Uncovering Haiti's Hidden History: Questions Linger about Washington's Involvement

[magbana]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/main/print/4308/

IN THESE TIMES

This article is permanently archived at:

http://www.inthesetimes.com/main/article/4308/

Uncovering Haiti’s Hidden History

More than four years after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide went into exile, questions linger about Washington's involvement.

By Judith Scherr March 25, 2009


A congressional bill that would create a truth commission to explore the U.S. role in the 2004 regime change in Haiti is languishing in the House Foreign Affairs Committee with only 12 co-sponsors. But Rep.

Barbara Lee's (D-Calif.) H.R. 331 has sparked hope among some Haitians who think the bill might pass under a friendly Obama administration and bring needed change to the indebted island nation.



Lee introduced the bill Jan. 8 without fanfare. She has brought the same bill to the U.S. House almost every year since 2004. It has never advanced out of committee.



The commission's task would be to determine what happened on Feb. 29, 2004, and the months leading up to the removal of Haiti's President Jean Bertrand Aristide, currently exiled in South Africa.



The official U.S. position goes something like this: In February 2004, an armed militia was poised to take over the capital, Port-au-Prince.

To avoid a bloodbath, Aristide called on the Americans to airlift him and his wife to safety.



Aristide "left the country with our assistance, which he requested,"

Mari Tolliver, spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, told In These Times in August. (Karl Duckworth, spokesperson for the State Department, said that he could not comment on the U.S. role in Aristide's departure, as the Obama State Department is doing a "complete evaluation of all the areas to see where we will be on

issues.")



Aristide tells a different story. He says that a rag-tag band of some 200 rebels strong-armed poorly equipped police stations in several Haitian towns, but posed no threat to the capital, the president or the central government. Aristide says American officials forced him to board a plane whose destination was unknown.



Congress has only once formally addressed the question of the U.S.

role in the coup. On March 3, 2004, the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee held a hearing, providing the opportunity for Congress to question State Department officials. Those testifying were not under oath; there were no follow-up hearings.



The week following the hearing, Lee introduced her bill on the House floor, explaining that the purpose of the truth commission was to "find out more about the events leading up to President Aristide's departure, the twilight activities of his alleged resignation, the current unconstitutional government, and the ongoing turmoil, fear, and misinformation that is still flowing out of Haiti."



In 2004, 49 representatives co-sponsored the bill.



Nicole Lee, executive director of Washington, D.C.-based TransAfrica Forum, an advocacy group, is an attorney who, before the coup, lived in Haiti. Lee (no relation to the congresswoman) says one of the key functions of the commission would be to document the role of the International Republican Institute (IRI) in destabilizing the Haitian government. The nonprofit IRI is affiliated with the Republican Party and funded, in part, by the nonprofit National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which Congress partially funds "to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts,"

according to the NED website.



"The International Republican Institute all along really fomented a lot of tension between the Democratic Convergence and the government," says Lee. "There were reports--and continue to be reports--that the IRI provided information and also provided funding and training to former Haitian military officials that ended up coming across the border with the Dominican Republic"

leading to the February 2004 coup, she says.



Unless the truth about the coup is uncovered, Congress will write off the Bush policy of regime change as an anomaly, says Lee.



Meanwhile, the proposed bill has elicited response in Haiti. From exile, Aristide referenced the bill in a statement read recently on the radio by a representative: Lee's bill leads us to believe that the new American administration will not support the coup d'état as was the case for the previous administration, the statement said.



Yvonne Zapzap heads the Families of Political Prisoners Collective and spoke by phone from Haiti through a translator. She says Haitians are aware of the bill and believe a truth commission would help end the lingering effects of the coup.



People voted for Préval so that the political prisoners would be out of jail, but people are still in jail, she says, referring to supporters imprisoned without trial during the 2004 to 2006 U.S.-appointed interim government. The impacts of the coup are still present since Aristide was snatched from Haiti, she says.



TransAfrica Forum's Lee puts it this way: "When Aristide was removed, water projects stopped, education projects stopped, healthcare clinics shut down. It wasn't just about removing a leader, it was about destroying a real democracy. And that really needs to be accounted for."



Judith Scherr is an independent journalist who has made four trips to Haiti. Her stories about that country have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Counterpunch, Z Magazine, the Berkeley Daily Planet, The Progressive magazine and the San Francisco Bay View, among others.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Good news, with luck. Don't know how many real Democrats can be counted on to take a stand now.

