by The Daily Misleader –
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1208427&l=20234
THE DAILY MIS-LEAD:
Bush Hides White House’s Complicity in Haiti
President Bush and his Administration this week “denied [they] encouraged rebel Haitian forces and helped push President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power.”
However, while Bush said we need a “renewed commitment to democracy and freedom in this hemisphere,” a careful look at the White House’s behavior shows that the Administration actively took the side of an armed band of “death-squad veterans and convicted murderers” against a government that had been democratically elected three times.
While Secretary of State Colin Powell initially rebuked the rebels and rejected “a proposition that says the elected president [of Haiti] must be forced out of office by thugs,” the Administration soon said a solution in Haiti “could indeed involve changes in Aristide’s position.”
Then the White House issued a “harsh statement that placed much of the blame on the Haitian president for the deadly crisis” and refused to help defend the presidential palace, effectively forcing Aristide out.
The White House Was Compicit in the Haiti Coup
Militarily, the Administration’s complicity in the coup was even more obvious. As armed gangs surrounded the Haitian capital, Powell made clear that “there is frankly no enthusiasm” for “sending in military or police forces to put down the violence” — a signal to the rebels to continue their insurgency.
This alone might not have been proof of complicity considering it was a reiteration of the president’s clear position that intervention in Haiti was not a “worthwhile” mission because it was “a nation-building mission” that “cost us billions.” But then, at almost the moment Aristide was deposed, the President reversed his hands-off Haiti policy and ordered 2,000 US Marines to secure the island.
Now, with exiled Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier planning a return to the island, the Administration is facing questions about why it supported the overthrow of a government that even Vice President Cheney admitted yesterday was “democratically elected.”
Though Aristide certainly had a problematic record, the Administration’s policies could result in the restoration of an exiled dictator “accused of human rights violations, mass killings and stealing at least $120 million from Haiti’s national treasury.”
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• Urgent Alert: US Led Coup in Haiti?
Ira Kurzban, the lawyer who represents President Jean Bertrand Aristide has announced that he had just learned that the Central African Republic (CAR) has shut off President Aristide’s phone service. He said that armed members of the French and CAR military are guarding President Aristide and he is not free to leave.
While there are many conflicting reports coming out of Haiti and Central Africa, the only way we will be able to determine the truth is open communications and immediate investigations.
Send an Email to your congressperson calling for the following:
• President Aristide should be given full access to the media and telephone communications restored.
• President Aristide should be free to return to his country; otherwise it is clear that this was a coup orchestrated by the United States and France.
• An immediate Congressional investigation should commence to determine the role that the U.S. played, directly and/or indirectly in Aristide’s removal from power, and in supporting the civilian and military opposition movement and the terrorist thugs who now rule Haiti by force.
• A multilateral force, not controlled by the U.S. (nor including the US), should be deployed to guarantee President Aristide’s safe return, to stabilize the situation and immediately disarm the military opposition so Haiti can return to constitutional rule.
• The Bush administration should commit to an emergency economic development package to rebuild the Haitian infrastructure and should encourage international monetary institutions to do likewise without the onerous conditions usually imposed.
• Free and fair democratic elections should be permitted without the interference of the U.S. or its allies when President Aristide’s term of office has ended in 2006.
• One standard of treatment for all refugees should be in place. Haitian refugees should receive admission to the U.S. and be supported during this period of crisis.
• Rescind President Bush’s unprecedented directive to the U.S. Marines to thwart all efforts of Haitian asylum seekers to reach our shores.
• Initiate impeachment proceedings for George W. Bush’s flagrant violation of international law.
To Email your Senators and Congressional Reps with one click:
click here
Note: For reports on Haiti go to:http://www.truthout.org
