Thank you President Joe Biden for your continued support and interest in Liberia and the welfare of its citizens. This was made evident when you dispatched CIA Director William Burns to Monrovia, Liberia in January to confront Liberian President George Mannah Weah for his brazen efforts in trying to remove Liberia from the American orbit of allies.
The historic ties between the United States and Liberia go back to over 200 years when freed slaves from the US went back to Africa and settled in what is Liberia today.
The following places are in Liberia: Virginia, Maryland, Greenville, Buchanan, Mississippi Avenue in Greenville, Booker Washington Institute, John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, Harper, Buchanan, Careysburg, Harrisburg and Monrovia our capital city which is named after the 5th President of America James Monroe, and many more. Look at the similarities in both our flags and the Pledge of Alligiance.
Many Liberians look up to the United States for almost every assistance, financial, education, economic and political. No other country on Earth has done more for Liberia than the United States.
Most Liberians, especially those of us in the US constitute the highest number of educated Liberians anywhere today including in Liberia; and US-based Liberians are the most economically and financially better off group; we contribute/remit hundreds of millions of dollars each year back home that is more than the national yearly budget of our country.
Liberia has been America’s closest ally in Africa for 200 years and we want the relationship to grow further despite our current President George Weah’s efforts to try to remove Liberia away from the American sphere of influence towards known enemies of the US; thus, Liberia posing a threat to US National Security interests.
Again, Liberians applaud you for the bold and courageous steps taken this year to reign in President Weah who has turned Liberia into a bastion for global rogue elements: from the notorious South American drug cartels to Islamic Jihadists and to Russian Oligarchs who seek to do harm to Israel and other US allies.
Liberians will forever remain indebted to you personally President Biden and America in general for dispatching your CIA Director to Liberia and the summoning of President Weah at the CIA Headquarters this week to be confronted with evidence compiled against him and his regime for alleged cocaine trafficking, money laundering, human rights abuses, killings and disappearances of citizens, corruption and other crimes against women including rape with impunity.
While Liberians will not be privileged to the outcome of the closed-door discussions at the CIA with President Weah, Liberians are hopeful that the US will not relent and will continue to exert more pressure on Mr. Weah not to rig the scheduled October 10 elections this year as he seeks re-election to a second 6-year term.
President Biden, as Liberians go to vote in October, the level of government-sponsored violence against the Opposition has intensified; thus the need for a US-led Stabilization Force to reign in the government death squads that are aligned with the ruling CDC Party of Mr. Weah. If not the elections will see an increase in political violence intended to intimidate the Opposition.
In this light, Liberians thank you and the people of the US for the $20 million donation for our elections and the 200 observers going to Liberia as we enter a new phase in our elections for the first time: the Biometric Voter Registration System.
Liberia is notorious for rigging elections that we made the Guiness World Record in 1927. In the 1927 elections, there were only 15,000 registered voters but President Charles DB King magically “won” and got 240,000 votes out of the 15,000 votes; some voodoo math and results.
Indeed, I have not forgotten my discussions with you a number of times on Amtrak about Liberia as a failed State. I thanked you then for the help you and President Obama provided to Liberia during the deadly 2014 Ebola crisis that killed over 4,000 Liberians, a national tragedy that exposed a broken healthcare system in Liberia despite the hundreds of millions of dollars of US tax money meant to upgrade the system but money that disappeared into the pockets and bank accounts of corrupt politicians.
As President of the most powerful nation on Earth, United States, I am sure you are made aware of these problems in Liberia and Liberians beg that you don’t abandon us.
Again, thank you for trying to rescue Liberia away from sworn enemies of America. May God bless you, your administration, the government and people of America. Liberia is America’s “stepchild.” Don’t abandon your child. Help us.
Respectfully,
Jerry Wehtee Wion,
Retired Liberian Journalist and Political Commentator,
Washington, DC,
USA
