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Today's
Stories
March 31, 2004
Marjorie Cohn
The Illegal Coup in Haiti: How the
Kidnapping of Aristide Violated US and International Law
March 30, 2004
William S. Lind
An Occurrence
in Pakistan: the Battle That Wasn't
Ron Jacobs
Assassinations, Hate Mail &
Justice
Mickey Z.
Tommy Boy Friedman Does "Imagine"
Neve Gordon
Strategic Motives of the Yassin Assassination
Mark Scaramella
The Founding Scam: Insider Trading is the American Way
John Chuckman
The Countessa of Empire: Condi
Rice's Idea of Democracy
Greg Moses
Live from Pasadena: Silhouettes of New Order
Rai O'Brien
What Kind of Democracy to Expect if the Opposition Takes Power
in Venezuela
Bill Christison
The
9/11 Commission: Dangerous Harbinger for the Future
Website of the Day
Ghost Town: Riding Through Chernobyl
March 29, 2004
John Maxwell
Crisis
in the Caribbean: a Miasma Foretold
J. Michael Springmann
Email
Spying & Attorney Client Privilege
Robert Fisk / Severin
Carrell
Coalition
of the Mercenaries
The Black Commentator
Haiti's Troika of Terror
Doug Giebel
Candide in the Wilderness:
How Bush Policy Was Made
David Krieger
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Bargain
Mike Whitney
Rejecting the Language of Terrorism
Richard Oxman
The Pitts: a 9/11 Burrow of an American
Family
Kim Scipes
The AFL-CIO in Venezuela: Deja Vu All Over Again
Michael Donnelly
End Game for Northwest Forests
Norman Solomon
The Media Politics of 9/11
Kathy Kelly
Last Lines Before Vanishing
Website of the Day
Swans: Can Money Buy Everything?
March 27 / 28, 2004
Jeffrey St. Clair
Empire of the Locusts
Gary Leupp
The Yassin Assassination: Prelude to an Attack on Syria
William A. Cook
The Yassin Assassination: a Monstrous Insanity Blessed by the
US
Faheem Hussain
Some Thoughts on Waziristan: Once and Always a Colonial Army
Elaine Cassel
Is Playing Paintball Terrorism?
Larry Birns / Jessica
Leight
Disturbing Signals: Kerry and Latin America
John Ross
Bush Tells the World: "Drop Dead"
John Eskow
A Memo to Karl Rove from the Hollywood Caucus
Alan Maass
Who Are the Real Terrorists?
Dave Lindorff
Spineless of US Journalists
Joe Bageant
Howling in the Belly of the Confederacy
Dave Zirin
Reasonable Doubt: Why Barry Bonds is Not on Steroids
Craig Waggoner
Who Would Mel's Jesus Nuke?
The Kerry Quandry
Joel Wendland
Marxists
for Kerry
Josh Frank
Scary,
Scary John Kerry
Matt Vidal
Spoilers, Electability and the Poverty of American Democracy
Poets' Basement
LaMorticella, Hamod, Guthrie, Davies and Albert
Website of the Weekend
Say a Little Prayer
March 26, 2004
Christopher Brauchli
There's
a Chill Over the Country
Robert Fisk
The Man Who Knew Too Much: the Ordeal
of Mordechai Vanunu
Joe DeRaymond
Democracy in El Salvador? Think Again
Mike Whitney
Lessons on Apartheid from Ariel Sharon
Mickey Z.
Somalia and Iraq: Looking Back and Ahead
Chris Floyd
The Pentagon Archipelago
CounterPunch Photo Wire
Cheney's Close Shave?
John Breneman
Bush's Comic Bomb
Website of the Day
Dick
is a Killer
March 25, 2004
Lee Sustar
Who
is to Blame for Lost Jobs?
Standard Schaefer
An
Interview with Michael Hudson on Offshore Banking Centers
Roger Burbach
Lula vs. the IMF: Brazil Begins
to Throw Off the Austerity Planners
Jimmer Endres
Elections Without Politics: The Military Budget Is Not an "Issue"
Larry Tuttle
Acting in Your Name: Identity Theft and Public Interest Groups
Toni Solo
Misreporting Venezuela
Dan Bacher
A Memorial Wall for Iraq War's Dead and Wounded
Saul Landau
Is
Venezuela Next?
