Jan Schakowsky responds to Chicago Tribune editorial

[Cocoa]

about Haiti...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-0403110130mar11,1,1016388.story?coll=chi-newsopinionvoice-hed

This is regarding "Helping Haiti heal" (Editorial, March 2). I couldn't agree more with the portion of your editorial that says it's time for the international community, including the United States, "to commit to fixing Haiti, and to stay engaged until the task is accomplished."

But the Tribune's contemptuous attitude toward those of us in Congress who dare to question the Bush administration's role in the Haitian coup is hard to understand. The Tribune may want to dismiss out of hand, without any investigation whatsoever, the possibility that the administration removed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide against his will. But one would think, after Secretary of State Colin Powell's United Nations testimony on weapons of mass destruction, that a closer look at the evidence might be reasonable.
Powell clearly stated that the U.S. was not seeking the removal of Aristide. On Feb. 21, Aristide agreed to a power-sharing proposal made by CARICOM, the United States and France. It was the opposition, led by former death squad leaders, convicted murderers and drug dealers--referred to as "rebels" by the Tribune--that said no, not once, but twice. They wanted nothing less than Aristide out--dead or alive.

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Here's the original editorial
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0403020051mar02,1,6102696.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed
<snip>
And the response in the U.S.? Some Democratic members of Congress rushed in to claim that the Bush administration had staged a coup. The besieged, disgraced Aristide had told them he had been removed by force, and that was good enough for them. They want an investigation.

Around the world, all but Aristide's most loyal supporters understood that he would have to depart or Haiti would be destined for terrible bloodshed. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that Aristide decided to resign, he was provided safe passage, he certainly was not forced to depart.

The naysayers can scream about a "coup." The rest of the world can regard all this with great relief. Now the time is here to do a job in Haiti--to build a democracy--that Aristide couldn't or wouldn't do.
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[IrateCitizen]

1. Jan is DEFINITELY one of the good ones out there!

John Nichols described her as "the person best carrying on the legacy of the late Paul Wellstone."

She's EXTREMELY politically-savvy, she's a fighter, and she doesn't back down. She's the kind of person who, probably moreso than Dennis Kucinich I'm sad to say, represents the possibility of a real, bona-fide progressive movement within the Democratic Party.