Monrovia, Liberia
A European military intelligence report says that Liberian President Charles Taylor took a $1 million bribe to allow al Qaida financiers to operate in his country in the months after Sept. 11. The report, written by investigators from several European countries and obtained by The Washington Post, said senior al Qaida agents came to Liberia to buy up millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds as part of their money-laundering operations. Investigators said one Lebanese diamond company operating in Liberia had a sudden upsurge of $1 billion in business in the year before Sept. 11, and the company’s phone records showed calls to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran. President Taylor denies all involvement in diamond smuggling.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Home Depots are the new epicenters of ICE raidsIn the Spotlight The chain has not provided many comments on the ongoing raids
-
Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
-
The pros and cons of banning cellphones in classroomsPros and cons The devices could be major distractions