Website of the Day
The Spiral Railway
March 24, 2004
Gary Leupp
General
Musharraf's IOU
Richard Oxman
Shakespeare
for Kerry
William Lind
The Beginning
of Phase Three: 4G Warfare Hits Iraq
Rep. Ron Paul
Iraq One Year Later
Michael Dempsey
Killing Rachel Corrie Again
Alan Farago
The Bad Math of Mercury: Bush's War on the Unborn
Benjamin Dangl
and April Howard
Media
in Cuba
John L. Hess
No Lie Left Behind: Judy Miller Does Dick Clarke
Greg Weiher
Two Cheers for Dems: "We're Not as Bad as George"
Eva Golinger
An Open Letter to John Kerry on Venezuela
Grayson Childs
Where's Cynthia McKinney?
Steve Niva
Israel's Assassinations will Only
Fuel More Suicide Bombings
Website of the Day
The Bushiad and the Idiossey
March 23, 2004
Phillip Cryan
The
Drug War's Next Casualty: Colombia's National Parks
Ron Jacobs
They Shoot Men in Wheelchairs, Too?
Dave Lindorff
A Spanish Parallel: Scare Tactics and Elections
Mike Whitney
Richard Clarke and Teflon George
Brian McKinlay
Bush's Lil' Buddy in Trouble: John Howard Starts to Wobble
JG
Driving Mr. Koon: "Jim Crow Lives Next Door"
Phyllis Pollack
Gettin' Jigga with Metallica: the Battle Over the Double Black
CD
Ahmed Bouzid
Sharon's One-Way Track
Sean Carter
The G-Word Goes to Court: One Nation Under [Your Logo Here]
M. Shahid Alam
World's Greatest Country: Do the Facts Lie
March 22, 2004
Mazin Qumsiyeh
On Extrajudicial
Executions
Uri Avnery
The
Assassination of Sheikh Yassin is Worse Than a Crime
Gilad Atzmon
Sharon's Rampage
Mike Whitney
Guilty Until Proven Innocent: the Story of Captain James Yee
Jason Leopold
Firm With Ties to Cheney Faces Criminal Indictment in Cal Energy
Scam
Greg Moses
Stop
Walling and Stalling: a Report from Houston's Peace March
Phil Gasper
San Francisco: 25,000 March for an End to the Occupation
Lenni Brenner
Report
from NYC: Old and Young Parade for Peace
Julian Borger
The Clarke Revelations
Steve Perry
Karl Rove's Moment
Website of the Day
Enviros Against War
March 20 / 21, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Gay
Marriage: Sidestep on Freedom's Path
Jeffrey St. Clair
Intolerable Opinions in an Age of Shock and Awe: What Would Lilburne
Do?
Ted Honderich
Tony Blair's Moral Responsibility for Atrocities
Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen
The Plot Against Syria: an Irresponsibility Act
Gary Leupp
On Viewing "The Passion of the Christ"
William A. Cook
Fence, Barrier, Wall
Phil Gasper
Bush v. Bush-lite: Chomsky's Lesser Evilism
Ron Jacobs
Fox News and the Masters of War
John Stanton
Which Way John Kerry? The Senator's Inner Nixon
Justin Felux
Kerry and Black America: Just Another Stupid White Man
Mike Whitney
Greenspan's Treason: Swindling Posterity
Augustin Velloso
Avoiding Osama's Abyss
Lawrence Magnuson
Eyes Wide Open: Is Spain Caving in to Terrorism?
Kathy Kelly
Getting Together to Defeat Terrorism
Tracy McLellan
Scalia & Cheney: Happiness is a Warm Gun
Kurt Nimmo
Emma Goldman for President!
Luis J. Rodriguez
The Redemptive Power of Art: It's Not a Frill
Mickey Z
The Michael Moore Diet
Jackie Corr
When Harry Truman Stopped in Butte
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The Great Trial of 1922: Gandhi's Vision of Responsibility
Poets' Basement
Stew Albert & JD Curtis
Website of the Weekend
Virtual World Election
March 19, 2004
Jeffrey St. Clair
Zapatero
to Kerry: Back Off, Senator, Our Troops are Coming Home
Ann Harrison
So
Protesters, How Well Do You Know Your Rights?
