Haitian Plea For Help

So much for Peacekeeping. The soldiers there wear blue berets. The People of Canada wanted us out, they got South American troops. An example of UN at work.

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27 in the military, 9 tours.

""The People of Canada wanted us out, they got South American troops. An example of UN at work.""

In Truth!
that is how it works?
the canadian people wanted the canadian militaty out of Hiati so the UN obliged?
neet!
27/9 eh?


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Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding.
Ezra Pound

Armyguy,

Does the UN train Canadian peackeepers or does Canada train them?

Is it just UN peacekeepers that rape the local women or would the "scumbag" killing soldiers ever do that too?

Do the "scumbag" killing soldiers ever rape their female counterparts?

What makes some men rape women?

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"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." Friedrich Nietzsche

UN doesn't train peacekeepers, each country trains their own. But when Canadians were there, there was less crime.

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27 in the military, 9 tours.

We should never have left Haiti. Our deployment dropped back in 2004 from 450 down to the current level of 5 staff officers. Plus the mounties who are/were there to oversee the elections and train the national cops. We should stop the practice of contracting out peacekeeping/peacemaking duties to the third world.<br />
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Of course, according to some who frequent this site, we were complicit in deposing the previous president. Which, if true and seeing as how we among other friendly nations were tasked with overseeing the elections, is strange that we allowed a similar themed administration to take power. One that may even allow the deposed to return. One would think that if we (and the US, etc...) had the power to depose one president we should be able to install another that is more closely aligned with their agenda especially seeing how the ballots were close. <br />
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As for the article's juxtaposition of Hati and Bosnia, they are not the same thing. Rape and murder is always tragic, but Bosnia had much more in common with Rwanda than Haiti. Rape as a tool of power by brutish thugs in the police, foreign troops or domestic militia is not ethic cleansing. That this woman and her family were raped by police, while tragic, is not on the same scale as Sbrencia. There is no ethnic cleansig going on in Haiti. To my knowledge, the warring groups are separated more by political affiliation and a lust for power and control than any discerning ethnic background.<br />
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And with all due respect to the young girl stopped and indecently searched by Jordanian troops, the article says that it is preposterous that she could be involved or armed due to her age of 12. So now there is an age limit to arming children in the 3rd world? I can understand trying to bring these crimes to light, but the arguement of age is weak. <br />
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"In Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, armed gangs recruit children as “soldiers”. They can begin as messengers or lookouts, lured with money and food. Then they are drawn into escalating acts of violence or risk beatings or worse."<br />
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<a href="http://www.yele.org/projects/child-soldiers.html">http://www.yele.org/projects/child-soldiers.html</a><br />
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That this child was then raped by men purported to be police is again, tragic, and should be punished... but so long as a chaotic situation exists within the capital where armed gangs control different blocks and the police only control specific territory, abuses of power will continue especially where the only respected power is that of a gun. <br />
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We had an opportunity to make real change in Haiti, and we are abandoning that country. We should go back with the military, and the RCMP and the diplomats and whatever NGO's we can get on board and do the job right. Or we'll be going back after another bloody insurrection in a couple of years. Until that is done, murder, rape and the power of the gun will continue to rule Haiti.

War, crime, which includes rape, and monetary competition are the forced acquisition of benefits against the owners' will.

The former Haitian president was removed on the orders and help of "foreign investors", who didn't like his ideas of trying to help his own people, against the "rules based economic" theory of the free movement of capital and the export of profits at any cost.

The result is chaos, as it is in Iraq, where the ruling dictator may have been a dirty killer, but at least there was some kind of order and normalcy for most. Not to mention the protection of invaluable and irreplaceable archeological treasures, which are now up for grab on the "globalized free market", which was the purpose of the whole invasion to begin with.

When power is a deciding factor on who is permitted to live,
the collapse of any civilized order is inevitable. The difference between crime and legalized crime under religious , ideological and screwball economic theories is next to nothing. I have seen the robbing of the properties and lives of people on racial, now I can see the same happening on "economic" grounds. In both cases based on forced on, installed and enforced faith based theories.

E.g. Example of double standards:

Here in Canada the employees of a company are holding some kind of a party, when a group of armed men walk in force everybody on the floor and rob them of their vallets, jewellery etc. One man dies of heart attack.

