>> tonight ofrontline, an iconic american company. >> firestone's intent was to make money. >> a vicious civil war. >> whoever was going to run liberia needed firestone. >> i can't apologize for war. everybody has had a war. >> the untold story of what happened in liberia 25 years ago. >> they were prepared to do taylor's bidding. >> firestone, they did not pay off warlords or give money under the table. they didn't do any of those things. they did the right thing. >> frontline and propublica

investigate the deal. >> i have not seen this, and it's kind of amazing. >> in looking at these conflicts, it's always good to follow the money. >> "firestone and the warlord" >> frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support for frontliis provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additional support is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. at fordfoundation.org.

the wyncote foundation. and by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler.

>> narrator: this is a story about business and war. it's a story about a small group of americans and the choices they made many years ago. a story about the cost of operating in a volatile and remote country. its setting is a rubber plantation in africa, owned and operated by the tire giant firestone. >> i am charles bradford pettit, and go by brad. i worked 31 years at firestone. i really kind of felt that we were above this war somehow, and that both sides wanted us there, so that they're gonna

leave us alone. >> we were one of the largest, if not the largest, employer in liberia, certainly paying taxes to the government, certainly providing a lot of employment for locals. and we would hope that they would honor that and just leave us alone and let us continue to do what we were doing. unfortunately, that didn't occur. >> we'd been through several coups and nothing changed very much. we just expected to go right back to having our good life. >> narrator: they helped run the largest rubber plantation in the world: a multimillion-dollar investment stretching over 220 square miles. >> i don't think you ever realized how big it was, but yeah, my first impression was, "hey, this is a beautiful forest. it's a beautiful country." >> oh, very pretty. the trees are all planted

in a row and so forth. and a lot of humidity, a lot of rainfall, about 140 inches or more a year. and you can actually smell the what i would call must or decaying materials in the country, and it's something you get used to. >> narrator: the two dozen expat managers who lived there along with their families were in their own world. >> here is our houseboy. hi, mom. what are you drinking? >> this is pure, filtered, boiled water from africa. >> that's rick, our other yard boy. >> where did mom go? >> i don't know. she's over there. >> you really didn't feel any danger other than a few of the rogues who would either break into your house or try and steal your money when you're in town, shopping.

nothing seemed unsettled to me. i loved it. it was very, very enjoyable. >> narrator: but outside the plantation's perimeter, a rebellion was brewing. (people shouting) it was 1989. liberia's president, samuel doe, was losing his grip. doe had cracked down, jailing opponents, eliminating rivals. it all came to a head on christmas eve. >> christmas eve, 1989, when a man called charles taylor emerged in the northern jungle, declaring a revolution against doe's regime. >> (chanting) >> this is not a military coup. this is a pure civilian uprising. >> if doe opened pandora's box just a little bit, taylor, you know, ripped off the lid.

>> (chanting) >> narrator: the man behind the revolt was a little-known, american-educated, smooth- talking charmer: charles taylor. >> i have to honor these men, that we must be able to make a difference. we must be able to bring back what we've, you know, what we've all wanted. >> he was very slick, you know, kind of used car salesman slick, and not particularly threatening or overbearing, but not the kind of person you'd buy a used car from. >> all i want to do is to bring back some sanity, some fair play in the country. >> an evil, venal sociopath who was charming and glib. i knew he was a criminal,

that he'd absconded with almost a million dollars, that he'd mysteriously escaped from jail in massachusetts. he was a very unsavory character. >> narrator: at the time of the uprising, taylor was running from the law, accused of embezzling nearly one million dollars from the liberian government. to pull together his guerrilla force, he had cozied up to several dictators in africa, including muammar qaddafi. >> libya we knew at the time was a very pro-revolutionary country under qaddafi. and they were training africans to be guerrilla fighters, and we had all sorts of intelligence informing us about that. and so taylor and other liberians whom he could recruit went into training there. >> narrator: newly trained, taylor launched his offensive from the north with a small,

ragtag army with little to no combat experience. (gunfire) >> you would have rebels advancing with their aks held above their heads, just firing randomly down the road. there wasn't a lot of marksmanship. there was a lot of firing in the air. there was a lot of running away. >> they were not in army uniforms. they were in, like, casual clothes, you know, wearing wigs on their head, having some white chalks on their body, claiming it was some protection against bullets. they were weird looking, really. but they were mostly kids. >> these young fighters wearing fright wigs and, you know, shower caps and women's dresses and bathrobes and shooting wildly and wearing juju, you know, the talismans of liberian witchcraft. >> narrator: as taylor's army in masquerade wound its way towards

the plantation, elizabeth blunt, the bbc's correspondent for west africa, made a trip to firestone to find out if the managers were concerned. >> we were invited to sunday lunch. a couple of other journalists and myself, we went off to firestone, and it was beautiful. it was green, it was peaceful. we had lunch in the clubhouse. i think our hosts were working very, very hard to persuade us that everything was normal. i don't think it was as normal as they made it look. and i think they were hoping that if the rebels did come, that they might be able to carry on. >> narrator: and for a while, at least, they did carry on. >> it really didn't affect us much, until we knew that they were getting closer to monrovia, and therefore, obviously, closer to us. i was hoping that, actually, the rebels would go around the

plantation, not come onto the plantation, and we would be able to continue to operate. >> there was a lot of political turmoil, but conditions were pretty good then even under the circumstances, so we expected that if a civil war did get to liberia or monrovia that it would be very quick and things would return to normal. >> narrator: for the expats, life on the plantation was enjoyable. >> we actually had a nine-hole golf course. the greens were oiled sand. certainly, during the rainy season, the fairways were nicer than they were in the dry season. you would have at least the length of your club to find some grass in which to put your ball. but it was nice. >> we would stay at each other's houses so all the golf teams didn't have anything to worry about. clubs would be open for the evening for the ones that really liked to party. there also was a fishing club there that nearly everybody had