William MacDougall
Fortress Britain's War on "Economic Migrants"
Greg Moses
Sold American: Cowboy Nation Gets Ready to Vote
Cynthia McKinney
Haiti and the Impotence of Black America: Roll Back This Coup,
Mr. Bush
Norman Solomon
Spinning the Past; Threatening the Future
John L. Hess
"Missing" Evidence and the NYTs
Vicente Navarro
The
End of Aznar, Bush's Best Friend
Website of the War
Naming the Dead
March 18, 2004
Gila Svirsky
Rachel
Corrie, One Year Later: She Never Lost Faith in Decency
Christopher Brauchli
Drilling a Hole in the Sanctions: How Halliburton Made $73 Million
from Saddam
William Kulin
Report from Iraq: Just Another Baghdad Car Bombing
Mike Whitney
Resistance: a Moral Imperative
Rep. Ron Paul
Broadcast Indecency Act: an Indecent Attack on the First Amendment
Josh Frank
The Nader Question
Jack Random
They Lied & They Lost: Madrid and the Lessons of Democracy
Greg Bates
What Makes a Nader Voter Tick? A Survey
Sam Hamod / Alfredo Reyes
Contempt of the World: Hastert, Bush and Cheney on Spain
Gary Leupp
The
Madrid Bombings: the Chickens Come Home to Roost
Website of the Day
Privatizing Armageddon: Buy Your Own Doomsday Key
March 17, 2004
Marjorie Cohn
Spain, the EU and the US: War on
Terror or Civil Liberties?
David MacMichael
Untruth
and Consequences
Michael Donnelly
Wear the Green, But Skip the Green Beer
Tom Stephens
"Steady Leadership": Let the Buyer Beware
Wayne Madsen
Sen. Kerry, Let Me Help You Out
Karyn Strickler
Who Owns the Sierra Club? Anonymous Donors and Rigged Elections
Peter Linebaugh
Bush:
Blanc Blanc
March 16, 2004
Lenni Brenner
James
Madison: the Anti-Clerical Father of the Bill of Rights
Scott Boehm
Madrid
Diary: How to Change World Order in Four Days
Alexander Lynch
From Franco to Aznar: the History
Behind the Spanish Elections
Sam Hamod and Alfredo
Reyes
The Truth About the Spanish Elections: Aznar Was Going Down Anyway
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
You Wouldn't Do a Dog This Way:
Executing David Clayton Hill
Mike Whitney
The Case for a Nuclear Iran
Robert Fisk
The Bloody Price of the "War
on Terror"
Bill Christison
The
Aftershocks from Madrid
CounterPunch Photo Wire
The Passion of St. Teresa
Website of the Day
Join the War on Art!
March 15, 2004
Harry Browne
Terror Nothing New to Europe
Mike Whitney
Justice
Not Murder: the Tragic Symmetry of Terrorism
Lidice Valenzuela
Haiti: a Coup without Consultation
Greg Moses
Lessons
from the Texas Primaries: Looking for a Coalition with Legs
Mickey Z.
Depraved Indifference: C-Sections, Patriarchy & Women's Health
Asaf Shtull-Trauring
AWOL
in New York: From Refusenik to Organizer
CounterPunch Wire
Gen. Gramajo Executed by Bees!
March 12 / 14, 2004
Gabriel Kolko
The
Coming Elections and the Future of American Global Power
Saul Landau
Oh, Jesus...It's the Movie!
William Blum
Neo-Con(tradictions)
William S. Lind
Why They Throw Rocks
Rahul Mahajan
The Meaning of Madrid: War on "Terrorism" Makes Us
All Less Safe
Neve Gordon
Demographic Wars
Kurt Nimmo
Kerry and the Progressive Interventionists
Mickey Z.
The "New" UN Blames the Poor
Mike Whitney
War Games: the American Media Leads the Charge
Helen Scott and Ashley
Smith
Aristide's Fall: What Led to the Coup?
