"This type of thing happens in war"

Moses Blah said he wasn’t going to crucify Charles Taylor, but that seems to be exactly what happened yesterday at the Special Court. Blah said that Foday Sankoh, leader of the Sierra Leonean rebel group RUF, had complained that Taylor’s forces–who were fighting alongside the RUF guys–were committing so many atrocities that it led to a loss of support for Sankoh among his men. When Blah passed this message along to Taylor, Taylor essentially said beggars can’t be choosers.

Below is an excerpt from the unofficial trial transcript, available here. I’m looking forward to the cross-examination, which starts Monday.

Pros: Did you have any occasion to talk to Sankoh after his forces went into Sierra Leone?
Wit: When I returned to Gbarnga one morning to report to headquarters, I drove by a place called New Gbarnga. I saw Sankoh, and I stopped an embraced him. He said was here now and was a rebel commander, no more a small boy. He said I had to salute him, and I saluted him. I said you are my boss now. He said he came to discuss a serious matter: that the NPFL boys sent to help him were committing a lot of atrocities – raping women, killing people and looting. He said he was losing respect among his tribesmen and he had come to discuss it with the chief.
Pros: Did you talk to him after this conversation?
Wit: I talked with him and said he’d talked with the chief. But he was not satisfied.
Pros: Did you talk to Taylor about Sankoh’s complaint?
Wit: It was not really a conversation. He was walking around his palace in Gbarnga. He said he didn’t know earlier that Sankoh had talked to me about this matter. He said, look, Sankoh is here. He said “How could a war be fought. This type of thing happens in war. You are not eating bread and butter. You are fighting.”