a boat for. and we'd go deep-sea fishing, have fishing tournaments, etcetera. you'd have a boat boy that took care of your boat and all that good stuff. and it was fantastic because off the west coast of africa, some of the best fishing in the world: wahoo, marlin, tuna, sail fish, everything is there. it was fantastic. >> narrator: for taylor, it also had the makings of a perfect base. the plantation's center was in harbel, named after the company's founder, harvey firestone, and his wife idabelle. it was strategically located only 45 minutes away from the capital, monrovia, and right next to a key regional airport, roberts international. >> they were just such tempting targets. they had everything that a rebel

army would want. they had fuel supplies, they had generators, they had communications, they had food, and they had nice facilities. they had clinics and they had really nice houses, so it was a very, very good base to operate from. >> i would say whoever was going to run liberia needed firestone, and i think taylor felt that he was going to be that man, so yes, he needed firestone. let's say we were very influential on what happened in the country and what went on in the country. (music playing) >> narrator: the story of the firestone tire and rubber company of akron, ohio, begins in 1900. by the roaring '20s, the company was a household name, and harvey firestone had become one of the top industrialists of that gilded age.

>> there are few people who realize the importance of rubber and what it means to our commerce and welfare. >> narrator: with its auto industry booming, the united states was consuming around 70% of the world's rubber, most of it imported from british colonies in the far east. harvey firestone was determined to find his very own source of rubber. >> and i urge upon the united states to get relief by investing in a country under their own control. this can be accomplished in liberia... >> narrator: liberia was ideal. the country was an ally of the united states. it had a large, untapped labor pool and miles and miles of land for planting rubber trees. >> the 90,000 acres was divided into 45 divisions, each division

having hundreds of trees about 12 feet apart by 15 feet apart. so you had eight-and-a-half million rubber trees all in rows. >> narrator: in 1926, liberia offered firestone a chance to develop up to a million acres of land at six cents an acre. >> the liberian negotiators were not knowledgeable about these things. so firestone got the deal that said they would rent huge acres of land for small amounts, for a long period of time. but i don't think that original deal was in the very best interest of the country. >> narrator: the deal was controversial from the start. but for the liberian government, it marked the beginning of a convenient business partnership. >> firestone was huge in every way, and the revenues were absolutely crucial. so what would happen would be that the government, when it ran

out of money, would anticipate the revenues. they would get firestone to pay future revenues up front. so the government was always in hock to firestone. >> narrator: it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. >> ♪ i put a spell on you because you're mine... ♪ >> narrator: firestone eagerly courted liberia's elites, holding parties like this one, where management invited nina simone to sing. that's harvey firestone's son, harvey jr., on the right, next to the guest of honor, liberia's long-ruling president, william tubman. >> the country had been ruled since the 1930s by a man called william vacanarat shadrach tubman jr., who smoked cigars, wore homburgs, and appeared at

official functions in tails. >> narrator: president tubman was an americo-liberian, a member of liberia's ruling class, many of whom were descendants of the freed american slaves who founded the country in 1847. >> liberia was one of the very few parts of africa that had not been colonized by a european power. it was settled in its more or less modern configuration by freed american slaves, and this group became known as the americo-liberians. >> narrator: the "americos" had established their own brand of servitude, which excluded from power local ethnic tribes, like the kpelle, the bassa, the kru. >> the americo-liberians, to some extent, replicated the society that they had left in the united states, but they

became the plantation owners and the liberians became the workers. (drumming) not surprisingly, the workers resented this status. >> narrator: life in much of liberia mirrored the plantations of the american south. some saw echoes of that at firestone. >> the entire structure of the work on the plantation was like in the south. that means you had laborers, and you had head men. you got gang leaders. you have overseers, you know, the same thing that used to operate in the south to control the work force. >> the people at firestone imported here a lifestyle, and it was a lifestyle that was designed for the americans who came from the united states

to work for firestone. >> officers on the plantation lived very nicely in attractive, comfortable, well-furnished homes. you know, their lifestyle was obviously on a plane greatly superior to that of the liberians who were working with them. >> narrator: the plantation had over 8,000 workers, most of them tappers. >> i had never seen something like this in my life before, this scene of the tappers with the buckets slinging on their shoulders, moving around, emptying the cups of latex, one after the other, and going to the truck and emptying it there and so forth. >> narrator: collecting sap was grueling work, sometimes done by entire families for a few dollars a day.

>> it's hard work, it's demeaning, and the pay is very small. if someone tries to complain, even though we were little, but we hear them say, "well, if you try to complain, you know, people will tell you, 'aren't you counting yourself lucky that you have a job? you gotta stop complaining.'" so people just live with it like that. >> narrator: liberian middle managers had it a little better. >> i'm justin knuckles. i was hired in firestone in the year 1973. and i worked for firestone in various positions up to 1990. the first house i have what i can say were terrible, because you had to get out and go and use the bathroom outside. you had to do everything outside. and a lot of flies. it were terrible. >> the houses have now changed. but up to 2002, that was the type of housing they had. i mean, no running water. and about 90% of the people live

in that condition. >> narrator: but in one of the poorest countries in the world, firestone offered its workers generous benefits. >> i got a scholarship coming from junior high school, because i was the second in my class. and then i got a scholarship again to go to college. so they paid my tuition in college. >> i can say you consider yourself blessed if you were in liberia working for firestone because firestone had a good educational program. they get you food. they get you water. you didn't make much money, but for man to live, you gotta have certain, certain things, and firestone provided those things. >> narrator: but the firestone workers were not immune to the resentment that was building across liberia. after 133 years of americo-liberian rule, a young enlisted man from the krahn tribe changed the course of liberia's history on april 12, 1980.

