US missionaries in Haiti charged with child abduction

[jannyk]

Source: BBC

Ten US missionaries have been charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy for trying to smuggle children out of quake-ravaged Haiti.

If convicted they face lengthy jail terms, says the BBC's Paul Adams at the court hearing in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.

The five men and five women, most of them from Idaho, were due to have a hearing earlier in the week, but that was postponed because of a lack of interpreters.

Haiti's Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive has labelled the Americans "kidnappers".

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8499401.stm

[Blue_Tires]

1. kidnappers AND exploitative profiteers

[opihimoimoi]

3. YUP....not a pretty picture.....foisted upon themselves with stoopid decisions/actions

If ya do the Crime. .. . Ya risk the TIME/NECK...old Chinese sayin

[DCBob]

2. Wow.. I guess ignorance is no excuse when it comes to child smuggling in Haiti..

Wonder what Pat Robertson will have to say? Is God punishing them for something?

[Blue_Tires]

10. I think 'ignorance' of the laws is their little cop-out excuse...

Trying to elicit sympathy is their only defense now...

It's looking more and more like these 'humanitarians' (well at least the leader) knew exactly what they were doing from the start (i.e., cash in on the world's generous mood by grabbing some random kids and starting a fly-by-night orphanage), and were hoping to sneak out across the border amidst the chaos...

Pat Robertson would fully approve -- See some of his diamond mines and other business interests in Africa, along with his very 'un-Christianlike' business partners over there...

[marshall]

26. At least two or three are teenagers recruited just a few days before leaving Idaho

All were charged because they all were there in "possession" of the children. I think it is likely that the ring-leader will get a heavy sentence, and the others will get varying lesser sentences based on their knowledge, collusion, and actions.

Thank goodness they were caught before they got the children out of the country, although what they expected to do with them without proper documentation I can't fathom. Now they can either be reunited with their families or placed in a legitimate orphanage and united with adoptive parents through an ethical program.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Good. Creepy-ass child snatchers. Recommend, dammit! n/t

[maddezmom]

5. 10 Americans Charged With Child Abduction and Conspiracy in Haiti, Jailed

Attorney Says US Baptists Charged in Child Case

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=9743534

[Subdivisions]

6. I think Silsby is the only one who knew exactly what was going on.

She told Kerry Sanders of MSNBC that she would "trust in the Lord" to handle the situation.

[LynneSin]

21. And the Lord did handle the situation! She was pissed too it seems

:D

[T Wolf]

7. Sentence the creeps to live and work in Haiti UNTIL the country has totally recovered.

That should keep them and their fundie bullshit busy while they actually do some good.

[truth2power]

8. Good! I hope they all get lengthy jail terms. n/t

[pbct]

23. I agree.

What these people did is wrong. A group of self-righteous Christian amateurs goes into a devastated country and takes children from their impoverished parents promising a better life. They have no orphanage set up. They have no paperwork. They have no website. Good intentions do not erase criminality and plain down right stupidity.

[New Dawn]

25. Agreed.

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. Boy, what were they thinking?

I can't imagine having to do jail time in a Haitian jail. Kind of like the idiots who try to smuggle dope in foreign countries.

[Blue_Tires]

11. They were betting on no one noticing...

Or that they could talk their way out of it at the border -- Amid all the confusion, what's one more bus full of 'aid workers' and 'orphans'?

[leftyladyfrommo]

13. I just can't imagine someone trying to do that.

And now they will all become martyrs. Saints trying to save children.

[Blue_Tires]

18. I think when all the facts are out, it will be revealed that

They were not saints, and trying to save children was never on their list -- No one acts that haphazardly and ignorantly to actually believe they could grab a bunch of kids and just take them to another country (and the mere fact that they were trying to escape to some not-yet-existing orphanage across the border is more imcriminating than anything)...

[Matariki]

17. I know a couple people who spent time in a Port-au-Prince jail

Not a good experience. In fact I believe it was quite nightmarish. The woman had it easier, but the guy had a very hard time. I think he had to buy his own food, and then fight to keep it.

[Posteritatis]

24. I imagine they were thinking they were divinely protected and thus above the law. (nt)

[TrogL]

27. End justifies the means - 10 souls saved

[Orrex]

12. Watch the media try to spin this as a diplomatic matter for Obama to overcome

Instead of the quite correct jailing of international child traffickers.


Kudos to Haiti for following through!

[leftyladyfrommo]

15. I'll bet Hilary could just shoot those people. n/t

[katty]

14. good, kidnapping, exploitation and a-hole arrogance!

glad these god-squad nuts are getting a wakeup call to reality!

[LynneSin]

16. Wouldn't you know it - there is a God and I'm guessing he's pissed too

The things people do in his name is shameful!

[louis-t]

19. Waiting for the teabagger outrage....

"Remember Terry Schiavo!11!!1, what about the childrrrreennenenenn"

[COLGATE4]

20. Landover Baptist (for those of you who know the site)

already has a wonderful take-off on this. Like all good humor, it is more than just a little truthful. Don't miss it if you haven't seen it.

[Autonomy]

22. They're from Idaho, no surprise there

No offense to Idahoans on DU, but there are a lot of right-wing nuts in that 'world apart'.

[unkachuck]

28. and I love....

....the way that most corporate media portrays this self-righteous group of would-be kidnappers as being misunderstood god-fearing helpless victims while demonstrating little concern for the possible fate of the innocent children involved....