ensminger on october 3, 1990. Its addressed to commander in chief Charles Taylor, requesting a meeting. The second one, sent a week later all sides need to recognize that firestone continues to incur major losses as a result of hostilities. Narrator then, three months later, one of taylors aides sent a letter back to akron. President taylor has directed us to inform you that your team should come to harbel to make the necessary assessment of the plantation. Narrator a few weeks later a small group of firestone managers headed back to monrovia. We were each given a survival kit thats your responsibility. The mission is to go back and start the plantation, start up the plantation. Narrator the managers had been away from liberia for eight months. They were shocked by the country they found. Its a disaster completely. I saw very few dogs left. Everything had been eaten. All the palm trees had been cut down for the cabbage on top because everybody was starving to death. No cats. And if you saw a rat, he was big because hed been well fed. On the streets when i started driving around, you would be driving over human bones on the streets. You couldnt miss them. Narrator the managers found it hard to get to the plantation. Taylor was making life difficult for them. The rebels were on the plantation and up to the suburbs of monrovia. The higher management was talking about getting back onto the plantation, but i think we realized that somebody didnt want us to go back to the plantation. Narrator so they waited. In monrovia, there was an uneasy peace. The city was in the hands of an interim government. But the interim president was president in name only. The u. S. Had abandoned us. The United States government officials were very clear that there was not to be the nature of the intervention that many liberians expected. The concern i had was that there was an interim government without any constitutional basis. There was Charles Taylor, who, by force of arms, had taken most of the country. And these two different governments, from a legal or constitutional aspect, had no legitimacy, if you will. Narrator the task of keeping law and order was delegated to a west African Peacekeeping force that went by the acronym ecomog. The acronym got converted by liberians into every car or moveable object gone because these west african peacekeepers spent most of their time stealing things and looting the country and shipping it back in most cases, to nigeria. Narrator for taylor, they were foreigners, war tourists posing for pictures. Without a foothold in monrovia taylor set up a parallel government in what he called Greater Liberia with a new capital in the town of gbarnga. Taylor called himself president. He called his wife of the time the first lady. He called his house, in gbarnga, the executive mansion. But it was a house; it wasnt an executive mansion. The minister of communications basically, was the guy who carried the satellite telephone. He wasnt a minister of communications. The only thing hes interested in is absolute power, and he has it, nearly, out in the areas he controls, not only by the land mass, but because thats where liberias riches are. Thats where the rubber is. Thats where the timber is. Thats where the diamonds are. Why come to monrovia . Theres nothing there to exploit. Narrator as taylors ambition for money and territory grew, he expanded his reach to neighboring sierra leone. He recruited thousands of new fighters, many of them children. For his own president ial guard taylor created a special division of young boys. They were formally called the small boys unit. They were very young boys, very often orphans that somehow became like his sons, and they would do anything for him. And they manned these road blocks across the country, wherever the front lines were. gunfire they adopted horrifying names, like general bleep me quick, dead body bones. shouting it got to the point where they would bet if a pregnant woman was walking towards the road block, they would lay bets on what sex the fetus was. And they would open her up with a bayonet to see. And they would just dump the bodies right there. Mr. Taylor seemed quite proud of his sbu, small boy unit. All of them were the taylor shock troops. There was also a lot of drugs that were circulating and probably administered or encouraged by the npfl. So it was a pretty. In some ways disorganized, crazy, but also terrifying kind of a phenomenon to be rushed by a lot of folks pretty much out of their heads. During this war, we pick these kids up in villages, in towns, on the highway just there. Seven, eight, nine year old kids. You put them in a pickup you take them home. You feed them, you give them a bath, you tell them, okay, you are my sbu. Everybody wanted to be a soldier. This war was ugly. I saw skulls. I saw dogs eating bodies. I saw bloated bodies. I saw exploding bodies. I saw women dead. I saw children dead. I saw babies dead. Uh. I saw a war. I cant apologize for war. Everybody has had a war. Narrator there was widespread killing and torture. Twothirds of the krahn, does tribe, fled the country. He didnt do all of that firsthand himself. I mean, he let his boy soldiers do that, because there was no control of them. He knew it was going on, but he didnt know who was doing what when or where. We knew there had been, you know, fighting, there