19204: erzilidanto: SEN. KERRY CRITICIZING BUSH ADMINISTRATION &Port-au-Prince now! (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Erzilidanto@aol.com

Below, after the Kerry New York Times statement against Bush policy in Haiti,
is a  report by "Le Monde"  article, translated in English, and forwarded by
a concerned human rights activist that gives an idea of what journalists would
find if they were really reporting the People's story of Haiti, as opposed to
the tiny opposition's story!
*****

NYT ON SEN. KERRY CRITICIZING THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION POLICY

ON HAITI:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/25/politics/campaign/25KERR.html?pagewanted=p

rint&position=

Headline:


Excerpt from the article relating to Haiti:

------------------------------------------------------------------------


February 25, 2004

THE MASSACHUSETTS SENATOR


Kerry Maintains the Administration Is Partly to Blame for the Unrest in

Haiti

By DAVID M. HALBFINGER


HIGHLAND HILLS, Ohio, Feb. 24 ‹ Senator John Kerry accused the Bush

administration on Tuesday of helping foster the political instability in

Haiti that has given rise to the armed rebellion threatening to overthrow

the government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.


"I think the administration has missed a lot of opportunities, in fact has

exacerbated the situation over the last few years with its cutoff of

humanitarian assistance and its attitude towards the Aristide

administration," Mr. Kerry said. "So they sort of created the environment

within which the insurgency could grow, take root. And now they're trying to

manage it, I think."


He also questioned whether the administration had been playing "a

duplicitous game": publicly encouraging Mr. Aristide but declining to assert

itself in his behalf with the insurgents.


"They hate Aristide," Mr. Kerry said of administration officials at a

morning meeting with editors and reporters of The New York Times, as he

sought endorsements in New York's Democratic presidential primary next week.

He then flew to Ohio, another Super Tuesday state, to campaign near

Youngstown and in this Cleveland suburb.

******
La Sosyete and Internet Friends,

The English translation of the below Le Monde article - the part of the story
that tells you what Port-au-Prince is like -in case you don't read French.



http://www.lemonde.fr/web/imprimer_article/0,1-0@2-3222,36-354317,0.html


"......A man, who introduces himself as a school teacher from the
neighborhood, has

come with several friends to show to the police that the population is with

them. " I don't belong to any party, but I support our President, he assures

them, as do the majority of the people of Bon-Repos. We are very

closely-knit here, we do not want former members of the military to  return

to power. We don't have firearms, but if the rebels try to enter, we will

fight them with whatever resources we have around here. And if the police

feel they are supported by the population, they will fight. We are going to

stay with them all night." Behind him, the passers-by quietly nodded their

agreement, their eyes lowered.


Small Barricades

In fact the local police have left the neighborhood since Friday following

an attack perpetrated by an unidentified commando group. An officer in the

specialized police unit that replaced (the local police)  found excuses for

them: " They were not well-enough armed, they had to leave. But when the

attackers realized that the population was hostile toward them, they left

very quickly."

----------------------------------------------