>> liberia's president, william tolbert, a descendant of american slaves and a good friend of the u.s., was assassinated today in a coup lead by an army enlisted man who said that they're fed up with government corruption. the new head of the government is the 28-year-old sergeant named samuel doe. >> master sergeant samuel doe eviscerated tolbert in bed. disemboweled him. doe then invited the world's press to come to liberia to witness the execution of all the cabinet ministers that he could lay his hands on. >> it was very shocking, really, because of the way they executed the cabinet, who were old men, who were civilians. i think people would expect them to be locked up after a coup. they wouldn't expect them to be tied on the beach outside town and shot. >> the execution of the tolbert cabinet on the beach, broadcast

live on liberian television, sent a pretty clear message that this was his country to control. (gunfire) >> for the first time since its birth, liberia was no longer run by these mulatto, lighter skinned libero-americans, but from someone from the interior. >> narrator: doe gradually filled government posts with members of his krahn tribe, many who were uneducated and ill-prepared to run a country. one of the notable exceptions was charles taylor, who had recently returned from boston, where he had received a degree in economics from bentley college. he worked his connections and became the head of the general services agency. >> doe, who was a pretty uncultured man at the time, had the good sense to put taylor in

charge of the office, which appropriates funds for government purchases. >> narrator: taylor used the position to gain influence with doe's staff. he bought new cars for the cabinet and surprised doe with a stretch limousine. but as head of procurement, there were other opportunities. >> as you can imagine, that was a very lucrative job, and he made a lot of money. and nobody really minded until the money he made was president doe's money, and then he fell out with the president and fled to the united states. >> narrator: doe accused taylor of embezzlement, demanding his extradition. taylor was arrested and locked up, but not for long. >> charles taylor makes a rather dramatic prison break from a jail in massachusetts, along with several other inmates. all of those inmates are eventually captured.

taylor is not, and regales in the afterwards that it was the cia who helped break him out of that prison, because he was destined to lead the rebellion to bring down samuel doe. >> there's all kinds of legend around it, but it seems he had a kind of underground network of people who helped him. he literally disappeared. nobody knew where he was. >> we'd heard all the rumors that he had been to the states and escaped from jail and was making his way back to liberia. >> narrator: four years after the jailbreak, taylor's forces began their assault, heading towards the firestone plantation. (loud gunfire) (chanting) >> narrator: "day one: tuesday, june 5, 1990. last evening, 8:00 p.m.,

reported rebels crossing river towards factory area." donald ensminger was the head of the firestone plantation when taylor's rebels stormed in and seized control. much of what we know about what happened comes from ensminger's diary and a phone interview. he declined to apear on camera. >> i found him to be very genuine, a very nice man. he genuinely cared for us as expats and for the rest of the people who worked for liberia. >> we found ensminger to be very rude, very uncooperative and a very arrogant son of whatever. >> narrator: ensminger notes that eight to ten rebels burst into the golf club, demanding vehicles. later, they also took fuel, bags of rice, handheld radios and petty cash, including $40 to the rebel leader, "peter," a hot-head and drunk. ken gerhart was stationed down

the road from the plantation at the coca-cola bottling plant, a property of firestone. he was in constant communication with ensminger. >> we still had radio communications, he and i. and they were saying things were heating up because they were getting so many demands from taylor's army. money, food, whatever, you know? they wanted whatever they could get. and unfortunately, when they couldn't get it, they would go out in the villages and take what they wanted. so things were really heating up. >> we knew we were gonna be out for trouble. they go into your house. if you had a private vehicle or even a firestone vehicle parked in your yard, they will take the vehicle. take valuables. and they said that they were at war with mandingos and krahns, so they were looking for mandingos and krahns, and as they identified them, they were killing them. >> narrator: president doe's forces, the afl, were mainly krahn. doe gave the order to push

taylor off the plantation. >> the afl came in too, you know, got on the scene and targeted people for no business and killed them, you know? this was a kind of a seesaw, you know, battle that was happening. >> it appeared, from my perspective, that it was turning more into a tribal warfare, in essence. doe, was a krahn, from the krahn tribe, certainly didn't have any love lost between some of the other tribes that were, apparently, joining in the rebellion with charles taylor. and we knew that people were getting killed. we knew that it was very dangerous for them. from my perspective, a little apprehensive to determine what we would have to do, whether it would be safe for us to stay on the plantation or whether we would have to evacuate. >> narrator: the u.s. embassy had advised u.s. citizens to evacuate. but the managers stayed put.

on june 7, day three, thousands of firestone workers fled their homes. steve raimo took these photos. many of the workers sought shelter at ensminger's mansion. >> we started to see people walking towards the house, and then more. then more. and we estimated somewhere around 1,500 people were standing in front of the general manager's house seeking refuge. they were crying, they were afraid, and they wanted refuge. >> narrator: many of the expats too gathered at the main house. >> we would during the day kind of try and keep ourselves occupied. so i still played golf. (laughs) some of the other guys did, too, and we just watched to see what would occur. we were hoping that once they had this initial battle, that things would move off the

plantation. that was my hope, anyway. >> narrator: as the battle raged, firestone workers continued to seek refuge at the main house. but ensminger says he had no otr choice but to turn them away. >> they told us that he cannot take us in because we are the ones who will be protecting him, not he protecting us. >> he said, "it's liberians that are coming. you are gonna be safe among your own people. you don't need to come in." so only the expats can come in. not the liberian staff. it made me feel very bad that that present management did not care about the well-being of the black staff. you know, hell was breaking loose, and they didn't care for them. >> we were concerned about them because certainly, being a part of the tribe that doe was a part of, we knew that they were gonna be targeted. but as far as being able to

protect them, we had no way to do that. >> it was a very emotional moment, to say to all these people, "i'm sorry. we cannot harbor you. we cannot protect you." i felt like crying. it was sad, very sad. in fact, i get choked up, like i'm nearly getting choked up now each time i tell this story. and it was very emotional. >> narrator: another entry in ty says that the workers were fed rice and told to leave. "we can't offer them protection from either soldiers or ff." ff, freedom fighters, a reference to taylor's forces. (gunfire) by day four, heavy fighting erupted between taylor's rebels and doe's army. like many workers on the plantation, mary pollee had no place to go.

