6480: Re: 6437: Re: 6273. Driver on "the simplification of history" (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: SBrown8670@aol.com

Tom Driver wrote: 

<< The record suggests that it is Greg Chamberlain who, along with the 
editors of letters to The NY Times, is engaging in "the simplification of 
history.">>

<<Apr. 10, 1994.  In an Op-Ed piece called "Abandoning Democracy," another
Times' regular columnist, Bob Herbert, wrote:  "... the Clinton
Administration -- in its actions if not its words -- has abandoned
Father Aristide and his followers and sided with the murderous enemies
of democracy in Haiti.">>

Tom Driver's citation of Bob Herbert Op-Ed pieces as historical "evidence" 
reveals that he too is not immune to oversimplfying (not to mention 
sensationalizing) history. US policy in April '94 was oriented toward 
isolating (albeit not terribly effectively) the de facto government in Haiti. 
 To conclude that Clinton had "sided" with that government is inane.  

<< Sep. 21, 1994.  Soon after U.S. troops landed in Haiti, Bob Herbert
 again wrote: "In a betrayal of everything this country stands for, the
 United States is openly forging an alliance with the fiendish,
 grotesquely sadistic enemies of human rights and democracy in Haiti." >>

Likewise, the second citation alleging an "alliance" with the dark side is 
equally hyperbolic and specious.  US policy in September and October 1994 was 
oriented toward containing the military's freedom of action, eliminating 
human rights violators, establishing an interim civilian police force, and 
shutting down FRAPH operations.  Cedras, Francois, and the chief coup leaders 
 were exiled (admittedly Cedras did have a modest golden parachute). It is 
difficult to find an alliance in all this. 

Dr. Stephen D. Brown  sbrown8670@aol.com