Barbara Lee was the only one in the House to vote against _Bush's plan to slaughter Iraqi people. She has courage to spare, but I don't know if she can get vote-seeking Congressmen to pull themselves together and do the right thing now on a filthy act of vicious, dirty evil against the elected President of Haiti by _{George W. Bush.}

DU'er Tinoire who left DU some time ago had so many friends waiting and watching and researching with her as we saw the overthrow coming, and the desperate efforts being made to keep him from pulling it off. Tinoire has relatives there still.

The world just let it happen, as if it were a righteous, legitimate event when everyone knew so much differently. His filthy father removed Aristide, as well. They were powerful enough to do it, so they stuck their slimy buttinsky noses right into the government of a small country where they had NO BUSINESS whatsoever. Bullies, scum operated our nation's foreign policy.

If we have enough moral, courageous Democrats to stand with this bill, something will be done, and it should have been done years ago, had murderous power-mad idiots not been driving our nation's policy at the time.

It may take more years, but Barbara Lee's name is going to be respected and remembered long after the names of perverts, thieves and crooks from the Republican Congressmembers have been forgotten.

[Bacchus39]

2. no, Barbara Lee was the only vote against Afganistan. thanks again Miss Information n/t

s

[EFerrari]

5. I miss Tinoire. She was wonderful.

:(

[EFerrari]

3. I seem to remember from that Paul Robinson interview on Charlie Rose

that Robinson and someone else (Lee?) helped Aristide escape assasination and seek asylum?

[Judi Lynn]

6. Didn't know. I'll keep an eye out for anything on that. Here's something you might find interesting.

I started to look around for more on Robinson, Lee, and Aristide, and ran across this news from 2003:

February 7, 2003: Minimum Wage again Doubled in Haiti
During a rally celebrating the anniversary of his first inauguration in 1990, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide announces that his government is doubling the minimum wage from 36 to 70 gourdes (or about $1.60) a day, despite the strong disapproval of Haiti’s business elites. {Office of Representative Maxine Waters, 2/18/2004; CIS Resource Information Center, 9/20/2005} This marks the second time since his return to office in 1994 that he has doubled the minimum wage (see May 4, 1995).

~~~~~~~~~
April 23, 2003: Attorney General Claims Haiti Is Staging Point for Travel to US; No Evidence Offered to Back Up Claim Attorney General John Ashcroft states that US authorities have “noticed an increase in third country nations (Pakistanis, Palestinians, etc.) using Haiti as a staging point for attempted migration to the United States. This increases the national security interest in curing use of this migration route.”

~~~~~~~~~
April 28, 2003: Organization of American States Reportedly Demanding Removal of Aristide The Haitian Press Agency (AHP) reports that diplomats at the Organization of American States are openly circulating demands for the removal of Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. “One document’s author suggested that it would be best if the situation kept deteriorating, saying that any aid should be blocked until 2005 in order to eliminate the party in power, Fanmi Lavalas , which will be of no help to the population, according to him.” Though the news report does not provide any names, one possible source for the remarks is Roger Noriega, the US permanent representative to the Organization of American States. Noriega is a known critic of Aristide.

~~~~~~~~~
Early May 2003: US Trained Rebels Attack Power Plant in Haiti A group of at least 20 paramilitary soldiers—trained and funded by the US (see (2001-2004)) —cross into Haiti from the neighboring Dominican Republic and attack a hydroelectric power plant on Haiti’s central plateau. Shortly after the attack, Dominican authorities, at the behest of the Haitian government, arrest five men, including Guy Philippe, in connection with the paramilitary operation. But they are quickly released by the Dominicans who say there is no evidence of their involvement in the attack. Philippe is interviewed by the Associated Press afterwards and asked what he is doing in the Dominican. Philippe, who mentions to the reporter that he would support a coup against Aristide, refuses to “say how he makes a living or what he does to spend his time in the Dominican Republic.” Less than one year later, Philippe will participate in the overthrow of the Aristide government. On the same day the five men are detained, Haitian authorities raid the Port-au-Prince residence of mayoral candidate Judith Roy of the Democratic Convergence opposition. The Haitians claim to find “assault weapons, ammunitions, and plans to attack the National Palace and Aristide’s suburban residence.” The Haitian government contends that Roy is close to Philippe.

