Free Republic

In the wake of the devastating earthquake, American eyes are again turned toward Haiti—something that only seems to happen when yet another disaster strikes, and never during the daily chaos and misery that plague the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. I’ve spent a good deal of time in Haiti, reporting first on the repression under the Duvaliers, then on the rise of Jean-Bertrand Aristide's popular movement, and then on the 1991 military coup that brought him down. I was there during the period of the 1994 military intervention that restored Aristede to power. US interest in the country seemed...

A Haitian board of inquiry has accused deposed President Aristede of having embezzled up to $50 million-much of it in cash-from the impoverished island's government-(example: $5,000,000 in customs fees paid in cash to an Aristede-controlled bank.) Note: The article does NOT make reference to the Black Caucus in the US Congress - which still supports Aristede,and may have been "partnered" with him in certain illicit enterprises,or to Kennedy family members who(per a WSJ article written quite some time ago) held an interest in the Teleco telephone monopoly.

John Kerry has now decided, retrospectively, that he would not have gone to war to remove Saddam Hussein. But he would have put U.S. troops in harm's way to shield Haitian strongman Jean Bertrand Aristide from a revolt of his own people in February. "I would have been prepared to send troops immediately, period," Mr. Kerry told the New York Times on March 4. This assertion from the would-be commander in chief seems to have had some unfortunate repercussions. Emboldened by a prominent champion in the U.S., the deposed Aristide's Lavalas Party thugs are committing mayhem again.... The opportunistic brutality...

US troops 'made Aristide leave'From correspondents in Paris March 1, 2004 HAITIAN leader Jean Bertrand Aristide was taken away from his home by US soldiers, it was claimed today. A man who said he was a caretaker for the now exiled president told France's RTL radio station the troops forced Aristide out. "The American army came to take him away at two in the morning," the man said. "The Americans forced him out with weapons. "It was American soldiers. They came with a helicopter and they took the security guards. "(Aristide) was not happy. He did not want to be...