Haiti...we are about to make the same mistake again!!!

[mac2]

Link: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37316

"In 1994, President Clinton sent American troops to invade Haiti and force Aristide back on his people.

Despite all the Clinton rhetoric about "restoring democracy to Haiti," we did no such thing. You can't restore democracy with a two-bit dictator! We have cajoled, scolded bribed and negotiated with Aristide to try to get him to play the role of the president of a democratic country ... to no avail."

Now we are to do it again?

Fact is, they are still living in poverty for the corporations. This won't change with Bush going into Haiti.

How about sending in a UN force to keep the peace that the locals might trust?

[DS1]

1. It's the next Somalia, right out the Big Book of Bush Dirty Tricks

[Sugarbleus]

2. This is exactly what I'm thinking too, DS1

When are we going to stop forcing leadership on other countries???

[DS1]

3. It's not about forciing our leadership, imo

it's about leaving a hornet's nest for the next guy. Although Bush is starting this one much earlier than his daddy, in fact I think his daddy had already been defeated when he invaded Somalia.

[mac2]

4. It's Friday and ....

Bush is up to his "dirty tricks". He is going to send in three battleships and 2,000 troops.

He's in a hurry because people wanted the UN to come in. Same as Iraq...get in there first and pillage, kill, take over their resources,etc.

[mac2]

15. "Leadership"?

How about "tryanny" and "plundering"?

[Darranar]

5. Why do you think it is a mistake?

I'm pretty sure it's deliberate...

[Sugarbleus]

6. I just heard Conyers speak on radio. He said one of the

Problems Aristide has had is that he isn't/hasn't recieved any help from anywhere in terms of money.

No money, no help for the poor or anything else for that matter.

I just don't know what's going on exactly, but it seems that everytime we go in someplace to "help"..it eventually falls apart anyway.

I know that those poor people are really going through hell right now...Where's the UN on this one?

[Darranar]

7. I saw something about aid from Venezuela today...

I think it was posted on DU in LBN.

On edit: Here's a link. It was originally posted by bemildred in LBN.

Venezuela donates 1 million US dollars to Haiti

[eablair3]

11. please read the links below that I posted

those articles that I linked to are well worth the time reading them, if you are interested in what is going on in Haiti.

It's amazing that in the U.S. that we cannot get the truth at all from the mass media. We have to resort to the alternative media that is on the internet and the foreign media. The U.S. corporate mass media has just become a propaganda outlet for those in power and in control of the government.

[mac2]

12. Bush rules the world!! UN won't move without his permission

[mac2]

14. Bush did this on purpose.

He stopped the loans and rebuilding funds for Haiti...already approved,etc. There is/was a blockade of the island. There is a Bush led coup.

He wants chaos so he can fool the world community..that he is "liberating" them. Sound familiar?

[WiseMen]

8. This is B.S. Aristide won a monitored election by landslide. U.S. has

the Haitian media in its pocket and has been undermining the economy
since Bush came to power.

The U.S. been willing to spend hundreds of $billions to bring democracy to Iraq yet will not lift a finger to save it in Haiti (in fact is probably works to undermine democracy in its own back yard, whether in Venezuela or Haiti, when democratic rule does not serve its interest).

U.S. aid policy and covert support for the Haitian opposition and the disbanded military junta has brought Haitian democracy to the verge of total collapse with foreign armed terrorists delivering death to supporters of the elected government.

This bloody tragedy on our doorstep seems to leave the progressive forces and democratic leadership muted. Kerry has been the only one willing to vocally place blame at the feet of the Bush Regime and its religious and ideological hatred of the elected government of Aristide. The other candidates seem ambivalent, perhaps afraid of getting on the wrong side to the prevailing propaganda on the situation in Haiti.

But this is no time for ambivalence. Haitians on all sides are being killed while the U.S. stymies efforts to authorize a multinational peace-keeping force. Our candidates should be speaking out to save lives while there is still time.

