Double standard: Pres. Aristide must submit to the will of terrorists?

[ecstatic]

I just heard Pres. Aristide's interview on CNN.

He asked a good question--is it because of racism that the international community stood by the US and other Western democracies when terrorists attacked, yet Aristide is expected to step down to let the terrorists take over?

Why should Pres. Aristide, a democratically elected President, submit to the demands of terrorists? Bush hasn't agreed to work with Bin Laden, and we're not forcing Israel to give in to the demands of Palestinian "freedom fighters/terrorists." Why the double standard?

[Hammie]

1. Isn't this round number 2?

Didn't this guy get kicked out of the country once before? Maybe he is just a crappy leader and the international community doesn't want to keep having to bail him out every 10 years or so?
Doesn't France want him to leave too? If both France and the US want the same thing it sure makes me wonder. It could be racism or it could be "diplomacy". I would say their isn't enough data to make the call.

[fromthegroundup]

2. double standard

A terrorist to one, and a freedom fighter to another.

From what I've read, the Haitian rebels aren't attacking civilians. Almost all the casualties are police officers. The definition of terrorism is... the unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons. Standing up fighting against a corrupt government is not terrorism....it's liberation.

[Ekova]

3. Is it really a double standard?

I'm not sure Aristide is the paragon of virtue he'd have us believe he is.

Powell himself admitted a week or so ago that they (the U.S.) hadn't expected Aristide to behave the way he has when they "installed" him ten years ago.

Is he using the terrorist phrase to illicit the favourable "he must be on our side" argument? Controlling the candidates involved may have provided an electoral yin for the US's foreign policy yang. The terrorists in Haiti also have the distinction of warning citizens to stay inside, etc. so they don't get hurt in much of the fighting. (Although many people are getting hurt, again. We shouldn't ignore that). Haiti seems to be like Pakistan in that dictatorships have been wrapped up in democracy clothing for public consumption.

I'm just hypothesizing here as I'm still researching the situation. It seems to me that more and more people are getting fed up with Western installed democracies and the so called liberties that come with them.

Is Junior really not working with Bin Laden? All those family business connections in that invisible black hole we're not allowed to talk about...Saudi Arabia? They never talk about the black sheep? Israel never needs to doubt the backing they get from the States, they can't abandon their ideological partner in the latest War on (insert abstract idea here).