A countrywide hue and cry follows with police forces swearing to catch the culprits, letters to the papers, demanding the return of the death penalty.

On the other hand......The same group is having the same party, when a group walks in and announce that they're foreign investors from Timbuktoo, who just bought the local mill, intend to remove all the machinery and resources to the Maquiladores, to be "more competitive", everybody is fired, the town will shut down. One man dies of heart attack from the shock.

All levels of government and economists and the media are jubilating over "wealth creating foreign investment capital" moving into the country. The employees will just have to realize that this is the era of "competitive market economy", lose their homes and move to "where the jobs are" and the man who died "had a long history of heart problems" anyway, so it is too bad that he croaked.

This has been happening all over the country, with millions uprooted, thousands of farms taken over, many suicides, tens of thousands of people losing their homes, children losing their hopes for good education and so on down the line. The facts and proofs are staring in our faces, but our governments and so called " VIP business leaders", prefer to ignore them.

So, before we start teaching others on humanly acceptable and civilized behavour, with armed occupation, perhaps we should look at our home situation and the double standards involving natives and so on and on, right across the country.

Like the 30 odd girls who disappeared on the Highway of Tears, ignored by the authorities, with the public only aware of a fraction of the cases.

Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.

Ed, you said:<br />
"The former Haitian president was removed on the orders and help of "foreign investors"" and "The result is chaos, as it is in Iraq, where the ruling dictator may have been a dirty killer, but at least there was some kind of order and normalcy for most. "<br />
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There is no comparing Iraq and Haiti. Aristide fled after 3 weeks of civil insurrection - which for Haiti is normalcy I guess. Rebels were marching on the capital. The opposition was calling for his removal for corruption. Aristide put his own replacement in, and then everything went smoother (at least civil war was averted). <br />
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<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/29/world/main602904.shtml">http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/29/world/main602904.shtml</a><br />
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While their is thuggery going on now, the civil war between the rebels and the government is no longer going on. That was happening before he was removed. There were more than 100 people killed before he left (or was removed). The rebels and the opposition both called for elections. And who won? An Aristide supporter. So if this was a US or corporate endeavour... they failed miserably.

Sorry Michael, but according to his own words, immediately after the CIA engineered and US financed coup, Aristide didn't leave, of fled, he was kidnapped by the US marines and taken out of the country in a US military plane. By a curious coincidence, everything was ready for his kidnaping and the immediate ocupation of the country. In the name of democracy, of course.

It could be that he was lying, on the other hand, we have witnessed a whole library full of lies by the market capitalist rulers of the world, so, being a jaded and very experienced observer of the political/economic scene, I believe Aristide against his deposers at any time. Especially after they also tried, very desperately, to put their own puppet into power once again, a few months ago.

How long will the elected guy last, if he doesn't submit to the demands of the lords of the universe ?

Ed Deak.



Tuesday, 04 April 2006
"I Was Kidnaped"--Aristide
Written by Herb Boyd
Monday, 01 March 2004
"I was kidnaped by U.S. Marines and forced to leave Haiti," Jean-Bertrand Aristide told Congresswoman Maxine Waters in a phone call Monday morning from the Central African Republic. "I did not resign." Photo: President Aristide lofting flag during bicentennial celebration.



By Herb Boyd
Managing Editor, TBWT

Waters said that Aristide told her that the U.S. "completed the coup and forced him out of office." Speaking to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, Waters said that Aristide sounded angry and outraged about what had happened. "He said he and his wife were surrounded by military personnel and not allowed to make calls. ‘It's like being in jail, he said. He repeatedly said he was kidnaped against his will. This is a clear violation of international law."

These remarks by Aristide confirm earlier reports that he had been forcibly abducted. Photo: Maxine Waters in Haiti during bicentennial celebration. Photos by Herb Boyd.

Almost immediately after Aristide was removed, it was reported that a contingent of U.S. Marines were preparing to be deployed to Haiti as part of an international peace keeping force.

Even as Jean-Bertrand Aristide is no longer the president of Haiti, the circumstances surrounding his resignation or removal continue to be murky hours after a flight from his homeland to the Central African Republic.

The most alarming reports of Aristide's final hours in Haiti is that he was abducted by a contingent of U.S. Marines early Sunday morning and led from his home in handcuffs, according to reporter Kevin Pina during a special broadcast Sunday evening on the crisis in Haiti by Amy Goodman of WBAI-FM.