Justin E.H. Smith
Loïc Wacquant: Against a Sociodicy
of the American Prison
Brandy Baker
Him Again? Al Gore Needs to Move On
Robin Philpot
Nobody Can Call It a "Plane Crash" Now: the Report
on the Assassination of Rwandan President Habyarimana
Mokhiber / Weissman
The Meat Monopoly Takes a Rare Pounding
Dave Zirin
She Turned Her Back on the War: an Interview with Toni Smith
Daniel Wolff
The Lord's Pier
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
|
March
31, 2004
The
Illegal Coup in Haiti
The
Kidnapping of Aristide Violated US and International Law
By
MARJORIE COHN
Beginning in early February 2004,
the democratically elected President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, faced an armed rebellion starting from the North of
his country and moving South. The rebel leaders, whom U.S. Secretary
of State Colin Powell characterized as "thugs and criminals,"
include former members of the dissolved Haitian army, drug dealers,
and members of the former paramilitary organization universally
recognized as having operated terrorist/execution squads during
the 1991-1994 military coup.
The driving force behind
these rebels was Jean Tatoune, a formerly a member of the Front
Revolutionnaire pour l'Avancement el le Progres d'Haiti (FRAPH),
and Jodel Chamblain, the co-founder of FRAPH. Both are convicted
human rights violators. The nominal rebel leader was Guy Phillipe,
a well-known drug dealer, who had been implicated in masterminding
another coup attempt against the democratically elected government
of Haiti under President Preval.
The movement of the rebel
army towards the South was rapid, as it was armed with M-16s
and M-60s of American manufacture, and the national police had
been eviscerated by the financial and arms embargo imposed on
Haiti for the past few years, under the false pretenses of faulty
elections.
President Aristide had
accepted the proposals of the international community, and had
entreated the opposition to agree to the proposed political solution
in order to avoid the return to power of the forces who in the
past had terrorized the Haitian people.
On Feburary 26, the rebel
army threatened to enter Port-au-Prince, and threatened President
Aristide's government and his life. The civil opposition that
had been calling for President Aristide's resignation rejected
the international proposals. At this point, Colin Powell stated
that the U.S. would not send troops to protect the democratically
elected government until a political solution had been reached.
Two days later, the Steele
Foundation, a U.S. company which had provided President Aristide
with security under contract, informed him that the U.S. government
had forbade the company from bringing in additional security
forces to protect President Aristide. The same day, U.S. diplomats
told the President that if he remained in Port-au-Prince, the
U.S. would not provide any assistance when the insurgents attacked,
and that they expected the President, his wife and supporters
would be killed.
Later that night, the
U.S. Depute Charge de Mission (DCM) in Haiti, Luis Moreno, accompanied
by a contingent of U.S. Marines, met with the President. Moreno
told him that only if he left at that moment, the U.S. would
provide aircraft for him to leave, but that assistance was contingent
on the President providing the United States with a letter of
resignation.
In the early morning
hours of February 29, the President and some family members were
taken by Moreno and the Marines to an airplane rented by the
U.S. State Department. Moreno told the President that he must
give Moreno a letter of resignation and agree to ask no questions
about where he would be taken, or the President and his wife
would be left at the airport and they would be killed.
Under extreme duress,
President Aristide signed a letter of resignation and boarded
the plane. During the flight, despite their repeated requests,
the President and his wife were forbidden from communicating
with anyone in the outside world. They were never asked whether
their destination, the Central African Republic, was acceptable
to them. Because they were prevented from having any communication,
the President and his wife were prevented from seeking the agreement
of other countries to accept their arrival.
Although both George
W. Bush and Colin Powell had said they would not send U.S. troops
to Haiti until there was a political solution, U.S. troops were
ordered to Haiti within one hour of President Aristide's departure.
Dick Cheney denied that the United States arrested or forcibly
ousted President Aristide, saying that President Aristide, who
had "worn out his welcome with the Haitian people,"
had "left of his own free will."
Shortly after President
Aristide's "resignation," Boniface Alexandre was named
acting president of Haiti. All 3,000 people held in the National
Penitentiary were freed on March 14, according to the Associated
Press. Several of these prisoners had been convicted of massive
human rights violations, or were awaiting trial for massive human
rights violations. The UN news wire reported on March 5, that
in Fort Liberte, recently released prisoners were said to be
in charge of security.
