Hillary Clinton’s Real Scandal Is Honduras, Not Benghazi

[Judi Lynn]

Hillary Clinton’s Real Scandal Is Honduras, Not Benghazi

Hillary Clinton's Central American foreign policy blunder ought to darken her presidential prospects.

By Emily Schwartz Greco, July 24, 2014. Originally published in OtherWords.


Is it too soon to predict who will be the next president of the United States?

Without officially declaring her intention to run again, Hillary Clinton has cornered Democratic frontrunner status. Given the weak and crowded Republican field, that makes her the presumptive next occupant of a prestigious office lacking — as comedian Jon Stewart observes — any corners.

Clinton’s apparent unbeatability this time around helps explain the right-wing hysteria over the Benghazi tragedy. The conspiracy theories about the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya amount to a desperate effort to discredit the Democratic Party’s strong centrist candidate. It’s no surprise that this ploy isn’t making a dent on her popularity.What beats me is why more Democrats aren’t deeply troubled by the legacy of Clinton’s foreign policy blunder in Honduras.

Maybe you’ve forgotten what happened in that small country in the first year of the Obama administration — more on that in a moment. But surely you’ve noticed the ugly wave of xenophobia greeting a growing number of Central American child refugees arriving on our southern border.

Some of President Barack Obama’s supporters are trying to blame this immigration crisis on the Bush administration an anti-trafficking law George W. signed in 2008 specifically written to protect Central American children, which preceded the uptick in their arrivals. But which country is the top source of kids crossing the border? Honduras, home to the world’s highest murder rate, Latin America’s worst economic inequality, and a repressive, U.S.-backed government.

That’s a lot of investment in a nation where the police, the military, and private security forces are killing people with alarming frequency and impunity, according to Human Rights Watch. In short, desperate Honduran children are seeking refuge from a human rights nightmare that would cast a dark cloud over Clinton’s presidential bid right now if the media were paying any attention.

More:
http://fpif.org/hillary-clintons-real-scandal-honduras-benghazi/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hillary-clintons-real-scandal-honduras-benghazi

[Demeter]

1. To be fair, the US foreign policy failure (and there are many of them) isn't all Hillary's fault

It is the entrenched PNAC staff and think tanks selling this grandiose and false narrative that the US is the policeman of the world, AND emperor, and therefore anything the US PNACers want should be granted freely with thanks for taking the trouble to notice us foreigners....

AND the Congress that buys this BS (or alternatively, is bought by the PNAC donations)

AND the White House, who never purged out the Bush Boys (wholly owned subsidiary of Cheney/BFEE/CIA/NSA/etc.) but let them range free over the globe, mucking up nations and killing people with abandon.

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND

I don't expect or predict that Hillary will grow a pair and turn on hand that feeds her. She's not a statesman type. She prefers to play political hack and water carrier for the 1% Elitists, because they made her what she is today.....

(and why anyone would want to be that, is beyond me!)

[alsame]

2. The Minimum Wage and the Coup in Honduras

The Minimum Wage and the Coup in Honduras

<snip>

Supporters of the coup have tried to trick Americans into believing that President Zelaya was ousted by the Honduran military because he broke the law. But this is nonsense. A Honduran bishop told Catholic News Service, "Some say Manuel Zelaya threatened democracy by proposing a constitutional assembly. But the poor of Honduras know that Zelaya raised the minimum salary. That's what they understand. They know he defended the poor by sharing money with mayors and small towns. That's why they are out in the streets closing highways and protesting (to demand Zelaya's return)"

This is why the greedy, self-absorbed Honduran elite turned against President Zelaya: because he was pursuing policies in the interests of the majority. The Washington Post noted in mid-July, To many poor Hondurans, deposed president Manuel "Mel" Zelaya was a trailblazing ally who scrapped school tuitions, raised the minimum wage and took on big business.

In a statement condemning support for the coup by U.S. business groups, the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation expressed its concern that under the coup regime, there are
worsening working conditions, and in particular at efforts to claw back a wage increase ordered by President Zelaya six months ago in order to reflect the increased cost of food and other essentials. In reality the increased wage barely covered 90% of basic food needs and less than a third of a living wage covering basic needs such as food, rent, transport, education, and medical care.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2009/08/08/minimum-wage-and-coup-honduras

[delrem]

3. Yes, except for one major thing: language.

"blunder"?
Do we say Cheney "blundered", even though the results of his decisions are horrendous. Of course not. We say Cheney was and is *morally wrong*. We don't buy into language that suggests he made a mistake, that he had higher motives, because none of that is true.
"centrist"?
What is centrist about anything in HRC's term as SoS? About her support of the fascist Honduran coup and coup-makers? How can that be construed as "centrist"? What is "centrist" about her R2P bombing of Libya, about her Friends of Syria which ushered in ISIS (and is still going strong?). Does anyone think the USA, now under Obama/Kerry, can distinguish so-called "moderate rebels" from "extreme rebels"?
HRC, and Kerry, are right-wing. Not "centrist", not "moderate", and the results of their actions aren't "blunders", these results are exactly what they wanted, what their neocon/MIC masters wanted.