Hti: CBC and Dems, here's mud in yer eye!

The $4 million in lobbying fees, probably only the tip of the iceberg, that Aristide lavished on his partisans in the world's richest country go a long way toward explaining the stubbornness of that support against all the evidence of gross political violence, corruption, fraudulent elections and drug-trafficking. The lobbyists, the Congressional Black Caucus, the former congressmen on the board of telephone companies with contracts with the regime, all had achieved that rare feat of finding a way to make foreign policy pay. The victims were not Americans who could sue in court but the silent and uncomplaining Haitian people.

In the last days of the regime the Congressional Black Caucus and the leading lights of the Democratic Party, including presidential candidate John Kerry and Iowa senator Tom Harkin, and echoed even by human-rights organizations in violation of their mandate to stay above partisan politics, campaigned vociferously for a U.S. military intervention to save the tyrant against his own people. In the coming days and weeks, there will be a concerted effort to wipe that from memory. This would be a great mistake because it will expose some other disadvantaged country to the same victimization in the future. The flagrant corruption of the Black Caucus and Democratic Party, the betrayal of Haiti by the American left, all need to be thoroughly examined so that the progressive sector in American politics can actually help in a future difficult foreign-policy case.

This make me wonder how much cher Fidel has coughed up. Most likely Caricom troops will accompany the American military presence that GWB has okayed ... unless Caricom is going to get in a snit over Aristide's departure.