Juxtaposition
I know, I know, you thought that you'd never hear the names Pat Robertson and Charles Taylor, infamous former president of Liberia, in the same sentence. It turns out that everyone's favorite televangelist apparently used his tax-exempt status and stature as a moral leader to raise millions of dollars for various "humanitarian operations" in destitute countries in Africa. It was, of course, only a mere coincidence that many of these countries happened to be well-endowed with diamonds. And again, it was mere coincidence that Mr. Robertson's "relief" money just happened to be used to fund diamond- and gold-mining operations. One particularly notable development was a deal struck with Mr. Taylor, described in an article in The Nation:
"Absolved of his sins, Robertson dug his heels back in African soil. In 1999 he signed an $8 million agreement with Liberian tyrant Charles Taylor that guaranteed Robertson's Freedom Gold Ltd.--an offshore company registered to the same address as his Christian Broadcasting Network--mining rights in Liberia, and gave Taylor a 10 percent stake in the company. When the United States intervened in Liberia in 2003, forcing Taylor and the Al Qaeda operatives he was harboring to flee, Robertson accused President Bush of 'undermining a Christian, Baptist president to bring in Muslim rebels to take over the country.'"
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