~~~~~~~~~
May 6, 2003: Five Haitian Coup Plotters Arrested, Indicating Presence of Contra-Like Rebels in Dominican Republic Dominican police arrest five Haitians, including Arcelin Paul, the official Democratic Convergence representative in the Dominican Republic, who they believe are plotting the overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s government. Also at this time, there is a US build-up along the Dominican border, where “900 US soldiers patrol jointly with the Dominican army, whom they have armed with 20,000 M16s.” Ben Dupuy, general secretary of the left-wing party PPN, tells the left-wing Haiti Progres, “There is no doubt these guys are true terrorists working with the CIA under Dominican protection.” Documentary filmmaker Kevin Pina, who has been covering Haiti for over a decade, calls this the “US funding of the Haitian ‘Contras.’” A September 2003 article in the magazine, Dollars and Sense, will comment: “Whatever we call them, there is an organized and well-funded armed group with ties to the Convergence, based in the Dominican Republic, which aims to overthrow the Aristide government. The Bush administration’s support for the Convergence and its refusal to denounce this violence, as well as the US military presence along the border, through which the ‘Manman’ army easily travels, clearly implicates the United States in this aim.”

~~~~~~~~~
~snip~
July 2003: Haiti Uses Almost All Foreign Reserves to Pay Off Foreign Debt Haiti uses more than 90 percent of its foreign reserves to pay $32 million in debt service to its international creditors, requiring Aristide’s government to end fuel subsidies and slash spending on health and education programs. Haiti’s debt is of dubious legality, however, as the London-based Haiti Support Group explains: “Haiti’s debt to international financial institutions and foreign governments has grown from $302 million in 1980 to $1.134 billion today. About 40 per cent of this debt stems from loans to the brutal Duvalier dictators, who invested precious little of it in the country. This is known as ‘odious debt’ because it was used to oppress the people, and, according to international law, this debt need not be repaid.” The debt payment increases public dissatisfaction with Aristide’s administration.

~~~~~~~~~
~snip~
January 2004: Haitian Legislature Lapses The terms of all Haitian legislators elected in 2000 expire. The Democratic Convergence refuses to allow new congressional elections, so Haiti at this time no longer has a legislature.

~~~~~~~~~
January 1, 2004: First Investment Bank Launched in Haiti; Some Shareholders Have Dubious Pasts Seventy wealthy Haitians and Haitian-Americans officially launch Haiti’s first investment bank, PromoCapital. The bank, a 50/50 joint-venture between Haitian and US shareholders, consists of two institutions: PromoCapital Haiti, SA—incorporated in Haiti as a “Societe Financiere de Developpement” —and PromoCapital USA, Inc,—a corporation registered in the state of Delaware. The bank’s headquarters are in Petionville, Haiti with representative offices in Washington, DC, and Aventura, Florida. Its founder, Dumarsais Simeus, who owns a large food-processing business in Texas, says the bank’s investors hope to see annual returns on their investment in the mid- or high teens. He is also the chair of PromoCapital USA. Henri Deschamps, a prominent Port-au-Prince printing and media executive, is the chairman of PromoCapital Haiti. Of the 70 names included on the list of PromoCapital shareholders, nine—Frederic Madsen, Gilbert Bigio, Gregory Brandt, Marc-Antoine Acra, Monique Bigio, Olivier Acra, Ronald Georges, Reuven Bigi, and Sebastien Acra—appear on a US Treasury Department list of people and organizations whose assets had been blocked by the US Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control under the Clinton Administration, until 1994. And one of them, Hans Tippenhauer, had told The Washington Post on February 23 that the Haitians had enthusiastically greeted the paramilitary rebel forces as “freedom fighters.”

~~~~~~~~~
February 4, 2004: Rebels Occupy Cities in Northern Haiti Rebels take over cities in northern Haiti and move towards Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, overrunning President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s local police forces and vowing to overthrow him. The rebels include various factions. The leading groups are led by Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a convicted murderer and former death squad leader under “Baby Doc” Duvalier, and Guy Philippe, also a known human rights violator.

~~~~~~~~~
February 18, 2004: Powell Says US WIll Not Protection Haitian Government against Rebels US Secretary of State Colin Powell states the US has “no enthusiasm” for sending troops to protect Haiti’s government from the approaching rebel forces.

