15085: Saint-Vil comments on U.S. troops in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jean Saint-Vil <jafrikayiti@hotmail.com>

This question about presence and behaviour of foreign troops in Haiti is
very timely considering that a major diplomatic controversy is ongoing
between Haiti and her self-appointed friends. The malaise is over a "secret"
meeting that took place last January and during which foreign governement
officials are said to have decided for Haitians that Haiti shall, with their
help, undergo "regime change" before January 1, 2004.

>From this website (www.focal.ca) we found out that among those "wise and
chosen few" who participated are Luigi Enaudi, The French Minister of
Foreign Affairs himself, two Senior Representatives of the U.S. Secretary of
State, Delegates of the EEC and of the OIF (Organisation Internationale de
la Francophonie)who, among others, were the special guests of Senior
Canadian official, Denis Paradis. (No, it was not necessary to invite any
Haitian Officials to this meeting which was about the trivial matter of
regime change in Haiti - it's not as if important stuff like "political
crisis" or "demokkkacy" was on the agenda).

The article (www.lactualite.com) claims among other things, this new foreign
intervention will lead to the creation of a new Police force and a new Army
in Haiti. Of course my ears danced when I saw the dreaded word ARMY,
cleverly burried in the text. Yes folks, a return of the ARMY has been
decided by the Friends of Haiti, for the good of Haiti, of course!

Jafrikayiti

"Jesus! Baby Haiti, what manner of gift is it that these friendly wise men
from up north are bringing to your manger!?"

---------------------------
Speaking of U.S. Troops in Haiti, back in 1994... let's have a SANKOFA:(Go
back and Fetch It) moment with this brief excerpt from mediafilter.org,
shall we:
---------------------------

DID GREEN BERETS UNDERMINE THE US MISSION IN HAITI?

Another issue of The Resister, widely circulated on the Internet, claimed
that right-wing Green Berets sympathetic to the Haitian coup government were
able to undermine US military goals during Operation Restore Democracy in
Haiti. The article begins with a scathing, racist condemnation of Aristide
and the Lavalas movement. The far-right FRAPH (Front for the Advancement and
Progress of Haiti) is described as the equivalent of the Veterans of Foreign
Wars and the American Legion forming a political party. The hated attachEs
armed civilian thugs who worked with local police or military units are
described as nothing more than a community-watch organization.

The article's most explosive claim is that Special Forces members serving in
Haiti met with and advised senior NCOs of the now defunct Haitian military,
attachEs, and FRAPH members:
"First, we [told] the most active anti-communist AttachEs and FRAPH members
to take long vacations ... on the other side of the island [the Dominican
Republic]. Second, we informed them about plans and timetables for weapons
confiscation and told them how to [hide] their functional firearms. ...
Third, we identified the Lavalas leadership, their friends and associates,
and collected from [the Haitian army] information about Lavalas they had.
Fourth, we told FRAPH members to stay out of politics and...let the
communists expose their true agendas. Fifth, we waged a clandestine
offensive against Lavalas [details omitted by The Resister's editor] which
in our operational areas [drove] the leadership back underground.

Finally, we established an escape line to help [our Haitian allies] under
threat of arrest ... to reach relative safety in the Dominican
Republic."When former Army Capt. Larry Rockwood, who served with Operation
Restore Democracy, was shown this document, he commented:  it sounds a lot
like the views of most of the senior officers I served with in Haiti. They
made no attempt to hide their contempt for the average Haitian.

A spokesperson for Brig. Gen. Richard W. Potter, Jr., commander of the Joint
Special Operations Task Force in Haiti, told the New York Times that he
considered The Resister's account of military activities in Haiti
ridiculous. But in the wake of the publicity, Lt. Gen. J.T. Scott, Special
Operations commander, issued a memo reiterating the rules on extremist
groups and ordering a survey of Special Forces troops. Not surprisingly,
none of the 1,111 respondents admitted violating Army regulations by
participating in extremist groups. Although many observers find the Special
Forces Underground's self-proclaimed activities incredible, the existence
and widespread dissemination of the claims are in themselves disturbing.

Source: http://mediafilter.org/caq/CAQ57Racism.html

Jafrikayiti
«Depi nan Ginen bon nèg ap ede nèg!»
http://www.i-port.net/sd-in-j/


_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*.
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus