lickety jackblog

Everyone should read the terrific synopsis in today's Times concerning Washington's historic handling of Haiti. There is no better example of what the U.S. means when it talks about "spreading democracy" than this. I've never read a better article from a mainstream news source.

Some highlights:
Bridging the divide between Mr. Aristide and his opponents would have been difficult in even the best of circumstances. But what emerges from the events in Haiti is a portrait of how the effort to nurture democracy became entangled in the ideological wars and partisan rivalries of Washington.
...
"He wasn't going to be beholden to the United States, and so he was going to be trouble," said Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, a Democratic critic of Bush administration policy on Latin America. "We had interests and ties with some of the very strong financial interests in the country, and Aristide was threatening them." Those interests, mostly in the textile and electronic assembly businesses, sold many of their products cheap to the United States.
...
Raymond A. Joseph, the current interim government's ambassador to the United States, recalls a speech that Mr. Aristide gave in September 1991. "That's the speech," Mr. Joseph said, "that triggered the coup d'etat against him, where he said, 'Whenever you feel the heat under your feet, turn your eyes to the mountains where the wealthy are, they're responsible for you. Go give them what they deserve.'
...
Haiti is a tragedy, and it is a tragedy of partisanship and hate and hostility," Mr. Einaudi said. "These were divides among Haitians and they are also divides among Americans, because Haiti came to symbolize within the United States a point of friction between Democrats and Republicans that did not facilitate bipartisanship or stable policy or communication."

And, to cap it all off, Stanley Lucas, the leader of the Haitian branch of the International Republican Institute (the organization charged with the task of "supporting the growth of political and economic freedom, good governance and human rights around the world by educating people, parties and governments on the values and practices of democracy," and which is loosely affiliated with the Republican Party and various rightist think tanks), and also an avowed Aristide opponent who counseled other Aristide opponents to never negotiate, is now working for the IRI's Afghanistan program.

posted by Little Gordie @ 3:54 PM