>> narrator: she recalls the day doe's forces barged into her house looking for taylor rebels.

>> narrator: day nine. "we are totally helpless!" >> the final blow was when they came to his house, where he had assembled most of the managers so that they could be together. one of them threatened to shoot him with a rpg if he was there the next day. and then we got them all out and left the country. >> narrator: after ten days, ensminger ended his diary with these words. but for the firestone employees

on the plantation, the ordeal was just beginning. justin knuckles awoke to find a note from management on his door. >> and how did that make you feel? >> narrator: over the course of the next several months, the killing continued. >> well, if they were the right tribe, they survived. if they weren't, they didn't. >> narrator: gerhart's employees at the coca-cola bottling plant were not spared. >> i had approximately 300, 350 people. and 17% of them had been killed.

my driver, my secretary... the story that bothered me the most was my driver. first time, he was beaten. second time, they cut the soles off his feet. third time, they shot him. >> they cut the soles off of his feet? >> yeah, right, with a machete. it changed my whole perspective of what was happening in the country. no longer did any of us feel that it was going to be a swift coup and so forth and human rights would be, you know, adhered to, but they were not. it pretty much got really out of hand then. (gunfire) (shouting) >> narrator: over the following months, competing factions fought for control of the country. it was a civil war marked by atrocities on all sides. after months of bloodletting, taylor and his npfl gained the

upper hand. by the fall of 1990, taylor had seized most of liberia, with the exception of monrovia. the capital was still up for grabs-- contested terrain. and president doe became the most prominent casualty. he was captured and stripped to his underwear by a former taylor commander, the warlord prince johnson. (screaming) elizabeth blunt was trying to set up an interview when gunfire erupted. >> i was stuck in the press officer's office with a gun battle going on all around me. while i'd been lying there with my eyes shut, i heard the president's voice, which must've been when they were taking him away. and i heard what i was sure was the president's voice going, "please, i beg you, i beg you,"

and i knew his voice. he was bleeding very heavily. i think he probably just died from loss of blood, but they were trying to interrogate him. he died sometime during the night. >> it's hard to process, sometimes. certainly, evil was taking reign in liberia. when evil is given opportunity to reign freely, these things occur. and we experience them. >> narrator: in the late '80s, 40% of the latex used in america came from firestone's plantation in liberia. in the industry, firestone's product was considered some of the highest quality latex in the world. at company headquarters, top managers were under pressure

to get the liberia operation back up and running. >> when you can't produce latex, can't produce block rubber, can't get it sent out to the end users, i would assume we were losing lots of money. >> it was a big deal because it was their own source of rubber for the tires. and it was the largest plantation in the world, and they had the market established over many, many years, so it was very important to them. >> narrator: firestone had been bought by the japanese conglomerate bridgestone in 1988, and the corporation had been losing money. executives in akron began to plot their return. >> firestone's intent was to make money. always has and always will. we're in the business to make money. so if it's not making money, let's make it so it does. why did we go back? because we felt sorry for the people that were there? probably not. we wanted to get the investment

earning money again. >> narrator: one of the first things management did was hire a liberian attorney based in the u.s. >> the meetings actually took place in akron in 1990 at the old, big firestone headquarters, the big building there in akron. the discussions focused on what to do next. would you have to deal with charles taylor? could you do that? there was tremendous worry about the safety of their employees, most particularly the 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 liberians that they employed. so how can we help these people? what do we do next? so it was a real dilemma for the company, and a lot of, i would say, soul-searching and really tough, tough decision-making that had to be done. >> narrator: much of what we know from the era comes from corporate records that until now

were buried in a long-forgotten court file and hundreds of state department cables obtained through the freedom of information act. one of the earliest documents we found was a letter signed by donald ensminger on october 3, 1990. it's addressed to commander in chief charles taylor, requesting a meeting. the second one, sent a week later: >> "all sides need to recognize that firestone continues to incur major losses as a result of hostilities." >> narrator: then, three months later, one of taylor's aides sent a letter back to akron. >> "president taylor has directed us to inform you that your team should come to harbel to make the necessary assessment of the plantation."

>> narrator: a few weeks later, a small group of firestone managers headed back to monrovia. >> we were each given a survival kit that's your responsibility. the mission is to go back and start the plantation, start up the plantation. >> narrator: the managers had been away from liberia for eight months. they were shocked by the country they found. >> it's a disaster completely. i saw very few dogs left. everything had been eaten. all the palm trees had been cut down for the cabbage on top because everybody was starving to death. no cats. and if you saw a rat, he was big because he'd been well fed. on the streets when i started driving around, you would be driving over human bones on the streets. you couldn't miss them. >> narrator: the managers found it hard to get to the plantation. taylor was making life difficult for them. >> the rebels were on the

plantation and up to the suburbs of monrovia. the higher management was talking about getting back onto the plantation, but i think we realized that somebody didn't want us to go back to the plantation. >> narrator: so they waited. in monrovia, there was an uneasy peace. the city was in the hands of an interim government. but the interim president was president in name only. >> the u.s. had abandoned us. the united states government officials were very clear that there was not to be the nature of the intervention that many liberians expected. >> the concern i had was that there was an interim government without any constitutional basis. there was charles taylor, who, by force of arms, had taken most of the country. and these two different

