21242: Esser: A New Coup - Old Strategies (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

In order to better understand the events of 2004 leading up to
Jean-Bertrand Aristide's forced exile, it is very enlightening to
read articles written about the Coup d'État of 1991. Below is an
excerpt of a piece written by Tod Ensign in the Covert Action
Quarterly ('A real Threat to National Security -- Racism in the
Ranks', CAQ Issue # 57, Summer 1996)

It is not by accident that the current "rebels" and "freedom"
fighters were and are able to act with impunity. Not only were they
handed intelligence about Lavalas members, they were taught their
methods of insurgency and their exile in the Dominican Republic was
facilitated. In retrospect it becomes clearer with each passing day,
that while the U.S. was forced to reinstate Aristide, it never ceased
to sabotage him. This of course, is an ongoing process of
destabilization and propaganda; what was "mental problems" then, is
"drug smuggling" and "embezzlement" now. What posed the challenge of
getting criminals to safety in the Dominican Republic in 1991 became
the mission to re-arm and re-introduce these elements into Haitian
society again in 2004. While there are many journalists that are able
to look behind the quotes of the day, most happily take part in the
disinformation and turn their eyes the other way when atrocities are
being committed or may have taken place such as recently reported
about the Bel Air section of Port-au-Prince. Kevin Pina has asked:
"How Many Journalists and AP Photographers Can Dance on
the Head of a Pin?" - I'd like to know how many journalists does it
take to start enquiring about the murders of democracy supporters in
Haiti? Obviously to some, Haiti has calmed down and since part of the
mission is accomplished, it's time now for lighter fare brought to
you from the airy veranda's of Port-au-Priince's Hotels, far from the
dying and suffering...


For more information see also: History of US Military, CIA
Involvement in Haiti for a compilation of reported acts:
http://www.peacenowar.net/Americas/News/Haiti.htm



<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 attachés 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, attachés, and FRAPH members:

"First, we [told] the most active anti-communist Attachés 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.>

To sample one Haiti article in The Resister (The RESISTER -
The Official Publication of the Special Forces Underground Volume I,
Number 3. Winter 1995) that includes the article: 'FIELD REPORT: The
Truth About Haiti' by Richard Crossman go to:
http://www.icomm.ca/survival/resister.don/resistr3.htm
.