CNN breaking- Bush sends marines to Haiti

[curse10]

www.cnn.com

no direct link yet

[mhr]

1. It Begins Again!

eom

[buycitgo]

2. got that right......smedlely butler said it a LONG time ago

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914.

I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National city Bank boys to collect revenues in.

I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. (1940)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

[indepat]

13. I've got General Butler's autobiography boxed away

with other military history books: sounds like my kind of hero, so gonna dig it out for my next read.

[ozone_man]

21. Good idea.

A true American hero. Maybe I'll take your cue.

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. Good news for America's investors and businesses!

Paulaine Saint-Fleur..received 55 gourdes a day when she started..Now she makes 110 gourdes..but the wage increase has had little impact. "Now the cost of living is so much higher," she said, "that 110 gourdes is basically the same as 55 gourdes was."..she has no children, she makes more than most people at the factory, she lives in her mother's house, she lives close to the factory, and she has an uncle who helps out with expenses...she spends 95 gourdes per day on transportation and food for herself.

Last April, the Haitian government raised the national minimum wage from 36 gourdes a day ($2.40 when it was passed in 1994) to 70 gourdes per day (about $1.70 today). But even this paltry sum, lower than the cost of living for the frugal, is often overlooked even by the government itself.

"At the same time that President Aristide was campaigning for increased wages, he was ousted..."he was committed to raising the minimum wage to 72 gourdes" in 1994, "but after lengthy dialogue with the labor unions, domestic and foreign employers," etc., "the bill that finally went before Parliament raised the wage to 36 gourdes a day," from 15. The explanation continued...The president wanted to raise it to 72 gourdes this year, but was pressured to settle at 70 gourdes.

Even Marie-Claude Baillard, the president of the Association of Haitian Industries, acknowledges that the current minimum wage is too low, "in a sense, in terms of the cost of living." But "at the level of the enterprises, there is ferocious competition and the salaries must be competitive," she added. "It's not the most desirable situation," she said, but insisted that the salaries must be kept low in order to create more jobs in Haiti.

http://haitisupport.gn.apc.org/Bracken.htm

[papau]

4. 500 to go - once they are invited - so when do they go?

Are they even being flown to Florida to await the go order - or do they stay on base under Bush gets a note in the mail?

[papau]

5. Bush was? the guy that complained Dems were too legalistic -wait for

permission

so today he waits for permission

I wonder if the media will point out the contradiction

Oh I know the whore media will never say an un-nice thing about Bush - I was just dreaming.

:-)

[On the Road]

7. When Woodrow Wilson Sent Troops to Occupy Haiti

they stayed for 20 years. It wasn't the first time. Or the last.

[Blue-Jay]

6. I didn't know we had any left.

We're going to need some new soldiers soon, I'm afraid to say.

[brads]

8. Any direct statement from Aristide that he resigned?

I haven't seen any direct statement from Aristide that he has resigned. I am wondering if anyone has seen a direct statement from him? It reminds me of last April in Venezuela when the media suddenly announced that President Hugo Chavez had "resigned" and fled to an undisclosed location (Cuba, they guessed), but what had really happened was that he was taken captive and held prisoner on an island off Venezuela, until a couple days later when he and his supporters succeeded in defeating the US-supported coup attempt.

I'd really like to see or hear something directly from Arisitide; until then I won't believe that he willingly stepped down.

[htuttle]

9. There was a written statement only

Here's a thread on KPFA live reports from Haiti, on now:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x390915

[htuttle]

14. Strike that, there was no written statement, either

According to Aristide's own lawyer, the only statement of resignation has come via US State dept personnel.

BTW, nobody knows where Aristide is right now. Not his lawyer, not his security people.

I bet the US knows.

[Tinoire]

10. I'm with you... I don't believe Aristide willingly went anywhere.

Must repost this. It's so... telling.

Miami Protesters Demand Aristide Step Down
As Many As 300 Rally In Protest

POSTED: 4:10 p.m. EST February 22, 2004

<snip>

In Miami's Bayfront Park on Saturday, about 200 to 300 people rallied in protest -- far short of the 80,000 organizers had predicted would attend.