had been killing, and there had been some ethnic reprisal killings. But at that time, from the Information Available to me and, i think, to Firestone Taylor did not appear to be conducting genocidal activities or war criminal, or anything of that kind, and indeed, the United States government had not discouraged firestone from contacting taylor and seeing what could be done. Narrator but Donald Ensminger told us firestone was getting reports about the atrocities being committed Human Rights Watch had warned publicly that the krahn tribe was at risk of genocide. And in reports, even the state department had said taylors npfl forces had been killing civilians, primarily based on ethnic considerations liberias Reconciliation Commission would later collect data on the liberias Reconciliation Commission would later collect data on the violations committed by the npfl during the civil war. Propublica tallied the numbers for the first year of the invasion 6,424 killings, 820 kidnappings, and 631 rapes. The u. S. Did not recognize taylors selfdeclared government, but u. S. Diplomats had tried to engage with him. Assistant secretary of state herman cohen, who was the topranking official in the state department for africa, had in earlier months made a trip behind rebel lines to meet with taylor. It was rather frightening because his compound was surrounded by young boys i would say ages 12 to 14, all carrying heavy weapons. We go inside and Charles Taylor is sitting there on kind of a throne. It looked like a throne. And the first thing that struck me is he had. Behind him was hanging a large picture of president john f. Kennedy and mrs. Kennedy. It was up there. So he saw himself like that. He saw himself as a great leader who would bring liberia to the modern age, you see. And he said to me, you know, if you want to stop this war, just send in a battalion of marines. Well all surrender, he said. Well all surrender. U. S. Marines . Well all surrender. Narrator around that time, the u. S. Was embroiled in the gulf war. Military intervention here was not an option. I sent word back to washington, and then word quickly came back. Secretary cohen, you are under instructions not to take charge of this war, so please do not do that. laughs so i just went, i said, okay, and i went about my business. Narrator after months of waiting, the firestone managers were growing restless. They were holed up in a compound in monrovia, unable to work on the plantation. We asked, can we go to the plantation . Talked to the rebel forces there, and, we want to start the plantation again. We thought that would be enough incentive for them to say, yeah, yeah, come back. But that wasnt the case. Narrator taylor was ignoring firestone. He may also have taken offense to the tone in ensmingers letters. They were not fawning. They were all business. They didnt even address him as president. Looking for a breakthrough ensminger decided to visit taylor in gbarnga. He asked ken gerhart to come along. Well, we were hopeful that we were going to get a little more latitude on what we wanted to do on the plantation. That was our hopes of going up there. But it didnt happen. He did not meet with us. He wouldnt meet with us. We slept on the hard floor all night from the one room he gave us and went back the next day. Narrator from the cables we know that some u. S. Diplomats were discouraging firestone from dealing with taylor. One cable from january 1991 reads we would recommend that firestone wait until the plantation area comes under ecomog control. In my personal opinion, not the u. S. Governments opinion, i did not feel that firestone was operating in the best interest of what i saw as our best interest in liberia. Their choice of becoming closer to taylor was not the appropriate way that i would want to see them do business. But im not in the rubber business. Narrator other diplomats accepted firestones attempts to talk with taylor. I think that its fair to say that we recognized that the most likely outcome was that taylor was gonna continue to control that territory. You cant close down a plantation. You cant wrap up, you know, five Million Trees and take them away. So you want to preserve what you can. So you have to make deals. Narrator at least one ambassador, peter jon de vos encouraged firestone to work with taylor, and even secured a meeting in gbarnga which included a delegation of diplomats and a surprise guest. Fourth in line was Donald Ensminger. Mr. Ensminger, the director general of firestone. Oh, he works for the embassy now . Well, America Works for him. Narrator America Works for firestone. Taylor was blunt, accusing firestone of negligence. Thousands of people have put their whole lives into firestone, 20, 30 years. Theres a little war and then you run off and theres no food, no medicine, theres complete breakdown. Thats inexcusable. I dont think firestone should do such a thing. Narrator after the meeting an official at the u. S. Embassy in monrovia wrote back to state. The cable notes that ensminger was scolded by taylor in front of the entire press corps. After that meeting, taylor refused to deal with ensminger. After ensmingers first mistake, when he came to gbarnga, he was very demanding. They just wanted whats for firestone to be for firestone. And after the talks broke off, we insisted that they have to send