The Observer reported
a security vacuum throughout the country, and the BBC reported
that rioters in Port-au-Prince looted stores, ransacked police
stations, and set fire to gas stations. There have been many
brutal reprisal attacks on political opponents, extra-judicial
arrests and killings, lack of effective civil authority, and
disruption of humanitarian aid efforts. Serious human rights
abuses, political violence, and social turbulence have escalated
to the level of a humanitarian crisis.
There has been a serious
attack on the freedom of the press since February 29. Staff from
the Aristide government media continue to be attacked and beaten,
some journalists have been forced into exile, and the U.S.-supported
opposition now controls most of the airwaves.
Human Rights Watch reported
on March 2 that the U.S. Coast Guard had already repatriated
at least 867 Haitians. Joanne Mariner, deputy director of Human
Rights Watch's Americas Division, said, "With people being
shot dead in the streets by gangs of criminal thugs, it was unconscionable
for the United States to dump entire families into this danger
zone." According to Mariner, "Haiti remains unstable
and insecure. The international community must take rapid steps
to take the country back from armed criminals and thugs who are
now in control of the country."
Forcible regime change
violates international law
Haiti's democratically
elected President Aristide was removed from Haiti by the United
States, by threat of force. Forcible regime change violates the
well-established principle that people should be able to choose
their own government. The International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights recognizes self-determination as a human right,
and specifies that all peoples have the right to "freely
determine their political status and freely pursue their economic,
social and cultural development." The United Nations Charter
also prohibits the use of force "against ... [t]he political
independence" of another state.
The governing charters
of the Americas also prohibit forcible regime change. The Charter
of the Organization of American States (OAS) affirms that "every
State has the right to choose, without external interference,
its political, economic, and social system and to organize itself
in the way best suited to it, and has the duty to abstain from
intervening in the affairs of another State."
Likewise, the Inter-American
Democratic Charter, signed on September 11, 2001, reiterates
the indispensability of representative democracy and the principle
of non-intervention. It provides that when a government of a
member state considers its legitimate exercise of power at risk,
it may request assistance from the Secretary General or the Permanent
Council for the strengthening and preservation of its democratic
system. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, as duly elected President of
Haiti, is entitled to request such assistance. The Charter further
provides, "In the event of an unconstitutional alteration
of the constitutional regime that seriously impairs the democratic
order in a member state, any member state or the Secretary General
may request the immediate convocation of the Permanent Council
to undertake a collective assessment of the situation and to
take such decisions as it deems appropriate."
The Security Council
recognized President Aristide's resignation
On February 29, the Security
Council adopted Resolution 1529, which took note of the resignation
of President Aristide and the swearing in of Boniface Alexandre
as acting president "in accordance with the Constitution
of Haiti." The Council stated in Resolution 1529 that it
was acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which gives Council
decisions binding effect. In the Libya case, the ICJ deferred
to the Security Council, saying that the Council's imposition
of sanctions on Libya preempted the Court's jurisdiction. However,
the Council has not imposed sanctions in Haiti, but merely taken
note of President Aristide's resignation and the swearing-in
of Boniface Alexandre as acting president. Additionally, when
Resolution 1529 was adopted, President Aristide had not had a
full opportunity to present his allegations that he had been
kidnapped and forced to sign a letter of resignation. Any subsequent
attempt to secure a new Security Council resolution would invariably
be vetoed by the United States and France, which also supported
the ouster of President Aristide. Since President Aristide did
not truly resign, as head of state of Haiti he still has a seat
at the United Nations General Assembly, and can request a resolution
condemning the coup.
Resolution 1529 also
authorized the immediate deployment of a Multinational Interim
Force to Haiti. If President Aristide returned to Haiti, the
United Nations troops would be compelled to protect him.
The U.S. violated
a treaty it ratified by kidnapping President Aristide
In 1976, the United States
ratified the multilateral treaty, Prevention and Punishment of
Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons, Including Diplomatic
Agents. The Republic of Haiti is also a party to this treaty.
It prohibits the intentional kidnapping or other attack upon
the person or liberty of an internationally protected person.
A Head of State and his wife - President Aristide and Mildred
Trouillot Aristide - are considered to be internationally protected
persons under this treaty.