governments, from a legal or constitutional aspect, had no legitimacy, if you will. >> narrator: the task of keeping law and order was delegated to a west african peacekeeping force that went by the acronym ecomog. >> the acronym got converted by liberians into "every car or moveable object gone" because these west african peacekeepers spent most of their time stealing things and looting the country and shipping it back, in most cases, to nigeria. >> narrator: for taylor, they were foreigners, war tourists posing for pictures. without a foothold in monrovia, taylor set up a parallel government in what he called "greater liberia" with a new capital in the town of gbarnga. >> taylor called himself president. he called his wife of the time the first lady. he called his house, in gbarnga,

the executive mansion. but it was a house; it wasn't an executive mansion. the minister of communications, basically, was the guy who carried the satellite telephone. he wasn't a minister of communications. >> the only thing he's interested in is absolute power, and he has it, nearly, out in the areas he controls, not only by the land mass, but because that's where liberia's riches are. that's where the rubber is. that's where the timber is. that's where the diamonds are. why come to monrovia? there's nothing there to exploit. >> narrator: as taylor's ambition for money and territory grew, he expanded his reach to neighboring sierra leone. he recruited thousands of new fighters, many of them children. for his own presidential guard, taylor created a special division of young boys. >> they were formally called the small boys unit. they were very young boys, very often orphans that somehow

became like his sons, and they would do anything for him. and they manned these road blocks across the country, wherever the front lines were. (gunfire) they adopted horrifying names, like "general (bleep) me quick," "dead body bones." (shouting) it got to the point where they would bet if a pregnant woman was walking towards the road block, they would lay bets on what sex the fetus was. and they would open her up with a bayonet to see. and they would just dump the bodies right there. >> mr. taylor seemed quite proud of his sbu, small boy unit. all of them were the taylor shock troops. there was also a lot of drugs that were circulating and probably administered or encouraged by the npfl.

so it was a pretty... in some ways disorganized, crazy, but also terrifying kind of a phenomenon to be rushed by a lot of folks pretty much out of their heads. >> during this war, we pick these kids up in villages, in towns, on the highway, just there. seven, eight, nine year old kids. you put them in a pickup, you take them home. you feed them, you give them a bath, you tell them, "okay, you are my sbu." everybody wanted to be a soldier. this war was ugly. i saw skulls. i saw dogs eating bodies. i saw bloated bodies. i saw exploding bodies. i saw women dead. i saw children dead. i saw babies dead.

uh... i saw a war. i can't apologize for war. everybody has had a war. >> narrator: there was widespread killing and torture. two-thirds of the krahn, doe's tribe, fled the country. >> he didn't do all of that firsthand himself. i mean, he let his boy soldiers do that, because there was no control of them. he knew it was going on, but he didn't know who was doing what when or where. >> we knew there had been, you know, fighting, there had been killing, and there had been some ethnic reprisal killings. but at that time, from the information available to me and, i think, to firestone, taylor did not appear to be

conducting genocidal activities or war criminal, or anything of that kind, and indeed, the united states government had not discouraged firestone from contacting taylor and seeing what could be done. >> narrator: but donald ensmingr told us firestone was getting r the atrocities being committed human rights watch had warned publicly that the krahn e was "at risk of genocide." and , even the state department had sd taylor's npfl forces had been kg civilians, primarily based "on ethnic considerations" liberia's reconciliation commisn would later collect data on the liberia's reconciliation commisn would later collect data on the violations committed by the npfl during the civil war. propublica tallied the numbers for the first year of the invasion-- 6,424 killings, 820 kidnappings, and 631 rapes.

the u.s. did not recognize taylor's self-declared government, but u.s. diplomats had tried to engage with him. assistant secretary of state herman cohen, who was the top-ranking official in the state department for africa, had in earlier months made a trip behind rebel lines to meet with taylor. >> it was rather frightening because his compound was surrounded by young boys, i would say ages 12 to 14, all carrying heavy weapons. we go inside and charles taylor is sitting there on kind of a throne. it looked like a throne. and the first thing that struck me is he had... behind him was hanging a large picture of president john f. kennedy and mrs. kennedy. it was up there. so he saw himself like that. he saw himself as a great leader

who would bring liberia to the modern age, you see. and he said to me, "you know, if you want to stop this war, just send in a battalion of marines. we'll all surrender," he said. "we'll all surrender. u.s. marines? we'll all surrender." >> narrator: around that time, the u.s. was embroiled in the gulf war. military intervention here was not an option. >> i sent word back to washington, and then word quickly came back. "secretary cohen, you are under instructions not to take charge of this war, so please do not do that." (laughs) so i just went, i said, "okay," and i went about my business. >> narrator: after months of waiting, the firestone managers were growing restless. they were holed up in a compound in monrovia, unable to work on the plantation. >> we asked, "can we go to the plantation?"

talked to the rebel forces there, and, "we want to start the plantation again." we thought that would be enough incentive for them to say, "yeah, yeah, come back." but that wasn't the case. >> narrator: taylor was ignoring firestone. he may also have taken offense to the tone in ensminger's letters. they were not fawning. they were all business. they didn't even address him as "president." looking for a breakthrough, ensminger decided to visit taylor in gbarnga. he asked ken gerhart to come along. >> well, we were hopeful that we were going to get a little more latitude on what we wanted to do on the plantation. that was our hopes of going up there. but it didn't happen. he did not meet with us.

he wouldn't meet with us. we slept on the hard floor all night from the one room he gave us and went back the next day. >> narrator: from the cables, we know that some u.s. diplomats were discouraging firestone from dealing with taylor. one cable from january 1991 reads: >> "we would recommend that firestone wait until the plantation area comes under ecomog control." >> in my personal opinion, not the u.s. government's opinion, i did not feel that firestone was operating in the best interest of what i saw as our best interest in liberia. their choice of becoming closer to taylor was not the appropriate way that i would want to see them do business. but i'm not in the rubber business. >> narrator: other diplomats accepted firestone's attempts to talk with taylor.

