"Sierra Leone rebel leaders are convicted of war crimes" by Clarence Roy-Macaulay, Associated Press | February 26, 2009
Yeah, the AmeriKan jewspapers wouldn't want to bring up war crimes that often, what with Israel on the hot seat for Gaza!
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - The rebels were known for asking their victims if they preferred "long sleeves" or "short sleeves." They then cut off the hands of those who chose the first option and the full arm of those that picked the second.
Yesterday, an international court modeled after the Nuremberg tribunal convicted three top Sierra Leone rebel leaders of crimes against humanity - the closest thing to justice in this West African nation of amputees, orphans, and widows.
Revolutionary United Front leader Issa Sesay and one of his battlefield commanders, Morris Kallon, were found guilty on 16 of 18 counts, including mutilation, terrorism, rape, forced marriage, sexual slavery, and the enlistment of child soldiers. Another commander, Augustine Gbao, was found guilty on 14 of the 18 counts.
All three had pleaded not guilty and shook their heads as the verdict was read.
About a half-million people were victims of killings, systematic mutilation, and other atrocities during Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war, which ended in 2002. Illicit diamond sales fueled the conflict, dramatized by the 2006 film "Blood Diamond," starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
That was one of his best movies!
Rebels controlled the diamond fields and used the sale of the gems to buy guns. The rebels were allegedly trained and backed by Charles Taylor, the warlord of neighboring Liberia.
Uh-oh!!! See: Memory Hole: Our Man in Africa
For more than a decade, the rebels roamed Sierra Leone's jungles, raiding villages, vying for control of the nation's diamond fields.
Amputations became their hallmark and field commanders were known by names like "Captain Two Hands" and "Dr. Blood." They used machetes, axes, and knives and sat three astride their victims, who were forced to place their hands on concrete slabs or tree trunks. New conscripts were given bags and told not to return until they had filled them with severed limbs.
Sort of what AmeriKa has left behind in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thank God we are not as savage as the black Africans, huh?
Sesay, Kallon, and Gbao are the last three rebel leaders to be convicted. The court was set up in 2003 after the end of the 11-year war that began in 1992. Five other masterminds of the conflict have already been convicted....
They the western directors and overlords, or....
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