~~~~~~~~~
Late February 2004: Haitian Rebel Expresses Admiration for Pinochet and Reagan Guy Philippe tells the Miami Herald during an interview conducted in Cap Haitein, Haiti, that the man he admires most is former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet. “Pinochet made Chile what it is,” the 35-year-old rebel says. Philippe adds that US President Ronald Reagan is his next favorite.

~~~~~~~~~
February 28, 2004: White House Blocks Additional Private Security for Aristide Shortly before his ouster, Aristide contacts the US firm that provides his security, the San Francisco-based Steele Foundation, and asks for additional guards. The company—made up of former US Special Forces soldiers, intelligence officers, and other security experts—has been providing Haiti with its security services since 1998. Haiti’s contract with the firm is approved by the US State Department. But Aristide’s last minute attempt to increase his security is blocked by the White House. According to news reports, the Steele Foundation asks the US embassy in Port-au-Prince if it can rely on American protection in the event that the rebels arrive at the presidential palace. The Steele Foundation is told that no such protection would be provided. The company had earlier helped repel attacks against the presidential palace from paramilitary groups in December 2001.

~~~~~~~~~
February 28, 2004: US Delays Extra Protection for Aristide US officials delay a small group of additional bodyguards from the Steele Foundation on their way to Haiti.

~~~~~~~~~
February 28, 2004: Powell Says US Will not Protect Aristide US Secretary of State Colin Powell calls former US Congressman Ron Dellums, who is working for Aristide as a Washington lobbyist, and warns him that the United States will not protect Aristide from the rebels.

~~~~~~~~~
February 28, 2004-March 1, 2004: Aristide Leaves Haiti for Africa, Circumstances in Dispute Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is escorted on a US-charted jet to the Central African Republic. The details of this event are disputed.
US' version of events - Aristide contacts US ambassador James Foley on the night of January 28 and asks him three questions: “What did he think would be best for Haiti? Would the United States guarantee his protection? And could he choose his destination for exile?” At 11pm, Ambassador Foley informs Aristide that the United States can ensure his safe departure if he decides to resign and adds that this is what the Bush administration feels he should do. Aristide and his American wife decide that they will accept the American offer. Later in the night, Foley attempts to email the president but Aristide’s computer has already been packed. Some time after midnight, Ambassador Foley telephones the US Embassy’s second-ranking officer in Port-au-Prince, Luis Moreno, and asks that he escort Aristide and his wife to the airport. Shortly after 4 am, US Diplomat Luis Moreno arrives at the gates of Aristide’s residence in the suburb of Tabarre with a fellow US diplomat and six State Department security officers. Inside Aristide’s house the lights are on. Aristide meets Moreno at the door with his suitcases packed. “You know why I’m here,” Moreno says in Spanish. “Yes, of course,” Aristide is quoted as saying in response. Moreno asks Aristide for a resignation letter and Aristide promises to give one to him before he leaves the island. “You have my word and you know my word is good,” Aristide is quoted as saying. They then travel to the airport in separate vehicles, without any further conversation. They arrive at the airport and about 20 minutes before the plane arrives, Moreno again asks for the letter. Aristide provides the letter and then the two converse for the next few minutes. “I expressed sadness that I was here to watch him leave,” Moreno later tells The Washington Post. “Sometimes life is like that,” Aristide responds. “Then I shook his hand and he went away.” A US-charted commercial plane arrives in Port-au-Prince at approximately 4:30am. US authorities do not force Aristide onto the leased plane. He goes willingly. At 6:15am, the plane departs. “He was not kidnapped. We did not force him on to the airplane. He went onto the airplane willingly, and that’s the truth,” Secretary of State Colin Powell claims. “The allegations that somehow we kidnapped former President Aristide are absolutely baseless, absurd.”

Aristide's version of events - US soldiers arrive at Aristide’s residence and order the president not to use any phones and to come with them immediately. Aristide, his wife Mildred and his brother-in-law are taken at gunpoint to the airport. Aristide is warned by US diplomat Luis Moreno that if he does not leave Haiti, thousands of Haitians would likely die and rebel leader Guy Philippe would probably attack the palace and kill him. Moreover, the US warns Aristide that they are withdrawing his US-provided security. Aristide composes and signs a letter explaining his departure. The president, his wife, and his brother-in-law board a commercial jet charted by the US government. His own security forces are also taken and directed to a separate section of the plane. During the flight, Aristide and his wife remain in the company of soldiers. The shades on the windows of the plane are kept down. Soldiers tell him they are under orders not to tell him where he is going. The plane stops first in Antigua, where it stays on the ground for two hours, and then flies for six hours across the Atlantic to the Central African Republic. Aristide is unable to communicate with anyone on the ground during the entire 20-hour period he is on the plane because it is presumably not equipped with a telephone. Shortly before touchdown, Aristide is informed that the destination is the Central African Republic. Upon arrival, Aristide is escorted to the “Palace of the Renaissance,” where he makes one phone call to his mother in Florida and her brother. He is provided a room with a balcony, but is not permitted to move around, and he remains in the company of soldiers. His phone is taken away by African authorities and he is not provided a replacement or a landline. On the morning of March 1, he contacts US Congresswomen Maxine Waters and family friend Randall Robinson with a cell phone that is smuggled to him.(see March 1, 2004) In an interview with CNN, he says he considers the events a “coup d’etat” and a “modern” version of kidnapping.