>> i think that it's fair to say that we recognized that the most likely outcome was that taylor was gonna continue to control that territory. >> you can't close down a plantation. you can't wrap up, you know, five million trees and take them away. so you want to preserve what you can. so you have to make deals. >> narrator: at least one ambassador, peter jon de vos, encouraged firestone to work with taylor, and even secured a meeting in gbarnga, which included a delegation of diplomats and a surprise guest. fourth in line was donald ensminger. >> mr. ensminger, the director general of firestone. >> oh, he works for the embassy now? >> well, america works for him. >> narrator: america works for firestone. taylor was blunt, accusing firestone of negligence. >> thousands of people have put their whole lives into firestone, 20, 30 years. there's a little war and then

you run off and there's no food, no medicine, there's complete breakdown. that's inexcusable. i don't think firestone should do such a thing. >> narrator: after the meeting, an official at the u.s. embassy in monrovia wrote back to state. the cable notes that ensminger was scolded by taylor in front of the entire press corps. after that meeting, taylor refused to deal with ensminger. >> after ensminger's first mistake, when he came to gbarnga, he was very demanding. they just wanted what's for firestone to be for firestone. and after the talks broke off, we insisted that they have to send someone we can work with. >> naturally, taylor wants everything his way, and don didn't. he wanted it firestone's way. so it was probably two guys butting heads. >> narrator: firestone sent ensminger's boss in akron, john schremp, to get things

back on track. >> john schremp and there was another guy, they came, they met with taylor, and taylor said, "look, you abandoned your people. what about them? when you come back, what can you do for them? what, are you gonna give them back pay, what?" >> charles taylor insisted on a number of conditions. among them would be that firestone would recognize that he had a de facto government, and that if firestone came back, it would treat his government as the liberian government and the government that it must deal with. >> narrator: besides those demands, taylor made one more ultimatum: ensminger had to go. >> did firestone essentially acquiesce to taylor's demands? >> yes, absolutely. it was clear that without that, you would not be able to put a management team on the ground. >> narrator: soon after,

ensminger was dismissed. in an email to propublica and f, ensminger wrote that he disagre firestone's direction,saying " i felt then as i do now that their approach pushed to te very limits legality and morali" >> narrator: it had been a year and a half since taylor took over the plantation. firestone was losing money and it was worried about reports that the plantation was being ransacked. the board of directors sat down to discuss its options. >> we assumed they were making their own arrangements. they wanted to stay in business and they would do whatever is necessary to stay in business.

hello there and welcome to "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. first the headlines for this hour. another clash in hong kong. pro-democracy demonstrators clashed with police. members of japanese political parties are preparing their campaigns a day after prime minister shinzo abe announced he will call a snap election. and perfect score. our sumo expert is here to talk

about a yakazuna who leads the pack. pro-democracy protesters in hong kong have clashed with police. the flare up came after authorities began removing barricades. students flocked to an area near the city's legislative building. a small group used metal barricades to smash a glass door of the building. police used pepper spray to try to keep them back. the student-led protests have continued for more than 50 days, blocking three main roads in a central district. protesters are demanding open nomination in the 2017 election for chief executive. on tuesday the hong kong high court ordered the barricades to be cleared away. two chinese ship captains arrested in japanese waters have admitted to collecting coral but they deny they had plans to move on to other areas. japanese coast card patrols have spotted hundreds of chinese ships near the ogasawara islands far to the south of tokyo since

september. officials believe the ships came to an area to poach coral and are increasing patrols. the skippers were arrested in the southern prefecture of kagoshima on monday. they admitted they were collecting coral but told investigators they were not planning to go further south to the ogasawara islands. coast guard officials say 70 chinese fishing boats they suspect of poaching are still near the islands. patrol crews have maintained an around the clock look out for two months. they're telling chinese boats to turn back if they approach areas abundant in coral. on tuesday, the coast guard arrested another chinese captain who entered japan's exclusive economic zone and ignored an order to stop for an onboard inspection. political leaders in japan are gearing up to go on the campaign trail. prime minister shinzo abe has announce head will dissolve the lower house of the diet on

friday and call a general election. members of the governing and opposition parties have start pred pairing. abe said he wants to seek a public mandate for his decision to increase the consumption tax. he wants to put it off until april 2017. abe said he made up his mind to hold an election without delay. postponing the tax hike will affect people's lives and the economy. the main governing liberal democratic party plans to speed up preparations for an election. >> translator: we will seek a public mandate. >> representatives for the opposition say that abe called an election to try to hide the failure of his economic policies

known as abe nommics. >> translator: because abenomics has failed there is no other choice but to postpone the scheduled consumption tax increase. >> campaigning for the lower house is expected to begin on december 2nd and voters are likely to go to the poles on the 14th. officials are getting out their calculators. they want to see what the delay in the tax hike means in numbers. what can you tell us, ai? >> finance ministry officials estimate it means billions of dollars in tax revenue. and this throws off people to reduce the gauge of spending known as the primary balance. japan's is in deficit which means that officials are spending more than they're getting in taxes.

