23177: LScott: Re: 23140: Lyall: that Saint Marc massak

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LScottPht@aol.com
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Just a few points to clear up. I know the person who owns the helicopter
and
flew Neptune in to St. Marc. The person flying the helicopter is neutral
as far
as their political views. That person was told to fly Neptune in, so
that's
what the person did. Neptune was flown in to carry out an attack, as to
how
many people were actually killed, I have no idea. But, the helicopter did
not
shoot at anybody and the person was questioned about this by certain
people
investigating the incident, and the person was found not to have been
involved
in any way except to flying someone in. The person flying the helicopter
had no
idea why Neptune was to be dropped in St. Marc. Also, as a
photojournalist, I
have interviewed people who want the military reinstated as well as those
totally against it. The problem with reinstating a military is that their
is no
outside threat to Haiti which would be the only reason to have a military.
The
only way around that is to declare Haiti to be in a state of emergency and
go
into a marshall law situation which would mean setting a curfew. Do people
want
this? I don't know. I know that a lot of people I have interviewed are
afraid
of the current police force, and do not respect them. So, you can either
retrain the entire police force, which would probably mean firing a bunch
of them and hiring new people, and you would have to supply new uniforms
because
the current uniforms scare people. They relate the men in those uniforms
to
horrible things. Of course, if you fire the current police, then you have
a
bunch of angry policemen, and understandbly so. Or, you can go into a
state of
marshall law, so the military can be reinstated legally. No matter which
option
you choose, you will have people on the other side very angry and this
will
spark more demonstrations and acts of violence. It's a very difficult
situation
that will plague whatever government is in power. I hope there can be a
happy
medium, but who knows what that would be.

==============

Let me clarify something on my last statement. Legally, I guess the
military
can be reinstated because they were never officially disbanded. It was a
matter
of formality which was never carried out. I guess, what I meant, is that
for
the international community to look at it as a viable option, Haiti would
have
to have a state of emergency situation. The international community says
that
there should not be a military if there is no direct outside threat to a
country. Not that it is any of there business, but if Haiti wants
international
aid to continue, then this would be the only legitimate way to have a
military.