Joseph Pierre's version of events - According to Joseph Pierre, a concierge at Aristide’s residence, whose account is reported in the French newspaper Lib�ration, Aristide is taken away early Sunday morning by US soldiers. “White Americans came by helicopter to get him. They also took his bodyguards. It was around two o’clock in the morning. He didn’t want to leave. The American soldiers forced him to. Because they were pointing guns at him, he had to follow them. The Americans are second only to God in terms of strength.”

http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=the_2004_removal_of_jean-bertrand_aristide

~~~~~~~~~
Unbelievable, isn't it?

I'd like to know more about this plan to kill him. It would surely resemble so many other events we've heard of already. I'll bet John Perkins, Economic Hitman knows a lot about it!

[EFerrari]

7. The little that I remember is that Robinson went to fetch him (ETA: Link!)

where he was in danger of assasination. Robinson had someone else with him, an American woman but I can't remember who. Colin Powell is a filthy criminal and a disgrace to America.

Omg -- I think this is the interview. And I apologize for calling Robinson "Paul". Don't know where I got that. :crazy:

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8852

[Judi Lynn]

8. Great interview. Just finished listening. Randall Robinson is a tremendous speaker.

I've seen him around, didn't know much about him.

Really appreciate the background on Haiti. I had no idea Haiti was THAT vital to France at one time. They were depending hugely on slave trade, weren't they? Good god. I didn't know, f'r instance, France also enlisted England to send forces to fight against the Haitians in the 12 1/2 yr. war.

Can you imagine how much endurance it took the people of Haiti to continue to protect themselves for that long against forces from TWO COUNTRIES?

I appreciate every word I heard from Randall Roberts about this. Hoping many, MANY people heard it originally, and will, on rerun, in the future.

Already saved it for files. Thanks for locating it.

[magbana]

9. The delegation that went to get Aristide in Bangui, Central African Republic

consisted of Randall Robinson, Maxine Waters,and Sharon Hay-Webster, a member of the Jamaican parliament. Hay-Webster was sent as an official emissary of Prime Minister JP Patterson to help arrangeme for Aristide to go into exile in Jamaica. Ultimately, the US decided that Jamaica was way too close to Haiti and the US was concerned that Aristide might stage a comeback. Through enormous pressure (read threatening to negate international loans to Jamaica and other countries in the region) applied by Condi Rice, Aristide was "banned" from the Western Hemisphere and then sent to South Africa.

[EFerrari]

10. Thanks, magbana.

This is the abusive cr@p that Hugo Chavez talks about in public and why they want to snuff him.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Thanks. What a damned shame. Figures. On a lesser note, but similar, reminds me of what Bush did

to force Bermuda to back out of an agreement to sell Cuba its buses it was planning to replace, since they've had trouble getting buses to move people around.

Roger Noriega from the State Department put intense pressure on them with threats and they backed right out of the arrangement and left Cuba screwed for new transportation. They eventually came up with something later, but only after a lot of trouble, and time.

It's a shame they chose to impose their dirty threats on Jamaica, a real, ugly shame.

Shows you how much they REALLY believe in democracy, doesn't it? As soon as they ever get the indisputable upper hand here, you know what their next step will be: all the crap they accuse their "enemies" of doing.

[EFerrari]

12. Watching the interview again and getting furious all over again.

Powell LIED to Aristide and Rice threatened Jamaica.

No wonder the United States is hated all over the world. The only remarkable thing about 9/11 is that it took so long to happen.

[Bacchus39]

4. lets also recall that the Congressional Black Caucus demanded that the US

"do something" about Haiti. the invasion in the 1990's under Clinton was pushed by the CBC. Under Bush, they went to the White House, uninvited, and demanded to see Bush. Bush sent in troops but the result wasn't as envisioned by the CBC or Aristide.

I am pretty certain that first a small contingent of marines was sent to protect the embassy before the larger force landed, and Aristide asked if those soldiers were going to "protect Aristide". the answer was no.


while military action under Bush didn't go down as envisioned, the CBC did in fact demand military intervention on both occasions.

[magbana]

13. The congressional black caucus wanted Aristide returned to

