Clinton?s Haitian Nightmare
By Michael Radu Jan 24, 2004, 15:37
Michael Radu is Senior Fellow and Co - Chair, Center on Terrorism and Counterterrorism, at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.
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Ten years ago, in September 1994, U.S. troops invaded Haiti under the auspices of restoring democracy, human rights and the rule of law. At the time, the Clinton-conceived operation was hailed by leftists as a model of liberal interventionism, as former Catholic priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide was restored to power and an oppressive military regime was ousted. There was only one problem with this scenario : not only was Aristide vehemently anti-capitalist and (ironically) anti-American, he was every bit as brutal a despot as his predecessors. To make matters worse, the Clinton administration knew beforehand of Aristide?s radical pedigree but chose to prop him into the dictator?s chair anyway, in one of foreign policy?s all-time worst liberal bungles. Today, the disastrous results of Clinton?s experiment in Caribbean colonialism are painfully evident.
Despite the fact that Haiti, the second oldest independent state in the Americas, just recently marked its 200th anniversary in November 2003, freedom and prosperity remain sadly elusive for the country?s citizens.
While the country, or more precisely the Jean-Bertrand Aristide regime, celebrated this bicentennial, most Haitians were too busy demonstrating against Aristide or simply scrounging for food-or a raft to Florida-to take part in any festivities.
In 2004, Aristide himself will celebrate the tenth anniversary of Operation Restore Freedom, which returned him to power. Friends of his, like Jesse Jackson and Randall Robinson, had helped pester the Clinton administration into undertaking this intervention. At the time, I pointed out that such an operation was an oxymoron, for how could one ?restore? Haitian freedom, when the Haitian people have always been denied such freedom ?
Ten years later, despite claims that Operation Restore Freedom was a great foreign policy triumph for the Clinton administration, the failure of Aristide?s regime to transform Haiti?s profoundly dysfunctional society into a functional one is all too evident. Indeed, if ever there was a case of a country hopelessly dysfunctional, from its civil society to its elected leadership, it is Haiti, which has become an almost perfect example of a society beyond salvation. Its problems are stubbornly rooted in violence and terror, which continue to enjoy mass support.
Aristide?s election in 1990 (when he promised to ?necklace? his opponents, or burn them alive) is often declared to have been Haiti?s first free election, despite the notorious François ?Papa Doc? Duvalier?s election in 1957. Besides this ongoing democratic charade, since 1994 the Catholic Left in Haiti has destroyed what little remained after two centuries of savagery in the name of social justice and heretical liberation theology.
But Haitian corruption and misery are threats that reach well beyond the borders of Haiti. Washington has proven unable to do anything about Haiti, or even to protect the U.S. against wave after wave of Haitian émigrés coming to Florida. Haiti has also repeatedly invaded-raping, destroying, and stealing as much as possible-today?s Dominican Republic, while always managing to remain eras behind it in terms of development.
The U.S. and European Union have suspended aid after the fraudulent 2000 elections that returned Aristide to power. Even Paris and Ottawa now agree with Washington that no more of the $500 million promised to Port-au-Prince in the ebullient days of 1994 should be delivered to Aristide.
Such a decision is absolutely necessary, since Haiti has always pursued the same solution to its problem of ungovernability : deflect blame and ask for money from outsiders. Hence, ?You owe us $21,685,135,571.48, screams the bankrupt regime in Port-au-Prince? (London Telegraph, Oct. 10, 2003). This refers to the 90 million francs Haiti alleges it wrongfully had to pay France in 1825 in connection with Haitian crimes under founding father Dessalines as the country fought for independence, including murder, rape, confiscation of property, and similar actions against white French civilians, mostly women and children. That was the amount demanded by Paris in return for granting independence. With good reason, since Jean-Jacques Dessalines? 1805 Constitution clearly stated that ?No white man of whatever nation he may be, shall put his foot on this territory with the title of master or proprietor, neither shall he in future acquire any property therein.?
Such racist constitutions in Haiti have since changed, but the behavior of its government has not. The French are right to dismiss this monetary claim, not just because it is extortion, but also because -- due largely to Paris? influence -- the EU has already wasted almost $2 billion on Aristide?s thuggish regime. And no matter how much Aristide and his lackeys spend on lobbying in Washington, it appears that even his racialist supporters in the United States are embarrassed by him now.
The Washington Post reported (on November 18, 2003) that, at the 200th anniversary celebration, Aristide told Haitians, ?After 200 years of economic violence, the traces of slavery are still here. Poverty today is the result of a 200-year plot. Whether it be slavery or embargo, it?s the same plot. You are victims.? Referring to the aid suspensions-which he calls ?economic sanctions,? he said, ?We got out of the blockade then, now there?s another one. It?s the same conspiracy. We won that victory. We can walk toward another victory.?
The undeniable truth is that Aristide is merely the latest incarnation of an uninterrupted chain of murderous tyrants who have ruled Haiti over the centuries. In fact, the country still glorifies the racist Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Emperor Jacques I) as its ?founding father.? That a genocidal murderer is the national hero makes perfect sense in Haiti, where Dessalines? assassin, Henri Christophe (King Henry I, 1806-20), is also glorified as a founding father. Although many Haitians excuse Christophe?s act as a part of Haiti?s independence struggle, it is obvious that Haiti?s history of bloodshed, from the lines of succession to the lush fields of the countryside, underpins its current political and social culture.
