#1815# 1781: U.S. plot theory : Bell replies to Lyall, Gill, et al (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: madison bell <mbell@goucher.edu>

Plot's the wrong word, "inimical policy" would be more accurate at the worst.

The point everyone seems to miss in this discussion is that US policy 
toward Haiti is not monolithic, but as deeply divided as our politics at 
home.   The intervention to restore Haiti's democratically elected 
president was well-intentioned and so successful in the beginning that the 
present disappointment is an almost inevitable consequence.  But it was not 
easy to launch (and was certainly not launched very quickly even under the 
Clinton administration) -- in part because factions in the U.S. government 
opposed Aristide's return.   It is very well established that FRAPH was 
supported by the CIA to the extent of its leader being on the CIA payroll 
(yes, I know it wasn't much money but it's the principle that counts in 
this case, I believe).  The right and left in US politics are divided on 
the question of all foreign policy and policy toward Haiti whips in the 
wind between the two extremes-- it whipped very rapidly during the 
intervention itself, as Bob Shacochis' recent book describes.  Neither the 
beneficent nor the malignant actions and intentions of the U.S. toward 
Haiti can be discounted.  One side doesn't eliminate the other.  It's true 
as Gill maintains that Haiti needs to clean its own house, but by the way, 
do we need to clean ours?

msb