someone we can work with. Naturally, taylor wants everything his way, and don didnt. He wanted it firestones way. So it was probably two guys butting heads. Narrator firestone sent ensmingers boss in akron, john schremp, to get things back on track. John schremp and there was another guy, they came they met with taylor, and taylor said, look, you abandoned your people. What about them . When you come back, what can you do for them . What, are you gonna give them back pay, what . Charles taylor insisted on a number of conditions. Among them would be that firestone would recognize that he had a de facto government and that if firestone came back, it would treat his government as the liberian government and the government that it must deal with. Narrator besides those demands, taylor made one more ultimatum ensminger had to go. Did firestone essentially acquiesce to taylors demands . Yes, absolutely. It was clear that without that you would not be able to put a Management Team on the ground. Narrator soon after, ensminger was dismissed. In an email to propublica and frontline, ensminger wrote that he disagreed with firestones direction,saying i felt then as i do now that their approach pushed to the very limits legality and morality. Narrator it had been a year and a half since taylor took over the plantation. Firestone was losing money and it was worried about reports that the plantation was being ransacked. The board of directors sat down to discuss its options. We assumed they were making their own arrangements. They wanted to stay in business and they would do whatever is necessary to stay in business. They were prepared to do taylors bidding. If taylor says, im president im at least de facto president , then they said well, well see the de facto president and we do business with that president. The easy answer for firestone, in my opinion would have been to just say, were out of here. Its risky, its scary. Economically, it doesnt make any sense. So were just going to shut it down and walk away. But if you felt a sense of responsibility to liberia, and most importantly, to the workers, the people youve worked with for years, it had no other choice. The decision was to stay. They had a choice. They had a choice. I dont understand this notion of not having choice over the corpses of liberians. What is that supposed to mean . Choice to become a launch pad, to rain war on liberians . I dont accept it. Its about making money. Its not about the people who help to create the wealth. Its not about the country. Its profit, profit and profit. Narrator on december 17, 1991, the board agreed to make a deal with taylor. It was a Pivotal Moment for the company. In exchange for being able to return to operations, firestone would make a significant Capital Investment to restore the plantation. The company would agree to use a shipping port under taylors command. Taylor would reciprocate by offering security for the managers at the plantation. The documents also show that the deal would ultimately include, quote, tax payments. In careful columns and rows, internal Company Records show a schedule of tax payments including income taxes, Social Security payments, and rent equipment and rice valued at 2. 3 million. I had not seen this, and its kind of amazing that it is so broken down by columns. And who the hell are the pension beneficiaries . Its amazing, isnt it . You know, until now, i hadnt seen this, but with this i can say very clearly that firestone was in complicity. And i wish our government today would raise this issue with firestone. I think the liberian people deserve some explanations with these types of transactions. I think so. Narrator we presented the documents to the current president of liberia Ellen Johnson sirleaf. This is one document that has not been brought to my attention, although you do hear rumors that firestone paid taxes, you know, to the taylor government and whatnot. But at this stage, quite frankly, we dont know and sometimes we dont even want to know. We just want to proceed. Narrator the deal between taylor and firestone was sealed and made official in a memorandum of understanding. It was a significant victory for taylor. I suspect he felt this would be a feather in his cap, in the eyes of liberians. So i would think that that was something he wanted. We wanted firestone on the ground because it gave credibility, one. For every employee at firestone, as little as they get, they have about a secondary and tertiary family of eight people. So for 1,000 people, youre affecting the lives and providing sustenance for 8,000 people. We needed firestone to keep people busy. Narrator the agreement was neatly laid out on taylors stationery with its telltale scorpion emblem. I was not party to it so i cant really comment. Basically, i refused to sign any paper with Charles Taylors name on it. But i believe they did do that in order to open back up. Narrator in our investigation, we found a letter on microfiche from the firestone executive john schremp to the interim government. He insisted the company was not taking sides with taylors government, the nprag, and he expected hostilities would soon end. In the end, we had no viable choice but to accede to the preconditions set by the nprag for our return to the plantation. Narrator our choices were stark either generate some income or abandon