Anonymous Re: 19680: Aristide to USA and constitution on exile (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

If you post this reply, please do so anonymously.  Thank you.

I respond to this post as someone who respected (and sometimes admired)
J-BA from the time he was a parish priest until after his second
administration began.  However, I am a United States citizen and my
first loyalties are to my own country (although I certainly am not
blindly so).

Considering remarks attributed to him since Sunday morning's events, I
would find it hard to believe President Aristide wanted to live in exile
here, even if he told me so himself.  While I do not, and never have,
wholeheartedly supported US policies toward Haiti, I do tend to believe
that the Department of State did make considerable attempts to
accommodate J-BA's needs and wants within reason.  I do not believe that
exile here would serve President Aristide, the US or Haiti well.

In the weeks and months to come, I hope the truth about the treatment of
President Aristide by the US and its involvement in his departure from
Haiti will be revealed.  The situation warrants close scrutiny, and the
people of the US and President Aristide deserve nothing less.

As I recall, President Aristide showed little restraint in nipping at
the hand that fed him during his exile years in Washington.  Still the
US turned the other cheek.  To do so now, after listening to reports of
his diatribes from the Central African Republic, would be comparable to
letting Uncle Sam get screwed with his pants on; and leave the United
States the laughing stock on the international community.

>1) If Baby Doc is in the US, it's hard to believe the US could last long
>refusing Aristide permission to live here. Is the Black Caucus working towards
>this and is that what Aristide wants?
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