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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-14-11 03:18 AM
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Haiti law firm urges lawmakers to investigation allegations against president’s pick for PM
Haiti law firm urges lawmakers to investigation allegations against president’s pick for PM
By Associated Press, Published: July 13

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A Haitian law firm is urging the legislature to investigate President Michel Martelly’s new pick for prime minister over allegations he committed crimes as a justice minister.

The International Bureau of Lawyers says it has filed a petition with lawmakers asking them to investigate nominee Bernard Gousse.

Human rights groups have accused Gousse of persecuting supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

They allege he is guilty of false imprisonment and being an accomplice to murder during his time as justice minister in the interim government that took office after a violent rebellion in 2004 drove Aristide out of Haiti.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/haiti-law-firm-urges-lawmakers-to-investigation-allegations-against-presidents-pick-for-pm/2011/07/13/gIQAxCPHDI_story.html?wprss=rss_world
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Peace Patriot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-14-11 12:10 PM
Response to Original message
1. Lie, 4th paragraph. 2004 "violent rebellion" was a U.S. (Bush Junta) instigated coup d'etat.
"They allege he is guilty of false imprisonment and being an accomplice to murder during his time as justice minister in the interim government that took office after a violent rebellion in 2004 drove Aristide out of Haiti." --from the OP (my emphasis)

----


Gotta be careful with the Washington Psst. What they're pssting is OFTEN distorted, misleading or downright untrue. They are so bad that it's reasonable to question even their "bare facts" news--the kind of statements we see in paragraphs 1-3 (who, what, where, when). For instance, what is the International Bureau of Lawyers, really, and why do they hate Bernard Gousse? There can be embedded lies even in what seem to be current, checkable facts. (For instance, is the International Bureau of Lawyers USAID--i.e., CIA--funded? And if so, what is the U.S. interest in preventing Gousse from becoming PM? Do they have a more manipulable, better-bribed, better "laundered" candidate for the post?)

Frankly, these are my first thoughts in reading any Psst article. What is Langley up to? But we need to also look out for other propaganda techniques such as their "passing forward" a lie from the past, i.e., that Haiti, where President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is hugely popular, somehow spontaneously combusted with a "violent rebellion" that succeeded in throwing out and exiling the most popular president in Haiti's history. Even their use of the phrase "former President" distorts history. Aristide remains the ONLY legitimately elected president of Haiti.

The U.S. State Department/CIA/Pentagon are heavily--HEAVILY!--controlling Haiti, and the Psst is their most directly dictated rag. This, too, needs to be considered when vetting Psst articles: What is the U.S. government doing, and what are their obvious or non-obvious goals, in the relevant target country or target region, and what are they using the Psst to achieve (in this and other instances)? The U.S. State Department egregiously rigged Haiti's recent "election" putting this mafioso Martelly in power, so why do they not agree with his choice of PM--if that is what this article is indicating, i.e., controlled group--the IBL--being used as attack dog to prevent Gousse from becoming PM because the U.S. wants someone else? The IBL could be honest but their being cited by the Psst--indeed, their being given a headline--is a major strike against them.

The REASONS that the State Dept. rigged Haiti's election were, a) to prevent Artistide's party (the party choice of the MAJORITY of Haitians) from winning the presidential and legislative elections (Aristide's Lavalas party was banned from the ballot, thus SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT of Haitians DIDN'T VOTE); b) to remove the uppity Preval's party from power (Preval--former U.S. toady who turned against them and granted Aristide a passport to return home, and also crossed them on an oil aid deal with Venezuela; the U.S. State Dept. used a phony "election monitoring" group to remove Preval's candidate from the final round of 'voting'); c) to keep total control of the $9 billion in international earthquake aid by Bill Clinton and Bush Jr, for the purpose of doling out the rebuilding contracts to U.S. firms and other corruption such as creation of a labor-union-free slave labor force; and d) to retain and control Haiti as a strategic U.S. asset in the U.S. "circle the wagons" area (Central America/Caribbean) against growing Latin American economic/political unity and independence centered in South America.

In this context--which neither the Psst nor any corpo-fascist 'news' source would make clear (or even hint at)--WHY is the Psst headlining an attack on Martelly's choice of PM? Is this simply a false and planted 'dirty op'? Is its purpose subtler--say, to assist Martelly in "laundering" his own image--i.e., Gousse is truly guilty of kidnapping and murder during the Bush Junta coup, and needs to be sidelined because that is going to come out; and, say, Martelly owes him something and needs help in sidelining Gousse?