And the tragic spin of Haiti?s history wheel continues. It is Aristide?s ?chiméres? gangs doing the killing and beating. Members are recruited from the worst ghettos. Formed for the purpose of beating up or even murdering opposition, some of these gangs themselves are now considered ?opposition.? One famous thug, Amiot Metayer, the alienated leader of a formerly pro-Aristide ?community organization" called the ?Cannibal Army,? was found dead on a roadside in Gonaives with his eyes shot out. His gang?s members blame Aristide.
Even a cursory understanding of Haitian history should have taught the Clinton administration that to speak of ?Restoring Freedom? in a country that never had it -- or wanted it -- is ridiculous. The real reason for Clinton?s intervention was the invasion of Florida by Haitians, an invasion that has not abated and never will, because of the very fact that, by per capita income, Haitians today have only 60 percent of what they did in 1800. ?Restore Freedom? ? Freedom has not yet dawned upon Haiti?s bloodstained shores. To insist Bill Clinton restored freedom insults the meaning of the word itself.
My Response to this Article
Kompa []
Junior Member
Registered: Dec 2003
Local Time: 06:37 AM
01-27-2004
Posts: 9
Post #3
While there may be some parts of this article that fall in line with this site?s political inclination, I personally don't think it should have ever been posted here in its entirerity. One has to be lacking quite a bit to label Dessalines as a "racist". Does this Mr. Radu have any clue as to the treatment of these former slaves? Has he ever heard stories of slaves being buried up to their necks, while their heads are drenched in ?honey? so that they can be eaten alive by ants, thus ensuring a most painful and slow death. That is just one of many examples of our forefathers' indescribable treatments!
Dessalines' declaration:
?No white man of whatever nation he may be, shall put his foot on this territory with the title of master or proprietor, neither shall he in future acquire any property therein.?
is by no means racist. It is that of a recently freed slave who knew that his freedom was not given to him, it was not negotiated in some court, nor was it earned for good behavior. His freedom was taken by force. The blood of his fellow slaves was the premium. The possibillity of these powerful white masters coming back for revenge was a very very real and present danger. Just the mention of the word freedom among slaves was reason enough to be beheaded. What may appear as brutality in Mr. Radu?s opinion, was the only salvation of the "Black Race". Haiti, 200 years ago, stood against the world to make a proclamation of freedom for which it is still paying today. Whether it is ever accepted universally, Haiti blazed the trails and led the way the freedom of slaves everywhere. 200 years ago, any superpower which would have accepted that proclamation would have done it to its own peril economically. So, Haiti was left to fend for itself in the midst of all its newly made enemies.
Just about every article ever written on Haiti makes an exhibition of everything that is wrong with it: Its poverty, iliteracy rate, failed governments, abuses, wastes ect.......... But most of them fail to mention why Haiti is in its current state. If I am allowed an anology here, If a newborn was abandoned in the wilderness to fend for itself, the probability of its survival would be unconceivable. If in fact it survived, its story would be told all over the world. Well, that is what happened to my Haiti, instead of being exalted for its courage, because of its audacity to stand against the rest of the world, it was condemned to fail by the ones that should have helped nurtured it, as new free people. Ostensibly, Haiti was seen as a threat to the status quo, a possible inspiration to slaves everywhere. But, by not publicizing this fact, they have unintentionally magnified what Haiti stands for: "The site of the "only" successful slave revolt in history". While we pay for it dearly, no one can ever take that away. Yes it shall be yelled out from roof tops: ?!200 years ago, these former slaves had the audacity to stand against the French and the smarts and the great napoleon?s army and somehow came out victorious." and as a direct result the French sold Louisana to the the U.S for next to nothing. As mentioned by as Steve Schulkens of Voice Of America:
?Haiti is linked to Louisiana because the slave revolt against French rule that occurred there had a direct impact on French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte's decision to sell the vast territory.?
Another blunder in this article is the claim that the money paid to France is but "an allegation". Maybe Mr Radu would be wise enough to at least do a little research next time before making such statements. I am sure that the probability of being corrected when an assumption is made about a third world country is very small. And, although in this case, most of those affected by it won't have the voice to be heard, I believe that it should still be basic human decency to make sure that the facts are straight when one is referring to a sovereingn country, be it only Haiti.
Mr. Radu goes even further by stating the payment was justified because of Dessalines? statement. He also alleges that this money was paid because fo Haitian crimes against French citizens.
That is simply proposterous!
Do we really want to start comparing crimes? I strongly doubt it!
Who will pay for the unimaginable crimes committed against our race???????????
Not only do the French owe every penny, they owe much more namely the gold and other resources that were stolen from the Haiti to never be recovered!
In conclusion, I find Mr Radu?s views to be just that of another white man in a position of power who thinks he knows exactly what is wrong with the rest of the world. I find parts of his article nothing short of idiotic and insulting.
Ps. I can only hope that some day soon my fellow Haitians will finally realize the great opportunity they had to have been born in a land so rich in history that they can use that past as a propellor to whatever path they choose. And maybe we can put our differences as a people aside and build a Haiti which can finally take its rightful place in the world as a "Mecca". "The birthplace of freedom for all slaves". Just imagine a restored Haiti with an influx of travelers from all over Africa, South America, the Carribean ect? making the journey to their Mecca!!!
01-29-04, 01:45 AM
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