#4318: White asks questions regarding U.S. foreign policy (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: kwhite2 <kwhite2@drew.edu>

I am young, and my interest in Haiti is only 3 years old.  That means
there's a ton I don't know.  I'm going to ask some really naive questions
here, because I just don't get some of this.

Why does Washington care about monitoring the elections?  Sure, we send a
lot of money to Haiti, and most people think that means we have the right
to direct things.  It doesn't in my book.  'Cmon, the age of imperialism is
(hopefully) beginning to wind down and the cold war is over.  Why should we
stick our fingers in?

I certainly want to help make the situation in Haiti better.  I don't think
I'd be on this list if I didn't.  But I also know that I am not a Haitian,
and that Haitians are the only ones who are going to be able to solve the
problems there.  The State Department running around the globe telling
everyone how to run their countries is an absurdity in the current
political climate.

I've seen enough since I joined the list to understand that it's sometimes
difficult, in Haiti, to weed out unscrupulous voices.  That's _another_
long discussion about the nature of truth, but I'm not going there at the
moment.  It seems to me that Washington isn't making us (citizens of the
U.S.A.)any friends with their chest all puffed up with the Monroe
Doctrine.  Do we just have to wait until all the folks who remember the
cold war are dead to get over ourselves?  That would be an unfortunate
wait.   

Krista
-- 
Kreyon Bondye pa gen gom
(God's pencil has no eraser)