Chantalle

by the way there's oil and gas in Haiti! Never mind that stealth offshore and on-land drilling may have disturbed the fault line, those Haitians are black idiots anyway.

This writer (Vanessa Buschschluter) mixed real history with half-truths, outright propaganda and lies in this "story--"The long history of troubled ties between Haiti and the US". I object strongly to the following statements that she made and have composed rebuttals to each one:
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"The ousting of President Aristide by a military regime in 1991 led to a new wave of Haitians headed for the US."

Buschschluter neglects to mention that the 1991 regime change in Haiti was sponsored by Washington. globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO402D.html [globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO402D.html]
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"While he enjoyed the support of the Clinton administration during his first term of office, allegations of corruption and links to the drugs trade during President Aristide's second term made for a rocky relationship with Washington.

After an uprising against President Aristide in 2004, US forces returned to Haiti, this time to airlift him out of the country."

Enjoying himself is not exactly the way most would put it, in light of the conditions that the Clinton administration imposed on Aristide for his return. Especially in light of Washington's insistence that Aristide reconcile, negotiate and empower the elements in Haiti that had ousted him--in other words, his enemies.
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"Mr Aristide accused the US of forcing him out - an accusation the US rejected as "absurd".

With the crisis averted, US interest in Haiti lessened. A UN-led mission took over from US troops in June 2004 and continues to be present there."

There is documented proof that the US ousted Aristide (again) in 2004--if the writer cared to include it. In particular, the training and arming of "rebels"-- comprising of former military thugs and criminals in the DR. Further evidence of US involvement: these men were supplied with American weapons and supplies.

Also, it is highly unlikely that the "US interest in Haiti lessened," for one, the U.S. Embassy in Haiti is described as a "behemoth" costing 75 million to build in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. The compound, finished in 2007 is the fourth largest in cost. ( haitiaction.net/News/RAW/2_28_8/2_28_8.html [haitiaction.net/News/RAW/2_28_8/2_28_8.html] )
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"The election of President Obama and the nomination of Bill Clinton to the post of UN envoy to Haiti, combined with a period of relative political stability, led to a strengthening of US-Haitian ties."

Close ties in that the US financed Haitian elections and picked out (President Preval in particular) most candidates? The writer is not being candid, she is glossing over the fact that the UN was brought in to "stabilize" Haiti--only after the "int'l community' caused the chaos. The US, France & Canada (see the Ottawa Initiative) destabilized Haiti, then by virtue of their oppressive, unbalanced power as voting members of the UN Security Council--brought in a brutal (proxy) military occupation to "protect its interests" and squash resistance and democracy.

It's almost laughable the propaganda that passes for "news" in the mainstream media. The BBC had some shred of integrity left-but this tears it for me. Is it any wonder that newspapers are going out of business, and increasingly people are depending on blogs, political PACs and unembedded journalists for the truth? People are waking up to the fact that they cannot trust the media to tell the truth and increasingly they are doing their own research to fact check stories like this that masquerade as journalism but are in fact opinion pieces littered with propagandist spin.

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Although the hypocrites in Congress have voted to defund ACORN, rebelreports.com [rebelreports.com] ] the move is arguably unconstitutional. So don't despair.

CNN believes that the Restavek system in Haiti is not child labor - it's slavery. It seems that this standard held by CNN is dependent on where you are in the world. If you live and work in the Dominican Republic and are an exploited worker or child laborer -- not slavery.

"Sustainable US health care reform also demands agricultural and farm policy (subsidy) reform and food system reforms."

Taking on the food industry is the next step in real healthcare reform.