--- title: "This is why ‘General Butt Naked’ was the most feared warlord in Liberia" date: "2020-05-04" modified: "2020-10-30" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/this-is-why-general-butt-naked-was-the-most-feared-warlord-in-liberia/" categories: - "History" - "Military News" tags: - "Africa" --- # This is why ‘General Butt Naked’ was the most feared warlord in Liberia ![]() To oust a dictator as terrible as Liberia's Charles Taylor, some warlords committed even more heinous crimes. Taylor is now serving a 50-year sentence in the UK after being [convicted of 11 war crimes]() in the Hague in 2013. --- Joshua Milton Blahyi went by a different name when he controlled the streets of Liberia's capital of Monrovia during its 14-year civil war. Going into urban combat wearing nothing but sneakers and a crazed look, he earned the title "General Butt Naked." ![]() Warlords in the streets of Liberia from 1989-2003 were given names based in popular culture. It spawned such nicknames as "General Bin Laden" and "General Rambo." While "General Butt Naked" may sound laughable as a *nom de guerre*, the warlord's methods were anything but funny. Of the 250,000-some Liberians killed in the conflict, Blahyi estimates he is responsible for at least 20,000. The [crimes he freely admits to]() don't stop there. He recruited children to act as his street enforcers, teaching them that killings and mutilations were all part of a game. And so they would also fight naked in the streets of Monrovia. Blahyi himself was a teenager when the conflict broke out. Anecdotal evidence of the atrocities committed by "General Butt Naked" is numerous and graphic. When Taylor was finally ousted in 2003, the man once known as "General Butt Naked" began a new life as a pastor. These days, when he isn't preaching, he visits the families of his victims and begs for forgiveness — complete forgiveness. He doesn't want lip service; he wants the biblical forgiveness that comes from the victim's heart. ![]() Those victims don't want any part of it. Only 19 of the 76 families he has visited heard him out. The remainder goes about as well as one might expect. Blahyi built a mansion where he houses former child soldiers. It's a place where he says he teaches them skills like farming and bricklaying. [According to German newspaper Der Spiegel](), he also feeds them. At least one former soldier will attest to the work of Blahyi's NGO, "Journeys Against Violence." Luke Barren [told Reuters]() that he earned his job as a mason because of Blahyi's effort. Other say Blahyi's whole enterprise [is a farce combined with a cash grab](). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wsYI5f1STY The former warlord walks free where Taylor is imprisoned because of jurisdictional rules in The Hague. The court can only prosecute war crimes committed after its founding in 2002. There was never a special tribunal for prosecuting war crimes in Liberia, as there was from Rwanda, Cambodia, and the former Yugoslavia. ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()