This (democracy cosmetics) appears to have been the U.S. (Obama/Clinton/Panetta) strategy in Colombia--ousting but protecting the mafioso that the Bush Junta installed there (Alvaro Uribe) and prepping Colombia for U.S. "free trade for the rich" by sweeping all the murders and terror, and trade unionist and other victims, under the rug. It has also been their strategy in Honduras--smearing democracy cosmetics over a murderous, fascist, pro-U.S. power establishment. The U.S. government really, really, really doesn't care what murderous fucks they empower to serve U.S. corporate/war profiteer interests in target countries, and the only difference that I have seen, between the Bush Junta and the Obama team, in Latin America, is that the Obama team cares more about appearances--cosmetic appearances, not anything real. They are as anti-democratic as the Bush Junta but seem to be a bit more realistic about the methods that they can use, as to their methods and goals backfiring.

For instance, Latin America was up in arms about the U.S. coup in Honduras--likely a Bush Junta-designed coup, but which the Obama team tried to smear over with democracy cosmetics; they were then forced, by Latin American opinion, to let Zelaya back into Honduras and to proceed with constitutional reform. The coup backfired, big time, as to U.S. corporate/war profiteer interests in Latin America, in general. As Lula da Silva said, in his last speech in office, "The U.S. has not changed." Brazil was the lead government trying to reverse the fascist/military coup in Honduras. The Obama team was CLEARLY the "enemy" in Brazil's and others' efforts to save Honduras' democracy. U.S. involvement in the Honduran coup was also a major impetus in the formalization of CELAC, the new all-Latin America EU-type organization which does NOT include the U.S. and Canada as members, and which some have described as the "anti-OAS." (Note: The U.S. used the OAS to try to legitimatize the Honduran coup and is quite notorious for its bullying, domineering tactics at the Washington DC-headquartered OAS.)

In summary, the least likely read on this particular 'news' story is that it is the straight-up truth. Haiti has been a chattel of the U.S. for many decades. It is more than a U.S. client state (like Colombia, Honduras, Panama); it is a U.S. slave state. It is directly controlled by the U.S. in every conceivable respect--including the provision of food and water, the most basic necessities of life, to millions of Haitians in post-earthquake Haiti. It has chosen this moment--Haiti's utter prostration after a horrendous natural disaster--to plant its foot on Haiti's neck yet again, in even worse and more definitive ways. So, NOTHING that the Psst reports--or, indeed, that any of the corpo-fascist 'news' horns report--about Haiti can be taken at face value.

Question, question, question--every word, every assertion, every fact, every 'historical' assumption.

Just want to repeat: The International Bureau of Lawyers could be honest--could be independent, truthful, no U.S. agenda, not a tool. But we cannot assume this from a Psst article. It has to be verified--if possible--completely independently. In fact, I'm going to google them right now, to see if there is any obvious taint.
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Peace Patriot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-14-11 01:15 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. Wow, there is controversy about whether the International Bureau of Lawyers even exists.
And the controversy is not easy to understand.

Here are two blog comments at Haiti-truth.org that are pushing the notion that IBL doesn't even exist and/or that it is linked to Aristide and/or that this Associated Pukes article (apparently a Washington Psst reprint, not original to WP) is part of some Aristide "game."

http://www.haitian-truth.org/this-law-firm-does-not-exist-–-the-article-is-a-lavalas-creation-haiti-law-firm-files-for-probe-against-pm-pick/

http://www.haitian-truth.org/associated-press-peddles-aristide-anti-martelly-propaganda-haiti-law-firm-files-for-probe-against-pm-pick/

Here is the International Bureau of Lawyers web site (sort of). Says IBL founded in 2010 by lawyer Allan Storch, but the web site is truly confusing as to what IBL actually is.

http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=62730
(lists many lawyers, issues, legal activities--lawyers/law firms who apparently signed up to be part of IBL)

It's hard to even guess what is going on here. I distrust the comments at Haiti-truth.org. I suspect they are Martelly plants. One of the comments (the second one, above) asserts that AP is "biased" toward Aristide--which is NOT true or believable. (Martelly's got a full-on P.R. campaign running, probably out of Washington DC--and taking over Haiti-truth.org would be a likely activity of such a campaign.) OTH, the IBL web site is not very illuminating. And it has a header that says IBL is "closed due to lack of cases." This links to: http://theibl.forumotion.com/ (a barely used discussion forum). Suspicion: IBL has been hacked by hostile parties?

But OBVIOUSLY "somebody" is operating as IBL and issued a press release that AP/WP picked up on. Corporate 'journalism' is characterized by LAZINESS--re-wording press releases from corporate/government sources and palming them off as 'news.' Also, AP/WP simply do NOT publish 'news' that has not been vetted and approved by the CIA. They are virtually CIA "talking point" sources.

Big questions:

Is IBL legit in any sense?

Has IBL been hacked?

Has Haiti-truth.org been hacked and/or taken over (by RW trolls)?

What is AP/WP's (i.e., the U.S. government's) interest in helping/hurting Martelly or helping/hurting Gousse?

Has AP/WP been duped as the anti-Artistide commenter alleges at the 2nd Haiti-truth.org comment, above? (I don't think they were--I think something else is going on, but I'm not sure what. AP/WP never print anything that does not serve U.S. corporate/war profiteer interests.)

???????????????????????????????

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