19942: Dorce on "Moving On" (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LAKAT47@aol.com


First let me say that no good thing can come from this travesty of justice in
Haiti.  There is no sense in the idea that, Aristide is gone now we must move
on.  There is a very real possibility that a crime was committed according to
international law.  This needs to be investigated and those responsible
should be held accountable.  The long term low-intensity war has taken its toll and
made the ground fertile for a very small group of armed criminals to take
over the country, of course not without US Marine assistance in their last push
into the capital.  They never could have made Aristide resign without US force.
 If he had agreed to resign or asked for US help to resign, he would have
been taken to a welcome place where he would live out his days in plush comfort
like Cedras and others.  Instead he is incommunicado in the middle of nowhere
in Africa where a military coup just took place not a year ago., with no way to
communicate with those outside.  Taken out of Haiti in disgrace like a common
thief.

This not only effects Haiti, it effects all of us who call the United States
home and of course all democratically elected governments who displease the US
government, not to mention the rest of the world.  To ask that we let go and
just move on, ignores the pain and suffering of the Haitian people for whom
Aristide was a symbol of freedom and inclusion for the first time in their
lives.  As I write this, I have the villainous words of Roger Noriega in my ears as
he gives testimony to the International Relations Subcommittee.  He might as
well be speaking with Jesse Helms voice, they are one and the same.  Bonded by
their racist attitudes and their hatred of Aristide.  They have finally
finished the work of Bush the elder.  (seems like that is a theme for this Bush)

Haitians have lived without justice for their entire lives and they have just
had their president ripped from them.  They know what they want.  But those
educated, sophisticated, superior Haitians think they know what's best for the
people.  This humiliating paternal attitude is the backbone of the Haitian
intellectual and it is shared by Noriega and the neo-con right wing Republicans.
They give lip service to "the people" and helping make their lives better.
But how is this to happen?  Because with Aristide gone, they will let aid flow
in again?  They will foster an atmosphere where sweatshops will provide jobs
for Haitians....oh thanks a bunch.  The people KNOW what they want.  It is not
the job of the United States to judge the quality of democracy in Haiti.  If
the people wanted him, then that's the end of that issue.  If we had put the
money and energy into supporting democracy in Haiti instead of working to tear
it down by supporting the opposition, Aristide would have been able to move
that country ahead instead of arming the poor so they could fight off the wealthy
opposition and their buddies in the Bush administration.

Those who supported the removal of Aristide must share the guilt of what is
happening there now.  If the people wanted Aristide gone, he would have been
gone long ago.  Now they will take out their rage on the already crumbling
country.  This was predictable by anyone who knows the Haitian people.

I am disgusted by the people of the United States standing silent in the face
of this terrible misuse of power.  The media certainly contributes to the
ignorance of the people but anyone with a computer can find out the truth with
very little effort.

A beautiful democracy cannot be born out of a pile of garbage.  There will be
no healing, no moving on, no democracy in Haiti until justice is done and
Aristide is not being held hostage or dead.

Kathy Dorce~