The terms of the treaty
require the U.S. to punish those responsible for an intentional
kidnapping. President Aristide could sue the United States in
the name of Haiti, on the basis of a "dispute" arising
from the failure of the U.S. to punish. Haiti could also sue
for the perpetration of the kidnapping by the U.S., based on
the Bosnian precedent. The Genocide Convention, at issue in the
Bosnia case, similarly requires states to prohibit and prevent
genocide. Bosnia argued that this also means a state can be sued
for its own perpetration of genocide. Yugoslavia as respondent
objected and said it could not be sued for perpetration. The
International Court of Justice (ICJ) agreed with Bosnia and said
that even though the Convention requires only that a state prevent
and prohibit, that impliedly includes an obligation not to perpetrate.
The ICJ would likely conclude that Haiti and the U.S. have a
"dispute" by virtue of their disagreement over whether
the U.S. perpetrated kidnapping of an internationally protected
person. The ICJ would take oral testimony and would determine
whether a kidnapping occurred.
On March 8, 2004, President
Aristide's lawyer, Ira J. Kurzban, presented a written demand
to Colin Powell that the United States fulfill its international
legal obligations to the Republic of Haiti under this treaty.
This letter demanded that the U.S. government submit, without
undue delay, the case to its competent authorities for the prosecution
of the U.S. nationals who organized and implemented the kidnapping
of President Aristide and his wife.
Under the terms of this
treaty, any dispute between two or more States Parties concerning
its interpretation or application, which is not settled by negotiation
or arbitration, can be referred to the ICJ by any one of those
parties. Since the U.S. did not file a declaration relating to
the dispute settlement provision, it did not opt out of ICJ jurisdiction.
The U.S. kidnapping
of President Aristide violates U.S. law
United States law makes
it a criminal offense for United States persons to kidnap an
internationally protected person. See 18 U.S.C. sections 112,
878 and 1201. A prima facie case of violation of this statute
has been made out since President Aristide and his wife were
taken against their will on an aircraft registered in the United
States and owned, leased or controlled by U.S. persons.
Ira Kurzban sent a letter
to Attorney General John Ashcroft asking the Justice Department
to investigate the circumstances of President Aristide's departure
from Haiti on February 29.
The U.S. repatriation
of Haitians violates international law
International law prohibits
nonrefoulement, or sending people back to places where
they risk being persecuted, tortured or killed. On February 25,
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recommended
that neighboring countries suspend forced returns to Haiti. Nevertheless,
the U.S. Coast Guard repatriated at least 867 Haitians, which
puts them in grave danger due to the current conditions of violence
and instability. The United States violated international law
by repatriating these people.
The Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights should conduct an investigation
On February 26, the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights issued a statement deploring the violence
occurring in Haiti and called attention to the urgent need for
a response from the international community.
On March 8, President
Aristides' attorney Ira Kurzban, on behalf of the Government
of the Republic of Haiti, extended a standing invitation to the
Commission to effectuate as many on-site human rights visits
as necessary to document the human rights situation in the country,
and make such recommendations as it deems necessary to reestablish
the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights. The same
day, more than 100 law professors and human rights organizations
wrote to the executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights, urging that the Commission conduct an on-site
visit to Haiti to investigate the critical human rights situation
there.
CARICOM, U.S. representatives,
and human rights organizations call for probe
Fourteen Caribbean nations
that comprise the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) were reportedly
"extremely disappointed" at the involvement of "Western
partners" in the departure of President Aristide from Haiti,
and called for a probe into the President's charge that the United
States forced him out of office.
Several members of Congress,
including Maxine Waters, called for an investigation into the
United States' role in the ouster of President Aristide.
An international team
of lawyers filed a petition in a Paris court alleging that officials
from the French and United Stats governments kidnapped President
Aristide and led a coup in Haiti.