Below: John Kerry’s call for intervention.


http://johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0226c.html

Statement from John Kerry Calling for Senator Bob Graham to be Named Special Envoy to Haiti


February 26, 2004

For Immediate Release


“Today I call on President Bush to appoint Senator Bob Graham as a Special Envoy to attempt to resolve the crisis in Haiti. Senator Graham has long been a leader in Florida and in the US Senate on foreign affairs. He knows the situation in Haiti extremely well, and knows the cost that widespread violence will cause not only in Haiti, but on our shores.

“The Bush Administration had only one hope for resolving the crisis in Haiti – an 11th hour proposal that has now been rejected by the opposition leaders. We must take further action now to support the rule of law in Haiti and prevent a widespread humanitarian crisis.
“Appointing Senator Graham as Special Envoy would demonstrate that our commitment to bringing peace, stability and respect for the rule of law to Haiti is genuine. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Colin Powell, former President Jimmy Carter and Senator Sam Nunn to Haiti to a high level delegation to restore democracy to Haiti. Recent events in Haiti have shown that it is past time for this Administration to take similar measures.

“Any Special Envoy will have their work cut out for them. The envoy needs to get the parties to agree on ending the political violence, as well as to address long-standing issues such as the release of political prisoners, and the need to rein in the paramilitaries in order to create the context where meaningful political dialogue can occur.

“I hope the President will take this opportunity to make use of Senator Graham’s extraordinary experience and skills to help us combat the downward spiral of civic violence in Haiti to avoid further loss of human life and further collapse of the Haitian political system.”

[eablair3]

9. Yes, ... the U.S. appears to be behind and is overthrowing democratic govt

TO the original poster in this thread: Do you really believe what you read in World Net Daily? That article was so biased and such a piece of propaganda.

Here's some sources for a different view than this type of propganda and corporate/elite media control - I trust these sources way more:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/25/1613200
The US lawyer representing the government of Haiti charged today that the US government is directly involved in a military coup attempt against the country's democratically elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Ira Kurzban, the Miami-based attorney who has served as General Counsel to the Haitian government since 1991, said that the paramilitaries fighting to overthrow Aristide are being backed by Washington.

lots more info here -

http://zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=54&ItemID=5043
Haiti - Insurrection in the Making - Feb 25, 2004

http://zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=54&ItemID=4977
Media vs. Reality in Haiti - Feb 13, 2004

US Congresswoman Maxine Waters issued a press release Feb. 11th, on the heels of her recent visit to Haiti, that called on the Bush administration to join her in condemning the “so-called opposition” and, specifically, Andre Apaid Jr., who is a “Duvalier supporter” that, along with his Group of 184, is “attempting to instigate a bloodbath in Haiti and then blame the government for the resulting disaster in the belief that the U.S. will aid the so-called protestors against President Aristide.” <5>

She also took aim at the World Bank and IMF and their “continuing embargo” , which amounts to hundreds of millions of desperately needed funds. Rep. Waters outlined the following positive measures that Aristide has initiated:

“Under his leadership, the Haitian government has made major investments in agriculture, public transportation and infrastructure…The government doubled the minimum wage from 36 to 70 gourdes per day, despite strong opposition from the business community…President Aristide has also made health care and education national priorities. More schools were built in Haiti between 1994 and 2000 than between 1804 and 1994. The government expanded school lunch and school bus programs and provides a 70% subsidy for schoolbooks and uniforms”

Rep. Waters made clear assertions on Aristide’s behalf that are otherwise absent from Bush administration commentary and corporate media deceptions regarding Haiti. Waters completed her statement with an important appeal, which called on the corporate media to “discontinue the practice of repeating rumours and innuendos,” whereby they function as “international megaphones for the opposition. They lie shamelessly on a daily basis.”

Another Congresswoman, Barbara Lee, directly challenged Colin Powell in a formal letter to him February 12th, after Powell had announced that the US administration is “not interested in regime change” in Haiti. Said Lee: “It appears that the US is aiding and abetting the attempt to violently topple the Aristide government. With all due respect, this looks like “regime change”…Our actions – or inaction – may be making things worse.”

Anyone ever question why the comments of Congresswomen Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee are not being reported at all in the corporate mass media?