officials were hoping to turn things around soon but they may have to change their plans. officials are aiming to reduce the primary balance deficit to half the level of 2010. cabinet officials estimate that could have been achieved if the consumption tax was set to rise next october as originally planned. >> translator: the government may not be able to achieve the goal next fiscal year. >> the government is trying to achieve a primary balance surplus in fiscal 2020. abe says he will stick to that target and come up with a plan by next summer to realize it. but officials at the cabinet office are less enthusiastic. they forecast it would still be in deficit by $94 billion even if the tax was set to rise as originally planned. cabinet ministers are working on a new stimulus package. japan's gdp shrank for the second quarter in a row. prime minister abe instructed members of the council on

economic and fiscal policy to study ways to boost the economy. the ministers will try to provide relief for businesses and consumers who are being hit with rising energy prices caused by the weaker yen. the government hopes to compile its package by year-end and include it in a supplementary budget plan for the current fiscal year. the draft budget may reach $25 billion. now let's check on markets. some investors were cheered by the stimulus measures and bought stocks. others sold and took profits. the nikkei moved without clear direction and ended the morning session flat. for more details on individual shares, let's go to ramin mellegard who has a full wrap up for us. what can you tell us? >> investors really did get a boost from the stimulus measures, but then the nikkei after having risen lost a little

bit of steam and traded in a tight range. let's look at the morning levels for the nikkei and the topix. barely in the positive, pretty much flat as you said there, the nikkei, 17,347 and the topix in the positive as well. some investors are continuing to buy shares which we saw on tuesday and also we did see buying interest from the u.s. on wall street. so currency sensitive high-tech and blue chip stocks were higher as the yen weakened during the morning session. seiko epson and mazda were trading higher. airlines were higher. oil prices are falling which helps the bottom lines. but softbank shares were in the focus and that is lower after the announcement of a management

shakeup at sprint corporation. let's have a look at the current -- it touched 117.21 at one point after trading at the upper 116 levels. traders are watching what the bank of japan governor may say later today and we are waiting for the minutes for last month. but favorable sentiment in germany on tuesday helped the yush row. weaker new home price in china have overshadowed sentiment and the shanghai composite is lower for a third day in a row and the hang seng is down as well. that is all from me, back to you. >> thank you for that update. u.s. safety regulators are urging a recall of cars with faulty air bags made

corporation. the national highway traffic safety administration has since learned that similar accidents have occurred in other parts of the country, prompting its recommendation for the recall to be extended nationwide. u.s. consumers have filed a class-action suit against takata and some japanese automakers are accusing them of a cover up. the u.s. senate will hold a hearing on the air bag issue on thursday. new york state regulators are set to hit the bank of japan with a streep fine. the japanese bank agreed to pay $250 million for its reported dealings with blacklisted countries including iran. the new penalty is for $315

million. the bank allegedly misled the regulators in a probe of its transactions with the sanctioned countries. the regulators say the investigators found the bank pressured its consulting firm to remove key warnings from a final report the bank submitted to them. the new york state superintendent of financial services said that the regulators have to crack down on cozy relationships between banks and consultants. japanese manufacturers are turning to advanced materials to gain a competitive advantage. some companies are focusing on highly durable but light carbon fiber composite. nhk world's lisa wakabayashi has the story. >> reporter: normally carbon fiber composites are stiff and hard. but these items are made with a softer composite. though light and soft to the touch, they're more durable than leather more than ten items,

including wallets and briefcases made of a carbon composite, are on sale here. >> translator: you don't have to worry about scratches. >> translator: it's a really great conversation starter. >> reporter: hidai -- is the president of the company that created this line of merchandise. he used to run an auto parts maker. he funded his company two years ago, hoping to unlock the potential of carbon composites. >> translator: i thought if we could create a soft material using carbon fibers we could start a new business. >> reporter: we visited his plant. carbon composites start out as carbon fibers woven into a fabric.

but because the fabric frays easily, it must be treated with resin. kasuga purchased essential equipment from france to treat the fiber with a soft resin. the machine uses high heat and pressure to create a supple, yet durable material. >> translator: we are at a critical point where we need to discover untapped potential in existing materials to create marketable items. >> reporter: another manufacturer was able to put a widely available material to a novel use. fire extinguishers are usually made of metal but this one is made of synthetic resin instead. its outstanding feature is its lightweight. it weighs half as much as the

metal one. the president searched far and wide for a material that is durable, heat resistant, and light. he finally settled on p.e.n. resin, a material mainly used to make containers for chemicals. he worked with a materials manufacturer and a processing company for eight years to develop the material into a commercial product. another selling point of this fire extinguisher is its transparency. the company thinks this gives it an advantage in overseas markets. metal fire extinguishers can be used to commit terrorist acts. the transparency of the resin containers is expected to help prevent this.

>> translator: materials manufacturers in japan are extremely advanced. they are the biggest supporters of consumer product manufacturers like us. >> reporter: materials that once had limited applications are making established products new again. lisa wakabayashi, nhk world, tokyo. that's all for now on business. here's a check on markets.

a synagogue turned from a place of worship to a place of violence. two palestinians stormed in armed with guns and axes. they killed at least five israelis before they were shot by police. the attack took place as jewish worshipers were offering prayers. police rushed in to respond, killing the attackers. >> so bad feel. i don't understand how the people could do that. >> israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu accused palestinian president, mahmoud abbas and hamas militants of inciting attacks on jews. jerusalem has seen weeks of unrest. jewish worshippers last month

forced their way into a holy site, triggering a clash. last week a mosque in a west bank village was set on fire. the palestinians blame jewish settlers for the attack. a powerful explosion rocked afghanistan's capital, kabul on tuesday. at least two security guards are dead. a police officer told nhk a small truck packed with explosives blew up near the gate of a foreign security compound. a taliban spokesperson said it was attacking an intelligence center. the u.s. will end their combat missions and hand over security duties by the end of the year. russian and german foreign ministers have agreed on the importance of a cease-fire between ukraine's military and pro-russian separatists. but they failed to narrow their differences over ukraine. russia's sergey lavrov and germany's frank-walter steinmeier met on tuesday in moscow. they stressed the need to implement the cease-fire agreement signed in september.

