BOREV Covers Last Fri. Foreign Affairs Hearing: Otto Reich Wants to Know Where You Were on July 5

[magbana]

"Otto Reich Wants to Know Where You Were on July 5th

Otto & Me 2.JPGBy Revolter

We all already knew Otto Reich is an insufferable twat. After all, he headed the illegal domestic propaganda outfit that planted fake stories about the Sandinistas in the U.S. press during the 1980s. And just last week, Reich wrote that weird op-ed about how he did not orchestrate the coup in Honduras. But does he still approve of the murder of children when it serves his ideological goals?

On Friday, I stood through the agonizing 2.5 hour House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the Honduran coup. After being blinded by the orange glow emanating from Connie Mack and enraged by the inanity of Lanny Davis and almost everyone else involved, I had my chance to get Otto on the record. I handed him a flyer featuring the iconic picture of the murdered teenage protester, Isis Obeth Murillo (you know the one that the "free" press of Honduras has, um, sanitized).

The Honorable Reich had earlier stated, under oath, "I will not justify the restrictions of civil rights by any government, period." So I asked him since he doesn't support governments that suppress human rights, what does he think about governments that kill protesters. He responded by asking, "Do you know who is responsible for that?" At first I thought he was trying to say that Zelaya was responsible for the death with the whole trying to fly back into the country that he is president of thing. When I asked for clarification, he asked, "Were you on the ground?"

Now I'm not that dim, but I was shocked that this guy and the coupmongers' story is that it's not clear who shot Murillo - despite the fact that the Honduran police - who were on the ground - have said that it was the army who killed Murillo. So I kept on saying, "Yes, the protesters shot at themselves, is that what you're saying?", and the red-faced (not from shame) cold warrior kept repeating that "No one knew" over and over again before walking away. The scumbag didn't even have the balls to verbalize the ridiculousity that the fuckwit former de facto Foreign Minister had said then, and that he was now insinuating - It was the protesters that shot at each other.

So that's the kind of reality-denying, schooled in Satan's PR academy, right-wing lunatics we are dealing with folks. What else did we learn at the hearing? Join us after the jump.

Let's just keep going with the lowlights of Otto's testimony. Under oath mind you:

After being asked if constitutional amendments for doing away with presidential term limits were a left-wing thing, or if right-wing presidents were also guilty of this undemocratic act, Reich first denied that Colombia's Uribe is also freedom-hater. He then admitted that Uribe has already rewritten the constitution once and in the process of doing it again:

Reich: "hat is just my personal opinion and based on 40 some years of working in Latin America, where some countries for example like Mexico, have made it part of the Constitution that there is no reelection, because they know that unfortunately, for some reason, cultural reasons or political or whatever, once people get into power they don't want to give it up."

That's right, we power-hungry latinos cannot be trusted with handing back the keys of the president after attaining it. It's part of our culture.

Near the end of the hearing, he had this little catfight with Rep. Barbara Lee (D):

Reich: "I don't think that the Congress of the U.S. should sit in judgment of the Supreme Court another country."

Lee: "Well let me tell you this, Cuba has it's constitution, and there are those talking out of both sides of their mouths." - That's you Otto.

Reich: "That's right and there were also the Nuremberg laws in Germany if you want to defend those kind of laws."

They were both obviously pissed at this point, and then the Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel (D) quickly stepped in and moved on to the next question. Engel sucks worse than the some of the Republican Congressman if you ask me. Mack, Rohrabacher and company are ridiculously right-wing with their insane arguments, while this guy pretends he's a neutral voice.

Engel began the hearing by talking about the "disturbing trend" that Latin Americans are rewriting their own constitutions without the help of U.S. advisors. And worse yet, Zelaya's attempt had Chavez's "fingerprints all over it." After all the ballots for the non-binding popular consultation "were printed and flown in from Venezuela." Oh the horror.

Engle then stated that there was "no doubt" that Zelaya had violated Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution. He's a lawyer you know. He then ceded to the rest of the Committee's opening remarks:

Rep. Michael T. McCaul (R) then stated that the "most disturbing" facet of the whole episode was that the ballots were printed in Venezuela. Whoever said that the House is too partisan?

Rep. Albio Sires (D) stated that Zelaya was "undemocratic."

Rep. Christopher Smith (R) alluded to the "wise writers of the Honduran Constitution." Like most Republicans, it's always about the Reagan administration.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R) congratulated the "civil-democratic system" of Honduras for doing its job by forcing the elected president out with the military's guns.