Haiti so he could finish his term in office. If he wasn't there to finish his term, the next election would not take place, just a continuing military dictatorship.

Even though it was the US who pulled a coup on Aristide in Sept. 1991 (US Marines were in the Haitian police barracks as the coup was unfolding), the US was desperate to get him back in 1994. Why? All hell was breaking loose in Haiti. In addition, to international human rights orgs. beginning to blow open the atrocities committed by the Haitian army in the slaughter of well over 5,000 Aristide followers,a little drug war in Colombia was stirring up trouble in Haiti which was often used as a drug transhipment point. As the Medellin cartel was disappearing and the Cali cartel began to rise, the violence rose to insane heights in Haiti. Even if Aristide had not been a factor, the US would have had to go in anyway to "manage" the out of control Haitian army and its sloppy management of the drug transhipments. The guy that the US installed as head of the government, Raoul Cedras,had gotten careless and very greedy. The US was worried about "loose lips" and could not afford to have its part in the drug running revealed.

As for the US Marines in 2004, yes, a small contingent was guarding the US Embassy. but a far larger force was already on the ground, along with a large contingent of French, Canadian, and Chilean soldiers. As the next prez was being sworn in within hours of Aristide's forced departure, these soldiers were out in full force WITH TANKS.

Aristide knew what was up: the US-trained "rebels," headed up by Guy Philippe, were nowhere near Port-au-Prince and only numbered around 200; the US was quite capable of a coup, after all the US had been destabilizing Haiti for the previous 4 years; and the people of Haiti would cream the "rebels" if they set a toe in P-au-P. When Colin Powell called former congressman Ron Dellums to be his errand boy and communicate to Aristide that "Guy Philippe is coming to kill you and we will not protect you," Aristide knew this was bluster.

But, he could not fight the Special Forces who surrounded his house and the Deputy Ambassador Luis Moreno who told him he had to leave. BTW, Moreno was in telephone contact with Philippe on the final day, telling him not to bother coming any closer to P-au-P, because "we," (meaning the US) had it "covered from here."

Now, the million dollar question: why didn't the US allow Philippe to send a few of his men into P-au=P so that a few news cameras could "prove" that this was a "popular" rebellion? Philippe could have been in range of P-au-P within two or three days. No, the coup had to take place on February 29 BECAUSE the South Africans had sent a shipload of arms to Aristide and the ship was due to arrive on March 1. For thirteen years, the US maintained an arms embargo on the Haitian gov't. and at the time of the coup, the Haitian police were woefully unequipped. Of course, the US lifted the arms embargo for the illegal government it installed after Aristide -- it came in handy in the slaughter of over 10,000 Haitians.

[Bacchus39]

14. no, the first contingent of marines went to protect the embassy

yes, there are ALWAYS a small contingent at embassies worldwide, but Bush sent in the first group to secure the embassy. I recall reports that Aristide asked if the marines were going to be sent to protect him as well. the answer was no. The US sent in the troops, in large part, at the behest of the CBC.



I would like to see verification that the rebels were not anywhere near Port-au-Prince. also, that there was a "far larger force (US)" and a "large contingent of French, Canadian, and Chilean soldiers" on the ground already. If that was the case there would have been little reason to send in more US troops. the larger forces came in after the initial small force went in to secure the embassy.

Also, if the rebels numbered only 200 why wasn't Aristide able to muster control of the country?????????? where was his army and police? he lost control of the country to 200 people you are telling me?

so are you saying the CBC conspired with Bush to overthrow Aristide??? there is a glaring contradiction there. what infuriated the CBC was that the forces were not to be used to protect Aristide

that being said, I have no problem with Aristide returning to Haiti to run for office or whatever. good luck!!

[Judi Lynn]

15. Sure glad you reminded us of this important aspect of the timing, magbana. Horrendous.

I had forgotten for a while, but surely heard it over and over a few years ago. All efforts were made to keep the information about the arms shipment swept under the rug by the corporate media, of course. They were definitely doing what they're paid to do.

Thanks for bringing it back to consciousness for the sober ones among us.