They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails." - Yuri Orlov, Lord of War

In January 2008, former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s trial for crimes against humanity resumed at the Hague. During the Liberian civil war as many as 200,000 were killed and two-million forced from their homes out of a population of six million. The streets of Monrovia should be filled with celebration and music. Instead the streets echo with the sounds of gunfire and the gutters run red with blood.

Harvests had been poor and UN relief flights stopped the year before. A fortune in diamonds poured monthly out of the country into South African corporations or select members of the government. The powder keg exploded when troops from the military contractor Black Rhino opened fire into a crowd of protestors outside the Grand Bassa Mines south of Monrovia. Riots erupted throughout the nation, overwhelming the Liberian military that remained loyal to the government. Order collapsed as tribal warlords led bloodthirsty mobs against the police, neighboring tribes and the presence of foreign “thieves and murderers.”

A number of private military companies were already in country on the payroll of South African diamond consortiums and European holding companies. Others were swiftly deployed to protect the interests of foreign investors against the chaos and violence. Images of unarmed civilians hacked apart in the street by militia filled the nightly news. Live video feeds highlighted foreign mercenaries laying down automatic weapons fire from fortified offices and factories.

A US relief and peace enforcement task force of Rangers and Marines has been pulled together and is on the way to restore order in the tiny, battered nation. But can order prevail in a maelstrom of hatred, greed and madness?