The commander of the UN peacekeepers in Haiti has linked a recent upsurge in violence there to comments made by the US presidential candidate, John Kerry. Earlier this year Mr Kerry said that as president he would have sent American troops to protect Jean-Bertrand Aristide who was ousted from power in February. The Brazilian UN general, Augusto Heleno, said Mr Kerry's comments had offered "hope" to Aristide supporters. Much of the recent unrest has centred on areas loyal to Mr Aristide. More than 50 people have died over the past fortnight. 'Unfounded' Eight months ago the Bush administration withdrew all support for Mr Aristide and made it clear he should leave Haiti. John Kerry called that "short-sighted" and said he would have sent troops to protect Mr Aristide, who was an elected leader. Now General Heleno, says those comments have offered hope to Aristide's supporters that should Mr Kerry win the US election in November the former Haitian president might be restored to power. General Heleno said any hopes of an Aristide comeback were "completely unfounded". Speaking to Brazil's state news agency the UN commander was trying to explain the recent upsurge in violence in Haiti. General Heleno insisted the peacekeepers, most of whom are Brazilian, were doing the maximum possible to restore order. He denied they had ever lost control of events in the capital, Port-au-Prince. But the Brazilian government has appealed for UN troop numbers to be increased. At present 3,000 soldiers are in Haiti, less than half the number originally authorised. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3750350.stm
Sometimes shooting from the lip has severe consequences. If I remember correctly, Sen. Kerry established what sounded like a timetable for removing troops from Iraq. This timetable shifted from the initial announcement of 6 weeks after his inauguration to before the ending of his 1st adminstration. Whatever the final determination, it is not considered too wise to inform enemy combatants your future plans of engagement. At least when CNN, CBS, etc. does it, its under the guise of reporting the news. Pres. Clinton made the same mistake on the onset of NATO's bombing engagement in the Yugoslavian war. His Administation announcement that he wasn't planning on having American "boots on the ground" gave the encouragement Molosovich was hoping for. As long he can hold out from the bombing, he would survive. It wasn't only until the prohibition of direct troop involvement was removed did Molosovich cave in.
This is the same type of stock comment that Bush uses every time Kerry says something. The Bush administration says Kerry insulted the coalition by pointing out Bush's lack of expertise in organizing a better coalition. Another was when Bush said Kerry sent the wrong message to terrorists by talking about a timetable for pullout from Iraq. As if every problem in the world is a result of a Kerry comment. One could use the same tactics on Bush. For example, when Bush says we'll stay in Iraq 'as long as it takes', one could say that it sends a bad message to U.S. troops who will think they will be there forever and will give up and let the insurgents win. It's just a shallow political tactic. It does nothing to put forth a real plan on how to grapple with issues. Also, many of the peacekeepers are preoccupied with cleanup of the recent hurricane. It's easy for rebels to take advantage of that situation.
To give one more example, we can all blame Bush for Poland announcing that it will reducing its troop level in Iraq in 2005. Poland said it planned to do this because of the elections in January that Bush said will be held. The elections mean self rule and less need for troops, according to Poland. If only Bush hadn't announced that the elections will be held in January. Now there isn't much recourse if things don't go as planned. Bush should have said there will be elections in Iraq 'whenever they are ready'. (sarcasm)
South Africa Gets blame For Haiti Unrest: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3751722.stm This is fun. Who else should we blame?
Let's blame hurricane Ivan. If it wasn't for him, the rebels couldn't have taken advantage of the disaster situation.
Now there's a nice failed state - all that beach paradise potential, some of the worlds best native art, French as the national language and total bloody chaos as the end product.