_______________

more-

http://zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=54&ItemID=4996
The US Double Game in Haiti - Feb 16, 2004

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=54&ItemID=5045
Haiti's Lawyer: US Is Arming Anti-Aristide Paramilitaries, Calls For UN Peacekeepers - Feb 26, 2004

[eablair3]

10. Chomsky quoted in that one article

from the ariticle above linked - Chomsky is quoted as well:

http://zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=54&ItemID=4977


The logic of the State Department, according to COHA, sees Aristide as “little more than a ‘beardless Castro’”, who was despised by Jesse Helms, a tradition that is being carried on by his “ideological heirs” in the State Department, Roger Noriega and Otto Reich. We should recall that this sort of attitude was prominent over a decade ago, when Aristide was first elected President.

In 1991, Aristide was overthrown by the brutal paramilitary, led by former CIA employees Emmanuel Constant and Raoul Cedras. The massive influx of refugees fleeing Haiti from the brutal FRAPH paramilitary regime, in addition to a groundswell of domestic support for Haiti, forced Clinton to “restore democracy” to Haiti in 1994. Aristide, having his way cleared by US troops, returned to Haiti recognized internationally as its legitimate leader.

Aristide’s return was only made possible when he “embraced the Haitian bourgeoisie and accepted a U.S. occupation and Washington’s neoliberal agenda.” As Noam Chomsky has detailed, “The Aristide government to keep to a standard "structural adjustment" package, with foreign funds devoted primarily to debt repayment and the needs of the business sectors, and with an "open foreign investment policy."

snip

[mac2]

13. In a nut shell...corporate slavery of the residents.

[eablair3]

16. Repugs have wanted overthrow the Haitian govt for years

http://zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=54&ItemID=5043

What is the role of the US in Haiti? The US was the main supporter of the Duvalier dictatorship. In 1986, when Haiti's pro-democracy movement finally succeeded in overthrowing the hated dictator, he was ferried to safety by the Reagan Administration.

Only with the rise of Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president, did US support shift from the Haitian leadership to those who orchestrated the 1991 coup d'etat.

In 1994, public pressure and fear of an influx of Haitian 'boat people' led the Clinton Administration to reverse the coup d'etat and restore Aristide to power.

The Republican leadership strongly opposed the intervention. In 1995, when Republicans took control of Congress, they pushed to cancel US aid to Haiti and to finance the opposition by reallocating federal funds to Haitian non-governmental organizations opposed to Aristide.

In 2000, the Republicans exploited Haiti's electoral controversy as an opportunity to discredit Aristide. The Bush Administration pressured the Inter-American Development Bank to cancel more than $650 million in development assistance and approved loans to Haiti -- money that was slated to pay for safe drinking water, literacy programs and health services.

The seven contested senators are long gone, but the embargo remains in place, denying critical services to the poorest people in the hemisphere.

What is Aristide's record? The US allowed Aristide to be reinstated on the condition that he implement a neoliberal economic agenda.

Aristide complied with some US demands, including a reduction of tariffs on US-grown rice that bankrupted thousands of Haitian farmers and maintenance of a below- subsistence-level minimum wage.

But Aristide resisted privatizing state-owned resources, because of protests from his political base and because he was reluctant to relinquish control over these sources of wealth.

Aristide eventually doubled the minimum wage and -- despite the embargo -- prioritized education and healthcare: he built schools and renovated public hospitals; established new HIV-testing centers and doctor-training programs; and introduced a program to subsidize schoolbooks and uniforms and expand school lunch and bussing services.

Aristide has tried to walk a line between US demands for neoliberal reforms and his own commitment to a progressive economic agenda. As a result, he has lost favor with parts of his own political base and Haitian and US elites.

Aristide has also been criticized for turning a blind eye to human rights abuses committed by his supporters and by advocates of good governance for rewarding loyalists with government posts regardless of their qualifications. (a patronage system even more extensive than the one that has filled the Bush Administration with former CEOs and corporate lobbyists.)

So Should Progressives Support Aristide? The current crisis is not about supporting or opposing Aristide the man, but about defending constitutional democracy in Haiti. In a democracy, elections-and not vigilante violence-should be the measure of 'the will of the people.' Aristide has repeatedly invited the opposition to participate in elections and they have refused, knowing that they cannot win at the polls.

snip