they agreed to continue their efforts towards stopping the violence, withdrawing weapons and monitoring the cease-fire. russia has been demanding that ukraine introduce a federal system. lavrov said ukraine has an obligation to revise its constitution with all political forces taking part. but he added kiev has not shown any plans to do so. steinmeier said all parties including russia, should cooperate to resolve the situation. russia has defended the annexation of the southern region of crimea but germany and other countries say the territorial integrity and sovereignty of ukraine should be respected. russian president vladimir putin met with north korean leader kim jong-un's special envoy. putin is believed to have received a letter from kim. russia's presidential office said putin met north korea's worker party's chair on tuesday in moscow. details of their meeting have

not been disclosed but it's believed putin and choi discussed the situation on the korean peninsula among other issues. russia's foreign ministry says choi is expected to meet foreign minister sergey lavrov. observers say a meeting will likely be discussed. north korea is seeking to strengthen ties with russia as its political relations with china have soured. analysts say moscow is putting greater emphasis on asia, amid a widening rift with western nations over the situation in ukraine. sumo's finest are in the thick of battle in southwestern japan. the top contenders after ten days are look to leave with the emperor's cup. but so far only one of them has found perfection up on the ring. here's our sumo expert -- with

the latest. >> at the close of day nine at the november grand sumo tournament, sole possession with a record of 9-0. here's how it played out for him on day ten. undoubtedly this is his best performance since becoming yakazuna in may he is hoping to win his second overall championship and first as a yakozuna. gets a solid grip. he attacks fiercely with an outside leg trip and keeps up the forward pressure. a convincing win to stay unbeaten. chasing him are three men who headed into tuesday's action with just one loss heat watch. they are yokozuna hakuho and the rank in fighter. for the first time in nearly two years, hakuho finds he's not leading pack but still controls his own destiny.

he'll give everything he has got in each of his remaining bouts. he catches the stocky bulgarian in his favorite position. hakuho rolls up his sleeves and outmuscles him. still looking for the first time in the top division, comes this close so many times in the past, could this be his breakthrough tournament? i guess not. he hands him his second defeat. the top division's eldest man, 40-year-old says he's not thinking about winning championship at all but deep down i think he longs to capture his second emperor's cup, the deep double inside group and finds himself in trouble.

all the way in this one. i guess for him the emperor's cup is sailing out of sight. now here are the current standings after ten days. kakuryu is the sole leader. a little change of members in the one-loss group. only hakuho remains. is kakuryu going to seal the deal to capture his second title or will hakuho find a way to snatch his 32nd championship? i'll tell you all about it when i come back next week with my complete sum up of the november competition. see you then. united nations officials are

trying to draw attention to the issue of sanitation. they say more than 1 billion people in the world have no toilet and they've designated november 19 as world toilet day. [ speaking foreign language ]. hundreds of people marched in the indian capital new delhi. about 600 million people in the country live without a toilet. many children die there each year of diarrhea and other illnesses due to poor hygienic conditions. women without access to toilets are more vulnerable to sexual attacks. >> it will help decrease poverty, health risk, so it is also dignity and safety for women. >> translator: i hate having to relieve myself outdoors. i feel uncomfortable especially when i see men around. >> prime minister narendra modi has made installing toilets one of his country's top priorities. it is time now for a check of the weather. sunny and clear here in tokyo.

but in the northeastern portion of the united states, it's a very different story. meteorologist robert speta joins us now with the details. >> that is exactly true. what we are seeing out here is incredibly heavy amounts of snowfall. in some areas the most recent reports, 150 centimeters during the duration of this event. i just want to start off by showing you photos here. nostalgia for me. this is right near my hometown just outside buffalo, new york. take a look at this image. a hard time getting out of their own doors. this is a backdoor of an old friend of mine. you can see right here. that's how deep the snowfall was. there is the doorknob. it just puts it in perspective right here. some other areas you seen over 100 centimeters. this is a car buried under snow, believe it or not. and also we're taking a look at some of the snowplows which have skidded off the road. this is the equipment used to get rid of the snow on the highways out here and that's having a hard time.

at this time, travel bans have been put in place for erie county. that is the county buffalo, new york is located in. the throughway has been shut down in western new york, even watertown and cleveland, you're still seeing the snowfall. you have been seeing 150 centimeters in some areas. an additional 70 centimeters very well could occur. and these narrow bands downwind of the lake. the westerly cold air drops this heavy snowfall. so in some areas out here you're seeing that snow. but a few kilometers away may only be a few centimeters. definitely a big difference. it's not just the snowfall, which is dangerous but itself but the cold air is dominating all the way down into the deep south. if you are not breaking record lows here on wednesday morning it may very well be getting close to that. you have all this air diving in from the arctic circle and pushes across northern canada

and then down into the deep south. wind chill minus 25 in ontario. minus 15 all the way down through virginia over through the ohio river valley and in the deep south we're talking about hard freeze warnings. here the temperatures typically do not get below zero. vegetation is very sensitive to that. a lot of people feeling the effects of this. the cold air will linger and gradually warm up at the very least the lows will be above freezing in jacksonville, florida. but the lake effect will taper off here on your wednesday into thursday. good news, the westerly winds taper off. bad news, we have another low coming in and that's going to kick up more snow by friday. may not be as intense for some of you but more of the white stuff in the picture. let's talk about europe now. i want to mention the severe weather in europe, specifically into northern italy, the same storm system that has been bringing flooding rains is drifting off to the east.

and croatia had a report of a waterspout. thunderstorms in parts of central and eastern europe and kiev some of the precipitation may be on the frozen side. as it pushes into your forecast. 3 for the high. moscow, take a look, minus 4 there for your high. your low will be well below that. then let's wrap it up in the southeastern asia. i do want to mention we have been seeing reports of flooding in parts of malaysia about 47 people have been evacuated out here. take a look at this. 291 millimeters in a 24-hour period. and more rain is still in your forecast. that's a look at your world weather. i leave you now with your extended outlook.

and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline."

i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. thank you for joining us.

good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with cristina saralegui. her new book, "rise up and shine", is now out. this cuban-born broadcaster was a host on univision. we are glad to have you join us on a conversation with cristina saralegui, coming up right now. ♪