Pina based his account on reports from a palace guard and a cameraman of ABC-TV. In another report, a security guard at Aristide's home said that the Marines came and escorted him away at gunpoint. "He did not want to go," the security man told reporters.

Early Monday morning it was reported that Aristide and his wife, Mildred Trouillot, had indeed arrived in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, aboard an American 757 dispatched by the Pentagon.

Prior to the call from Aristide to Waters, Aristide's attorney, Ira Kursban, appearing on Democracy Now, Monday morning, said he had spoken to Aristide's wife shortly after their arrival. "She sounded okay and said they were doing all right," he said. There was no elaboration of the events leading up to their departure.

In a brief press conference in Bangui, Aristide said that in "overthrowing me they have cut down the tree of peace...the roots of democracy, but the tree will grow again."

Representatives Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters, who appeared with author Randall Robinson on the WBAI special, said that if Aristide was forcibly removed then it constituted an egregious violation of democratic principles. "He told me just the other day that he was determined to finish his term in office," Rangel said, "and he promised to call me if there was any change in plans. Why would someone resign if he was in fact fleeing?"

"He expressed the same promise to me," Waters said. "This is a terrible reversal of the State Department's position. You never heard the U.S. denouncing the opposition, never denounced the killers...armed with U.S. made weapons. If he was forcibly removed, then we need to immediately call for a Congressional hearing."

Waters and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus are terming the regime change a coup d'etat, which would bring the total to 33 in Haiti's 200-year history.

Robinson, founder and former executive director of the TransAfrica, said that the removal of Aristide was planned a long time ago. "The U.S. has done everything possible to assure that Aristide would not succeed," he began. "Two American security companies contacted to supply security for Aristide never materialized." He also noted that Haiti had been denied bilateral assistance and funding from other international sources.

Upon Aristide's resignation, Boniface Alexandre, chief justice of the Supreme Court, assume leadership of the transitional government. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yvon Neptune continues in his position.

Despite Aristide's removal from power turmoil continues in the streets of Port-au-Prince. Guy Phillipe, one of the leaders of the insurgents, had promised that the violence would be abated once Aristide was removed. But in direct contradiction to the rebel's promise, the offices of the Mayors of Port-au-Prince and Petionville have been attacked and several people have been killed. There are reports of brutal reprisals against members of Aristide's Lavalas party.
Last Updated ( Monday, 01 March 2004 )

Newsflash

Ed, I like what you said about the looting of archaeological treasures but I think that applies more to Iraw where priceless art was stolen fmo museusm.

However, let's be honest about Haiti--it is the 2nd poorest nation in the world not simply because of western imperialism but because of the people there. They are unstable and turned on Aristide just as they turned on the last guy and just as they got violent in the most recent elections.

Haiti infrastructure was built up by America from 1919-1934, again in 1958, again in 1994 and every time the country has fallen back to the same 3rd world level. They simply are unable to compete at 1st world standards.

Haiti had over 100 years of inpendence without foreign interferencefrom about 1800 to the year 1900 and made absolutely njo progress. The systems like power plants and telegraphs built by westerners did not function after a short time and nobody cared enough to get them repaired if they even had the ability to do so.

Haiti would still be a disaster and a joke without our interference.

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People who openly hate America, while making money from America, burning U.S. flags, waving Mexican and Jamaican flags, while demanding the right to be American

I quite agree with you on the subject of overall incompetence and corruption causing Haiti's poverty. I remember the Duvalier family quite well.

However, I can't see any evidence of the "people" turning against Aristide, who means no more to me than Saddam. My interest is in accuracy and democracy, without any ideological influence, or warp. As far I'm concerned, all ideologies and their supporters are welcome to go to hell.

The reports at the time said that it was a small group of well armed, disgrunted ex soldiers who attacked from outside the country. Somebody had to finance them and given assurance that their actions will be recognized. Without such assurance nobody would be crazy enough to attack a country and try to take over the government.

Aristide was elected, like it or not, after having lived in the US for some time, but he must have done something to upset the pushers of the market economy madness.