The protest was a coalition of Haitian, Venezuelan and Cuban groups that also demanded the ouster of Fidel Castro and President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

http://www.nbc17.com/news/2865437/detail.html

[brads]

11. Over 1000 pro-Aristide marchers in Brooklyn yesterday

That's funny, I haven't seen any reports in the mass media about the over 1,000 pro-Arisitide marchers in Brooklyn yesterday. (I heard about it from someone who was there, can't find almost any media on that at all -- here's the only article I've found on it:
http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/19307.htm )

[Tinoire]

12. I found a few more for you

And welcome to DU! :toast:

You're so right. They don't mention those at all. I was only able to find 9 stories about those. Usually you can find several hundred. Going to be keeping my eye out for these... And also start looking at the Haitian papers.

Peace & welcome Brad :toast:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/nyregion/29protest.html?ex=1078635600&en=1884a5f34e5c0bcd&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE (NYT, typically, has reduced the number to "hundreds")

===

<snip>

It started with several hundred protesters and grew to at least 1,000 in Grand Army Plaza. The protesters walked behind the slogans ''U.S. & France: Stop Supporting Subversion in Haiti'' and ''Election, Yes, Coup d'Etat, No.''

<snip>

The Brooklyn demonstrators blamed the violence in Haiti on what they call ''a U.S.-inspired armed uprising,''

''It is clear to us who know Haiti that this is not an uprising of the Haitian people against their government, but rather a military operation by Haitian former soldiers and death squads with the support of shadowy sectors in the U.S. and Dominican governments,'' said Ray Laforest, a native of Haiti and member of the Brooklyn-based Haiti Support Network.

He said the anti-Aristide forces number about 300 men armed with such high-power weapons as M16 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades that Laforest said arrived via the Dominican Republic that borders Haiti.

One of the rebel leaders is Louis Chamblain, who was second-in-command of the paramilitary group that overthrew Aristide in 1991, killing thousands of civilians.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/059/region/New_York_marchers_blame_US_Fra:.shtml

[newyawker99]

22. Hi brads!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Jack Rabbit]

15. BBC Link

From the BBC Online
Dated Sunday February 29 19:50 GMT (11:50 am PST)

Bush sends US Marines into Haiti

US President George Bush says he has deployed US Marines to be the "leading element" in an international force to help stabilise Haiti.
Early on Sunday, Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide flew out of the country in an unmarked jet, following a three-week rebellion against him.
There have been celebrations in some parts, but the capital Port-au-Prince is in the grip of near-anarchy . . . .
Mr Bush said the marines would help "bring order and stability to Haiti".

Read more.

[teryang]

16. Another BFEE disgrace

This CIA supported terrorism makes me sick.

[curse10]

17. CNN link

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/02/29/haiti.revolt/index.html

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNN) -- President Bush said Sunday he has ordered U.S. Marines to be the first contingent of a mulitinational interim force deployed in Haiti, after the resignation and departure of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

"I have ordered deployment of Marines as the leading element of an interim international force to help bring order and stability to Haiti," Bush said Sunday.

"I urge the people of Haiti to reject violence and give this break from the past a chance to work and the United States is prepared to help."

Before Bush spoke, U.S. administration officials told CNN they were considering sending several hundred Marines to Haiti as soon as Sunday, but only with authorization by the Haitian government.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

18. I think they've been there for a bit already. Dollars to donuts

they "escorted" Aristide out of the country themselves.

Didn't George I pretty much install Aristide?

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

20. I did, George I was Pres in '90 and we were supporting the

coups against Duvalier.

Sorry, Clinton's penis had nothing to do with it.

"In the fall of 1990 Haiti prepared for presidential elections that many feared would end in violence as they did in 1987 when voters were massacred at the voting poles. On the final day of registration Aristide announced his candidacy for the presidency. The announcement electrified the country and after a six week campaign that Aristide dubbed "Lavalas" or a cleansing flood, he was elected president in Haiti's first free and fair election with an overwhelming 67% of the vote. On the eve of his inauguration violence struck again as arsonists set fire to La Fanmi Selavi, killing four children."

From: http://www.haiti.org/aristide-bio.htm