our employees and mothball the plantation. For firestone, it was either you dont go back, or you have to acquiesce and pay taxes to the government in control of that area. They did the right thing. They did not exploit the country. They did not seek to extract resources on some special deal. They did not pay off warlords or give money under the table. They didnt do any of those things. They did the right thing. Narrator firestone agreed to pay its liberian workers in american dollars. And it would study the possibility of providing power and Safe Drinking Water to workers homes. Firestone would also make all arrangements necessary for settlement of present and future financial obligations to taylors government. The mou was executed in the city of gbarnga, on the 17th day of january 1992. I dont think that firestone thought about it in moral terms. I think firestone thought about it in purely utilitarian terms. Taylor can provide us the security that is necessary in order for us to continue our operations. We give him a little bit he gives us some slack here, and we do business. Narrator a month after the signing of the mou, a small group of expats was finally allowed to restart operations at the plantation. For the managers, it was a huge letdown. Factory was just a mess. So when i went back, i managed to get to my house. And it was torn apart. Um. Nothing in it. Nothing in it. Our homes had been destroyed. In essence, ransacked. None of our furniture was left anymore. Everything else that they could carry away was carried away. So we lived in monrovia, and then wed travel out to the plantation once in a while check on things, just look around a little bit, see if thered been any progress made. Narrator the managers were not allowed near ensmingers old house. They understood that the plantation effectively had a new boss. Taylors the mayor, okay . We actually called him mr. President on the plantation. That was his title. I was impressed with the man. He was articulate. He spoke well. He talked about his plans for liberia. I felt that this gentleman was and i call him a gentleman because he acted like one when i saw him was gonna definitely be the future president of liberia. Narrator throughout the summer of 1992, the firestone managers worked hard to get along with taylor. The change was brought about by Donald Ensmingers replacement don weihe. Weihe was a genial, handson manager with experience. He had run the plantation in the 80s and had close connections with liberias ruling elites. He passed away in 2010. I think don understood. He communicated a lot better. But i think thats who don was. I didnt sense any racism in him. He didnt have that plantation mentality in the course of normal conversation. And so he built up a lot of confidence with taylor. I thought he was a good administrator, a good diplomat. Lets put it that way. Hes trying to keep, lets say taylors people happy, firestone happy, and kind of balance it all together. Narrator under weihe firestone brought in food, hired back workers and began rebuilding the plantation. Despite the improving conditions, the workers were still wary of management. They gave us a hard time because we ran away. Thats the term that they used. And that was from the regular worker in the factory up to people that were considered the top families of the country. Wed get into a discussion, and if it ever turned to that, their looks would change and theyd say, but you ran away. Narrator the expat managers were determined to win the workers back. We were bringing in rice again, so food, allocation of rice. And we were trying to get medical supplies to the hospital so that you could treat some basic illnesses. By doing that, hopefully that got some of the trust back. Narrator Court Documents show that firestone spent 35. 3 million on the plantation and its employees between june 1990 and february 1993. It was a cash economy so i didnt have the opportunity to even write a check, you know . Where would they cash it . It was in a closet. Thats where we kept the money. Absolutely, literally, a closet. And it was fivedollar liberian dollars stacked from floor to ceiling in this closet. After six mont, the operation was back up and running. Ambassador de voss replacement, william twaddell, asked weihe if he could get a tour of the new facilities. It looked pretty good. But don weihe nor did anyone else say, we are overrun or fear being overrun by npfl. I think they were living with the npfl among them. We cant take the plantation and say, well, lets pretend its over here and hes not there. Hes there and hes in charge and hes got the guns. Should we have waited . Probably, yes, i will agree that thats a probable better answer. But we decided that it was doable, and we decided to try. Narrator taylor later acknowledged that the deal with firestone had been particularly important during the early years of his revolt. Was firestone startup capital, in some way, for taylors government . I cant answer that because i just dont know the answer to that. I would say no. In the grand scheme of things, these all would have been relatively small amounts. And did taylor use the farm to store weapons and ammunition . Not to the best of my knowledge. If he did that, it would not have been with the knowledge or acquiescence of the firestone management. Theres no way. The Company