What stinks in this whole affair was, how fast the Western powers, incl. the US, Canada, France, recognized the rebels against the elected Aristide and were ready to send troops to back up the rebellion. Also why was there a contingent of US Marines in the country to execute his removal in a US military plane, then immediately send occupation forces to back up the rebels, instead of the government ?

It is pretty obvious that the so called rebellion was organized by the major powers for "wealth creating", investment reasons. But not for the Haitian people.

Sorry, but I don't like colonizers, regardless of the flags and ideologies they work under.

Ed Deak.

I don't like all colonizers either.....I just find it funny and not surprising that Haiti was so much better off 200 years ago under the French.

Ironically, massive immigration into western nations like Canada and Britain is another form of neo-colonization the way it works in practice these days.

The same western governments that tell countries like Canada to take immigrants from countries like Haiti ignore the fact that ALL white descedents of colonists in Haiti were murdered in cold blood even AFTER Haiti was granted its independnce....they were whipped into a frenzy by the lunatics in the French Revolutionary movement who spoke of "equality". So much for diversity.

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People who openly hate America, while making money from America, burning U.S. flags, waving Mexican and Jamaican flags, while demanding the right to be American

Ed,

The rebels were never recognized by the West. Aristide established his supreme court leader as the new leader of the country and he was recognized by the UN and the West (including the US). So the "puppet" installed after his ouster was installed by Aristide.

There were foreign troops in Haiti prior to Aristide's departure because in 1994 there had been another coup and the soldiers never really left (ramp up and down of their numbers, but they were there almost constantly). The troops that were there put Aristide in power to begin with.

The elections held by Haitians elected an Aristide supporter. Not a Western puppet. The opposition lost.

The new Haitian government is open to have Aristide return. So if the US wanted him gone, they really messed this up.

What I don't get is how if this is some massive conspiracy against the Haitian establishment, how they messed up and did none of the following:
1. Kill Aristide and make it look like the rebels
2. Remove Aristide and all his supporters from power
3. Rigged the election so that a puppet could take power
4. Invade the country with a platoon (or maybe just 2 guys) and take control

How is it that an administration that can supposedly create a 9/11 conspiracy, steal the US election from the Democrats, obliterate a Iraq in 3 weeks, remove the sovereign Haitian ruler from power... fail to get their own people installed in the nation? If there is any conspiracy theory here, it's how on earth anyone could be that incompetent that they failed to get their own way in a third rate, third world backwater like Haiti.

Well Michael, the one thing I've learned in life is never to argue with the faithful.

So, I don't know the answers to your questions, as I'm far too busy to spend more time on Haiti than what I see in the news.

But as an old analyst, I can't help wondering, if Aristide left by his own free will, why did he claim to have been kidnapped, why didn't the Western allies support him against the invading rebels and why was there a contingent of US Marines and a military plane waiting to take him out of the country ?

Since when are governments, allegedly trying to bring "democracy" to the world, supporting the violent overthrow of elected governments ?

I don't know why they didn't kill him, but even the biggest crooks make mistakes, as we can see every day, so this may have been one. All empires carry the seeds of their own self destruction and make bigger and bigger mistakes until the end.

This picture is far too murky and full of lies for anybody to form a clear opinion, but knowing the mindset of our "globalizers" I don't believe a single word that comes out of their mouths.

Any international conspiracy that forces the neoclassical market economy crime wave on Earth with lies, deceit, fraudulent theories and military violence is beyond any limits of human decency, so, there must have been some profits they were looking for in Haiti .

In other words, I'm not pro-Aristide, but against these criminal globalizeres and this affair stinks to high heaven to anybody not tied to ideological faiths and Canada is best off without any involvement in it.

Ed Deak.

Just shooting in the dark here . . .

"I can't help wondering, if Aristide left by his own free will, why did he claim to have been kidnapped,"

Empathy perhaps?

"why didn't the Western allies support him against the invading rebels"

Perhaps they weren't regarded as 'rebels' but as the legitimate victors in a dirty election?

"and why was there a contingent of US Marines and a military plane waiting to take him out of the country ?"

Perhaps it was just best for everyone that he leave? That kind of had me wondering too, about the 'CIA kidnapping' thing. They don't usually announce themselves like that; by having a Military plane waiting.

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"I think it's important to always carry enough technology to restart civilization, should it be necessary." Mark Tilden