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Congressional Black Caucus: Bush helped rebels oust Aristide
2004-03-03
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) yesterday accused the Bush administration of deliberately exacerbating the violence in Haiti to hasten the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They charged that the White House misled lawmakers about its intentions as it undermined Aristide — who was restored to power in 1994 by the Clinton administration following a coup — and forced him to flee to the Central African Republic. Black lawmakers said the White House must prove that Aristide was not kidnapped. Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.): “It seems like the administration just wanted Aristide out.”
Bright guy! Got there all by himself.
They demanded conclusive evidence that the Haitian leader — whose 2000 election victory was internationally condemned as fraudulent — was not forced out at gunpoint.
We could have left him there; he would have faced a gunpoint for sure.
“What makes this not a coup?” Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) asked at the United Nations after meetings with Secretary General Kofi Annan and U.S. Ambassador John D. Negroponte. Rep. Major Owens (D-N.Y.) added: “We are very troubled that this [Aristide’s ouster] was a terrorist takeover.”
Gangs of thugs on one side, gangs of thugs on the other side, a duly-elected President-for-Life™ deposed... I don't think I'd call it a terrorist takeover, just a continuation of quaint Haitian native traditions. No skin off our collective fore either way, but maybe a little better for the Haitians if they try a fresh batch of thugs for awhile — there's always a chance, y'know.
CBC criticism of the exiled leader was muted, despite long-standing international concern about his regime’s engaging in fraud, thug rule and the repression of opponents.
Since he's anti-Bush, it's okay to be engaged in fraud, thug rule and repression.
Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.), a leading voice on international affairs in the CBC, told The Hill, “Aristide made mistakes, but President Bush made mistakes, President Clinton made mistakes, but we don’t run them out of office.”
You might want to listen to your own party.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan called any suggesting that Aristide was kidnapped “complete nonsense,” adding: “Conspiracy theories do nothing to help the Haitian people move forward to a better, more free and more prosperous future.” Democratic lawmakers say the Bush administration’s policy on Haiti reflects a failure to respect democratic virtues there as much as elsewhere around the globe.
Which democratic virtues did Jean-Berty's bully boyz represent?
Reacting to the decision to send U.S. and French peacekeepers, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, “Had peacekeepers been sent earlier, a political settlement that better respected the results of the last democratic election with less bloodshed and chaos could have been achieved.”
Since the last election wasn't so democratic, what was there to respect?
Just last Wednesday, Bush and 18 members of the CBC appeared to have found common ground on the need for U.S. intervention. After meeting with President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, black lawmakers said they felt that the White House understood the urgency of the situation. Bush admitted fault for not acting sooner to stem the crisis on the impoverished Caribbean island. “The president told us that he ‘did not speak out loudly enough and soon enough’ on the humanitarian tragedy and political crisis in Haiti,” CBC chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told The Hill last week. “That acknowledgment helped us move forward,” said Cummings, in what he described as an emotional meeting as lawmakers tearfully described the human suffering.
"He felt our pain!"
Wednesday’s accord evaporated over the weekend. CBC members said Bush and his team intentionally allowed the situation to deteriorate to put Aristide and his family in physical danger. “We could have nipped this in the bud, but it seems like the administration just wanted Aristide out,” said Payne. “It was a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
"Big Boy! Should he stay or go?" Looks like the pee-pul have spoken. We'll be back again in ten years or so to throw this new batch of bad boyz out, and the CBC will be hooting and hollering about that one, too...
Payne argued that Aristide’s widely criticized tenure as Haiti’s first democratically elected president did not justify what he regarded as the Bush administration’s anti-democratic actions and quasi-support for the opposition. “The opposition is a bunch of thugs and drug runners,” said Payne.
And notice we aren't supporting them.
Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.), said, “We were misled about their plan to force out Aristide. I don’t think any member of Congress can trust what this administration now tells us.” Meek has the highest concentration of Haitians of any congressional district. He said they are deeply divided about Aristide, but noted that Aristide loyalists protested in the streets yesterday, demanding assurances that he is safe. “Everyone has said that they don’t agree with what President Aristide did in terms of treating the opposition, but the way [he was removed] is severely troubling.”
The fact that he wasn't going to leave any other way was severely troubling, too. And this very predictable fault-finding by the CBC, regardless of what Bush did — you know they'd be flinging much the same charges if the Marines had gone in and tromped the rebels to prop up Jean-Berty — is also severely troubling.
Posted by:Steve White

#28  The disengagement from Aristide started Earlier than GW. Evidently, somewhere along the line Aristide got sick of trying to improve things and became part of the problem. How early he went bad is open to debate; my belief is that he was bad from the beginning. In 2000, he fudged the election that he would have won anyway because all despots want to appear to be ruling with near unanimous backing. Anyway Aristide was done soon thereafter as all other countries withheld aid from his regime. If we had intervened and put him back on his throne, we would have had to restore the aid for his corrupt administration to skim to keep him there.

