Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Clean up Corruption at Home

By Wadner Pierre - HaitiAnalysis

   When will the U.S. Department go after U.S. officials for the $6.6 billion they “lost” during the "reconstruction" of Iraq? The U.S. Justice Department has failed to investigate. This money is still missing and no one can account for it. American taxpayers deserve to be told about where the $6.6 billion went.
 
     The U.S. government needs to focus more on what is happening in its backyard. It should not only give up “investigating” former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide for corruption, but all foreign political leaders they don't like. Former President Aristide as forced [kidnapped] to get on an air plane on Feb. 29, 2004 by U.S. troops. Why didn't they go forward with the charges yeas ago? Why didn't they put him in U.S. prison for all he is being accused of?  Now, what are they doing - building a case or making one up against Aristide? And it’s worth noting that the US government has blocked any investigation – international or domestic - into how exactly Aristide came to “depart” Haiti  in 2004. 


The renewed investigation against Aristide also occurs at a time when one of Haiti's most brutal dictators, Jean-Claude Duvalier, is being let off the hook.

The U.S. has one problem with Aristide. He enjoys too much support from the Haitian people, most importantly the poor majority who want change. After all that has been said to vilify and destroy Aristide's image around the world, the goal of this smear campaign remains unachieved.

In Feb. 29, 2012 several thousand Lavalas supporters demonstrated in the street of Haiti’s capital to renew their passionate support for their leader. This recent demonstration certainly shook the U.S. imposed status quo. That is why they reactivate their slanderous campaign against Aristide.

Why doesn’t the U.S. Justice Department reactivate the case of Haiti's former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier? Why doesn’t U.S. Justice Department ask the State Department to return the FRAPH documents to Haitian government in order to prosecute those who massacred, tortured and killed thousands of Haitians during the 1991 coup d’état? This is the type of support Haiti needs from the U.S., not making a case up against someone because his politics clash with the Haitian and US elite.

Powerful countries seem to want what they describe as undeveloped countries like Haiti to remain unstable politically. Obviously, the U.S. Justice Department has a great deal to “investigate” at home, so it needs to focus on that. Let Haitians deal with their own mess and if they need help they will call U.S.

The U.S. Justice Department should start delivering justice to American taxpayers and then it can pass the example to foreign governments, if they ask for it.