Management will say theyre not aware of it. They were aware. How would the management not be aware . The firestone facilities they are providing the fuel. They have the fuel stations, you know . They have the supplies. I think firestone was giving them most of what they needed. Firestone gave them rice. Firestone gave them gasoline. They needed gasoline for all of the cars they ran. And they had taken some firestone vehicles and they were using them. Narrator despite accounts of taylors forces being out in the open on the plantation, firestone managers say they had no way of knowing what he was planning next. You gotta realize that you couldnt see very far in the plantation, because everything is trees, and tall trees, to boot. So your vision was very restricted. Vaguely, i think we saw a convoy of vehicles go through. But then again, we were concentrating on getting the factory running. Narrator while the managers focused on the plantation, taylor was arming for the next phase in the war. People in monrovia know that Charles Taylor is exporting raw materials. They know hes making money on timber, they know hes making money on diamonds. What is he spending that money on . Weapons. Narrator firestones money was one source of revenue. Taylor had branched into other lucrative businesses trafficking in iron ore, gold, timber and diamonds. In looking at these conflicts, its always good to follow the money. And taylor was able to generate significant amounts of money. He was able to buy seemingly unlimited arms and ammunition from eastern europe. He was able to have them flown in to Roberts International airfield and other covert locations. And he was able to arm a very large group of fighters. So it appeared to us that firestone, among others, was financing at least a part of taylors insurrection. Narrator then one night in midoctober 1992, taylor made his move an allout assault on monrovia. Operation octopus. The sound of shelling startled the ambassador at the u. S. Embassy. The day began in the dark hours. I dont know if it was 3 00 or 4 00, but there were some booms and a pretty continuous barrage that went on three or four or five days. It was pretty wild. shouting laughing and talking the first few days were very, very touch and go. explosion taylor forces got quite close. The perimeter shrunk to probably two miles or so. And you always had a flak jacket hanging up in your office. Narrator the siege of monrovia was brutal. Scores of taylors young boys died crossing the swamps leading into the city. After a week of heavy fighting taylors offensive stalled in monrovias suburbs. Ecomog decided to take the upper hand. The plantation had been turned into a Major Military installation. Firestone provided the backdrop for this, provided the rear base, the rear guard base, provided the Ammunition Depot from which ambushes could be set and all of this could happen. That operation needed to be dismantled. Narrator ecomog set out to destroy taylors stronghold on the plantation. explosion were watching the planes dive and dropping the bombs and pulling up, and it was just, oh, thats cool, look at that. Hey, its a show. Its not gonna bother us. Were safe. Reminded me of the second world war, looking for doodlebugs in the sky. And we would look to see where they were to see possibly where the bombs would land. But you never had an idea of that. You didnt know where they were going to land. Narrator and then, just as a group of workers and children had gathered to play a game of soccer, ecomog jets appeared in the sky. explosions there were guys on the football field playing, and then the next thing we saw, they started releasing bombs, and people started running. And the direction people are running in, thats why were going, theyre releasing bomb. People legs got caught and stuff like that. And then, you know, they were running to the hospital, you know . I mean, it was just terrible. Narrator around 40 people were killed. We got word of it, and don weihe immediately jumped in his car with the logistics man well call, from taylor, and they went down there to try to assess the damage and see what happened and settle things down. Narrator after witnessing the scene, weihe agreed to a televised interview. Its horrible. Its a devastating experience to witness Something Like this. I would find it hard to think that what we are engaged in here would have any value other than something that would be to the wellbeing of the world. Narrator akron sent a message it was time to go yet again. But as he prepared to leave, weihe wrote a final letter to taylor. I wish to personally thank you for your kind understanding. I look forward to being able to quickly return to restart our operations. The next day, an official at the u. S. Embassy in monrovia cabled to washington describing weihes last meeting with the warlord. Taylor said that he was sorry to see weihe go that the plantation had been the lifeblood of Greater Liberia. Narrator as it turned out, taylor would never manage to capture monrovia. But after four more bloody years of war, taylor would run for president and win. The mantra was at the time, he killed my ma he killed my pa. I will still vote for him. They had the perception that if he didnt win, he would start fighting again. And what they wanted was the war to stop. So they were pretty sure that he wouldnt stop in any other way than by becoming president so they let him be president. Narrator but under taylor, liberia descended back into civil war. He had an opportunity once he was in power to try to build a Political Coalition that would be able to govern the country, but he chose to be dictatorial and i think that was his undoing. Narrator taylors ambitions to establish a Greater Liberia expanded to neighboring countries. He crossed into guinea, and in sierra leone continued to finance and arm rebels known for raping and dismembering civilians. His pursuit of timber and diamonds fueled the conflict. 