Note - On CSPAN, I saw a Democratic congressman and Noriega get into it today about whether voter turnout was 10% or 60%. The congressman had been an election observer in Haiti and read his personal account of how perfectly fair the elections were into the record. He was an older white haired gentleman that appeared to be restricting Noriega's answers and using the ambassador's testimony as a way to testify himself - probably a common practice among blowhards.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-3-3 11:07:38 PM  

#27  Next time this happens in some third world shithole, which will probably be next week, Bush should just sit back and let the blood flow neck deep in the street. Why interfere and piss off the Congressional Black Caucus.
I'd love to see Aristide tossed on a plane and flown back to Haiti just to see how they'd spin that.
Posted by: tu3031   2004-3-3 10:54:27 PM  

#26  I just loved seeing Danny Glover in the background of this meeting. What a socialist jack ass that tin hat is. I saw him in Lethal Weapon 3 last night and wanted to hurl.
Posted by: remote man   2004-3-3 7:01:14 PM  

#25  Just imagine what the CBC would say if someone founded the CWC...
Posted by: .com   2004-3-3 6:18:59 PM  

#24  Jackel may be cold, but he's (she's?) right on the money.

Ever notice how black "leaders" always want something that is good for other black "leaders" but really bad for regular black people? You'd think they were racist or something.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2004-3-3 6:08:45 PM  

#23  Jackal, now that was Cold.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-3-3 5:15:35 PM  

#22  Aristide was:
1. A radical leftist.
2. A hater of America.
3. Corrupt.

The CBC was just looking after their own.
Posted by: Jackal   2004-3-3 4:28:36 PM  

#21  Face it, the CBC is for affirmative action and the french language. And probably racist
Posted by: Drano   2004-3-3 2:58:55 PM  

#20  All right then, here's what to do: bring Aristide back to Haiti, evacuate all U.S. diplomatic and military personnel, and then announce that this is what the CBC wanted, so this is what they get. Anything that happens afterward is not the fault of the U.S., nor will it be the U.S.' concern, and any Haitians attempting to flee to the U.S. mainland will be sent back immediately, no questions asked.

Problem solved.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-3-3 2:11:42 PM  

#19  Let me get this straight. First France says they want Aristide out. Then France is protecting Aristide in French Africa. And somehow the US is too blame? Baffoons, clowns and bottlewashers is right.
Posted by: ruprecht   2004-3-3 1:47:39 PM  

#18  And the CBC wonders why the majority of America does not take them seriously. This group of buffoons, clowns, and bottlewashers make Traficant look like a saint.

The most amazing thing to me is that these idiots keep getting elected. Says a lot about those who vote for them
Posted by: alaskasoldier   2004-3-3 12:27:46 PM  

#17  Tokyo Taro: Leon Podesta, who was a one time Chief of Staff to Clinton and other upper echelon Clinton cronies have extensive investments in companies that are affiliated with Aristide and his cronies. For example, I once read that when Haitians either call home to Haiti from America, or when Haitians call their friends/relatives in America that they pay really inflated prices because there is supposedly only one carrier in Haiti that handles international calls and that Leon Podesta and other Clinton cronies are or were major stockholders in this phone carrier which price gouges. There are supposedly other such scams going on in which Clinton cronies are scandously reaping millions from business deals that are dependent on upper-level Haitian governmental decisions. I don't think it was a Clinton plan/conspiracy, but I think things sort of fell into place this way as time went by. The CBC is obviously beholden to Clinton and they probably are invested in Aristide remaining in power. Probably the majority of the Haitian population doesn't know anything about all of this, and they probably don't care. Some realize that Aristide is a thug and they know that the Democrats are his supporters here in the U.S.A. and they probably don't give a rat's ass about the CBC. Obviously some Haitians are in Aristide's camp and they probably welcome the CBC's pro-Aristide gestures.
Posted by: Geoffrey M. LaMear   2004-3-3 12:19:00 PM  

#16  "...prove that Aristide was not kidnapped."

C'mon, guys, all ya gotta do is prove a negative. What's the matter?

Schmucks.
Posted by: mojo   2004-3-3 10:52:43 AM  

#15  Don't look now but Kerry (and his kids) are bellowing about poor Aristide. And I thought the election would be boring!
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter)   2004-3-3 10:30:18 AM  

#14  The CBC has proven (yet again) that they will take the word of almost any nut job over the word of the President, Colin Powell, Condi Rice, etc. The CBC and most of the Dems will oppose any action taken by President Bush, regardless of whether or not the action was the right thing to do. It is reflexive, unthinking, discriminatory behavior (just like racism).
Posted by: Tibor   2004-3-3 10:13:54 AM  

#13  Let's see if I have this right. If you intervene in another country ruled by a homicidal despot (say, Iraq), the the intervention is criminal. But if you don't intervene in a country ruled by a homicidal despot (say, Haiti), then the non-intervention is criminal. But it you do intervene so as not to be labled a criminal (say, Haiti), then you're a criminal. Oh, I get it. It was the logic that, for a moment, escaped me.
Posted by: Highlander   2004-3-3 10:10:32 AM  

#12  They demanded conclusive evidence that the Haitian leader — whose 2000 election victory was internationally condemned as fraudulent — was not forced out at gunpoint.