The American Association
of Jurists (AAJ), while recognizing that during the government
of President Aristide, violations of the political and human
rights of the Haitian people were committed, declared that jurists
have a duty to condemn the U.S. participation in the planning
and execution of a modern day coup d'etat which is part of the
U.S. policy of imperial conquest of the American continent. The
AAJ condemns the Haitian intervention directed by the U.S., with
France's collaboration; calls for the formation of an independent
commission of Latin American and Caribbean parliaments to investigate
the conditions under which Aristide left the Presidency and the
country, including the possible role played by the government
of the Dominican Republic in the training of armed militias and
invasion from Dominican soil; invites Latin America to demand
the immediate pullout of U.S. and French occupation troops from
Haiti, and replacement with a Latin American contingent according
to the procedures in the Interamerican Democratic Charter, in
consultation with legitimate Haitian authorities; and invites
the OAS to conduct an investigation to establish the circumstances
which put Aristide out of the office of the Presidency of Haiti.
The National Conference
of Black Lawyers (NCBL) expressed "its maximum outrage and
disgust with the imperialist, lawless and brutal campaign of
terrorism that has been inflicted on the people of Haiti by the
Bush administration." The organization demanded immediate
answers to questions about "U.S. involvement with armed
terrorists who have destabilized the island nation," and
called for "the formation of a global Pan-African alliance
of organizations that will be prepared to counter future imperialist
intervention through coordinated economic warfare."
On March 27, NCBL filed
a complaint with the International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor,
requesting investigation of whether charges may be brought against
the Bush administration for war crimes in the kidnapping of President
Aristide from Haiti. The complaint noted that even though neither
the U.S. nor Haiti is a party to the ICC's statute, the Central
African Republic, to which President Aristide was forcibly removed
and detained, is a party to the ICC, and thus jurisdiction would
lie. It further noted that unlawful deportation or transfer or
unlawful confinement constitutes a grave breach of the Geneva
Convention, which, in turn, constitutes a war crime.
The National Lawyers
Guild and several organizations and institutions working for
global justice denounced the U.S. government for its role in
the coup overthrowing the democratically elected government of
Haiti and the forced removal of President Aristide by the U.S.
military. They demanded a Congressional investigation into the
role of the U.S. government in the deliberate destabilization
of the Haitian government and the implementation of the coup;
an immediate end to the repression and daily attacks on those
demanding the return of President Aristide; and support for Haitian
refugees.
The National Lawyers
Guild will send a delegation to Haiti to meet with victims, witnesses
and their families and with grassroots leaders. The delegation
will investigate detention conditions for those held in Haitian
prisons and by the international occupation troops.
The United States has
rejected calls for an inquiry into President Aristide's removal
from Haiti. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said,
"There is nothing to investigate, we do not encourage nor
believe there is any need for an investigation. There was no
kidnapping, there was no coup, there were no threats." As
with the Cheney energy task force, the 9/11 commission, and the
inquiry into the intelligence leading to the war on Iraq, the
Bush administration is resisting an independent investigation.
Marjorie Cohn, a professor at Thomas Jefferson
School in San Diego, is executive vice president of the National Lawyers
Guild, and the
U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American
Association of Jurists. She can be reached at: cohn@counterpunch.org.
For more information
about becoming involved in the Guild's Haiti solidarity work,
contact Brian Concannon at brianhaiti@aol.com or Steve Goldberg at
goldberg@goldbergmechanic.com.
Weekend Edition Features
for March 20 / 21, 2004
Jeffrey St. Clair
Empire of the Locusts
Gary Leupp
The Yassin Assassination: Prelude to an Attack on Syria
William A. Cook
The Yassin Assassination: a Monstrous Insanity Blessed by the
US
Faheem Hussain
Some Thoughts on Waziristan: Once and Always a Colonial Army
Elaine Cassel
Is Playing Paintball Terrorism?
Larry Birns / Jessica
Leight
Disturbing Signals: Kerry and Latin America
John Ross
Bush Tells the World: "Drop Dead"
John Eskow
A Memo to Karl Rove from the Hollywood Caucus
Alan Maass
Who Are the Real Terrorists?
Joe Bageant
Howling in the Belly of the Confederacy
Dave Zirin
Reasonable Doubt: Why Barry Bonds is Not on Steroids
Craig Waggoner
Who Would Mel's Jesus Nuke?
The Kerry Quandry
Joel Wendland
Marxists
for Kerry
Josh Frank
Scary,
Scary John Kerry
Matt Vidal
Spoilers, Electability and the Poverty of American Democracy
Poets' Basement
LaMorticella, Hamod, Guthrie, Davies and Albert
Website of the Weekend
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