300,000 died. This was a regime that was unlike anything id seen anywhere. It was like if you gave a country to a serial killer. Thats what it felt like. Narrator liberias truth and Reconciliation Commission took three years to interview thousands of victims but no one was prosecuted. There are people who have been responsible for atrocities, for murders. Many of those people are not only walking the streets but are actively engaged in government in liberia today. Narrator john t. Richardson lives outside monrovia. He has never been charged with any crimes related to the war. This was a civil uprising. Everybodys in it. Does it make it right . Does it make it wrong . But as they say, to the spoils go the victor. Narrator investigators estimate that during his presidency, taylor siphoned off anywhere from 280 million to 3 billion dollars. Eventually, he would be arrested and tried at the hague but not for crimes committed in liberia but for his role in the war in sierra leone. Though at his trial, he was questioned about firestone. Now, harbel is the location for what Economic Activity . Harbel is the location of the firestone rubber plantation. And what was the significance of capturing that . Oh, you had immediately a means that would provide the needed Financial Assistance that we needed for the revolution. Narrator taylor said that firestone gave him economic and Political Capital at a critical juncture in the war. So once we captured harbel, we then made it very clear to the Firestone Plantation company that they could no longer be permitted to exercise allegiance to the government in monrovia. So they became at that particular time our most significant principal source of foreign exchange. Narrator firestone says it was powerless to prevent taylor from occupying the plantation and at no time did the company have a collabrative relationship with him. The accused has been found responsible for acts of terrorism, murder, rape, sexual slavery, cruel treatment, recruitment of child soldiers, enslavement and pillage. Narrator taylor is currently serving a 50year sentence at frankland prison in the north of england. As for firestone, they resumed operations at the plantation in 1996. In the years since the company has invested more than 146 Million Dollars to improve the conditions on the plantation. The Company Remains the largest private employer in liberia. Do i think they have blood on their hands . Yes. I believe they facilitated a warlord in his insurrection and in the atrocities that he created. Sometimes, people make decisions they regret. I dont know if firestone regrets the decisions they made in liberia during the insurrection. You might want to ask them that question. Does firestone regret any decisions that it made in liberia during this insurrection . Anyone who dealt with liberia in the period from 1980 to 2003 must have regrets that, what could i have done differently . Might i have prevented something . I think the decisions they made, in my opinion were completely justifiable. And, to be very frank, i believe they were the right decisions. Had they not taken those decisions, i think liberia would be much the worse for it today. Narrator last month, firestone and its parent company, bridgestone sent frontline and propublica a response to our questions, saying, firestones decision to remain in liberia was very costly for the company. Firestone was able to preserve an important economic asset for liberia, and we are proud of that. Go to pbs. Org frontline for more of frontline and propublicas reporting on firestone and the warlord. Its good to follow the money. And check out our new ipad app at pbs. Org frontline app. Subscribe to our youtube channel. Now you can get original short frontline documentaries and. And connect to the frontline community. Tell us what you think on facebook and on twitter, and sign up for our newsletter at pbs. Org frontline. Coming to frontline all the stuff you learned about in medical school is really just a tiny, little bit of what it means to be good at doing our job. Based on the bestselling book by atul gawande. So many people i see, their death comes as a surprise. Frontline takes you into the Difficult Conversations between doctors and patients i just was wanting something positive to say. So the reason i regret it is because i knew it was a complete lie. Frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontline is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by the Park Foundation dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. At fordfoundation. Org. The wyncote foundation. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. Captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. 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