Ah, yes. Their favorite tactic of the last few years -- demanding that sane people prove a negative.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-3-3 8:51:20 AM  

#11  Aristide was a NUTCASE and everyone knew it. No doubt that when he left he saw a vast army in black fatigues and helicopters circling overhead. The CBC has shown its true ?color? with their latest rants about Aristide. The progressive caucus loves Aristide beause he is a socialists and a defrocked priest. If he was gay that would be the trifecta!
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2004-3-3 8:49:24 AM  

#10  #3 Tokyo Taro: I don't understand. I admit to knowing little about Haiti. Why was the CBC so attached to Aristide?

Start off with the understanding that Aristide is a Socialist. Then one might expect support from Socialists in this country. There is an organization called The Democratic Socialists of America which is the largest socialist organization in the United States, and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International. DSA's members are building progressive movements for social change while establishing an openly socialist presence in American communities and politics. One of these progressive movements is called the Progressive Caucus.

All the members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) quoted in the article, with the exception of CBC chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), are also members of the Progressive Caucus. Those known socialists voicing concern over the fate of the Socialist, Aristide: Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), Rep. Major Owens (D-N.Y.), Rep. Donald Payne (D-N, Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)are all members of the Progressive Caucus. (As mentioned in an earlier rant, Corrine Brown is also a member of the PC.)

So the reason why the CBC is so attached to Aristide, Tokyo, is that socialists must stick together. (It's for the children, ya know.)



Posted by: GK   2004-3-3 7:39:22 AM  

#9  â€œEveryone has said that they don’t agree with what President Aristide did in terms of treating the opposition, but the way [he was removed] is severely troubling.”

So basically, he was a bad guy, but should have stayed in power? With the rebels coming for his head, I don't think that is much an option.

I have a little sympathy for the process argument, but sometimes when the situation is as bad as it is in Haiti, flying Aristide out seems to have been the best of a bad situation. The best option available. Otherwise, he and his family would be dead.

The CBC can whine all they like, but I doubt Aristide will be hopping a flight home soon.
Posted by: Ben   2004-3-3 5:01:07 AM  

#8   jba was heard to mumble as he was rushed on the plane--pieds,ne me faisez pas echouer maintenant
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI   2004-3-3 2:34:04 AM  

#7  Thanks Rex, for that mental image. It'll take at least a week to get rid of it.
Posted by: Steve White   2004-3-3 1:50:36 AM  

#6  OK...WTF! This just shows the rediculous blind hatred the Donks have for Bush. It's so bad, they concoct conspiracy theories in order to justify their empty, pathetic attacks on the president. And not just the CBC, and Rangel mind you...Pelosi got in the act and sucked on her foot also. I always suspected she was a "shrimper". (shudder)
Posted by: Rex Mundi   2004-3-3 1:35:41 AM  

#5  Tokyo Taro, because they were convinced that the autocrat was telling them the truth when he said he was a good person and then they ignored when he became a thug. So now they have to support him or they'll look stupid. Plus it's an opportunity to be on the opposite side of bush.

Pretty much the answer is the CBC is run by a combination of morons and scum.
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American   2004-3-3 1:33:24 AM  

#4  Tokyo Taro, because they were convinced that the autocrat was telling them the truth when he said he was a good person and then they ignored when he became a thug. So now they have to support him or they'll look stupid. Plus it's an opportunity to be on the opposite side of bush.

Pretty much the answer is the CBC is run by a combination of morons and scum.
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American   2004-3-3 1:33:21 AM  

#3  I don't understand. I admit to knowing little about Haiti. Why was the CBC so attached to Aristide? How does the Haitian population feel about this? I saw quite a bit of rejoicing on the news.

I suspect more than ideological attachment from the CBC. I suspect corruption and payments.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro   2004-3-3 1:28:23 AM  

#2  What a bunch of fuck@#s.

"Hey Bertrand, there's an open seat on a return flight to Port of Piss. Chicken entrails sez come on!
Posted by: Anonymous   2004-3-3 12:44:09 AM  

#1  Way to cut your constituency off at the knees guys. Hope the tin foil hats help your re-election chances.
Posted by: Mr. Davis   2004-3-3 12:29:38 AM  

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