Rep. Donald M. Payne (D) poo-poo'd the trend in Latin America to "extend term limits." But then he redeemed himself while garnering one of the biggest laughs from the gallery by stating that if this wasn't a coup it was obviously a "military . . . something".

Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R) is concerned because his constituents "fear" that Honduras was moving away from its democratic principles, aka having good relations with Chavez. Let me guess, this guy is from Florida? Yep.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D)'s opening statement: "A coup is a coup is a coup." She then brought up the U.S. involvement in the Haitian coup of 2004. This woman actually knows history and Latin America. What is she doing in the House?

Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R)'s opening statement: "Yes a coup is a coup is a coup, and what happened in Honduras is not a coup. . . What happened in Honduras was a victory for democratic governments and the rule of law over caudilloism. . . . .No matter how it was accomplished, is a great victory for Central America for Latin America in the long run. We all know that." Get that, the coup happened because of the rule of law. And if the law wasn't followed, who cares, there are right-wingers in charge now, which means the rule of law has triumphed.

Rep. Bill Delahunt (D): "I never realized how many experts we had by the way, on the Honduran Constitution. I mean it's amazing. There must be a class somewhere. I haven't taken it yet so I have to acknowledge my own ignorance." 'Nuff said.

And then the witnesses finally started. Oh boy.

The whole thing is available here if you are a sadist or have 2.5 hours to kill.

Michael Shitter of the Inter-American Dialogue started things off. He offered up the Dialogue's usual double-talk, full of contradictions and disturbing anti-left insinuations. The highlight comes at minute 46 when some Honduran golpista prick picks his nose right behind him. Does this guy not realize or not care that there are cameras on him? This pretty much sums up their mentality.

One of the coupmongers is in the House! Guillermo Perez Cadalso is not only a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Honduras, he was also a former Foreign Minister! Seriously, does it not prove that the Honduran Supreme Court isn't some neutral group of by-the-book jurists when it's members are ALSO politicians?

Here's some of his "legalish" arguments: "Taking Mr. Zelaya out of the country could have been the result of a terrible dilemma. It is possible that the military, which was properly ordered to arrest Mr. Zelaya by the Honduran Supreme Court to uphold the Constitution, thought it would be more prudent to take him out of the country rather than hold him in custody in Honduras and risk greater civil unrest and violence."

Funny how the coupmongers are also all fortune tellers. Not only is everyone supposed to believe their line that Zelaya was going to take Honduras and make it a left-wing dictatorship, but they had to ship him out of the country or there would have been crazy violence. But not because Zelaya's popular. Because he's not. Democracy. The end.

Joy Olson of the Washington Office on Latin America spoke next. She brings up the obvious in that the entire hemisphere has condemned the events as a coup, so the U.S. is merely not being a total douche by admitting so. She then states that there was "plenty of violating of the law on both sides." She talks about clarifying the "coup clause" which determines what U.S. aid must be suspended when a country topples its government. She wasn't bad, but if this is the biggest supporter of the deposed government that can be mustered, we're not going anywhere in the Congress.

Dr. Aranson of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars "welcomes the subcommittee's focus on Central America, a continuation of the historic role that the subcommittee played during the Central American wars in the 1980s and their subsequent resolution in the 1990s." Historic is one way of putting it.

She's also a future-seer. She knows that Honduras would have taken a path similar to Venezuela if Zelaya could have seen his popular consultation go through. The country would then have experimented with "popular democracy", so thank god it was stopped now.

Lanny Davis then testified. He wasn't speaking on behalf of himself, but on behalf of the downtrodden elites of Honduras, through the Honduran Chapter of the Business Council of Latin America (CEAL). This guy is a major tool. He cites the polls that have since proven to be falsely characterized by the right-wing and the mainstream press, as most Hondurans are against the coup. How did this happen? Otto?

Davis doesn't want the U.S. to cut off any aid to Honduras because it will only hurt the poor. The Honduran business elites are only worried about the poor. That is why they were so against the controversial 60 cent/hour minimum wage that Zelaya dictataorialy imposed upon the country.

Sarah Stephens of the Center for Democracy in the Americas was up next. Straight-talker: "Coups are wrong are undemocratic and taint the hands of everyone who touches them." Speaker of the day. She does think that the U.S. has reacted well and "with prudence" in the face of the coup.

Then Otto. We already went over that. Again, if you want to see the whole thing, go here. The transcript doesn't come out for a few weeks, so you're welcome. But if you wait for that, you will miss the one man comedy show that is Connnie Mack.
Tags:

* Connie Mack
* Coup
* Honduras
* Lanny Davis
* Liars
* Otto Reich"
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