Why They Just Don't Get It

In case anyone had any doubts about the Bush administration's pathological antipathy towards former Haitian President Aristide, consider these responses to the posssibility of Aristide returning to Haiti:

President-elect Rene Preval, a former Aristide protégé set to be sworn in March 29, has said the Haitian Constitution does not require citizens to have a visa to enter or leave the country. "The response (to letting Aristide return) isn't with me," he recently told reporters, "it's with the constitution."

[...]

State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said in a Feb. 22 news briefing that Aristide's return could only inflame simmering class hostilities and destabilize Haiti. "Aristide is from the past," he said. "We're looking to the future."

Perhaps Mr. Ereli should acquaint himself with Article 9 and Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Aristide, is, of course, obliged to obey the laws of Haiti should he return. The question of his return, however, is none of the Bush administration's business. If he does return and his return is used as an excuse to deny desperately needed aid to Haiti, then the Bush adminsitration will have disgraced itself yet again in its behavior towards Haiti.

Comments

[Justin]

I agree with you here, but that still doesn't answer why Bush officials "don't get it." I think they get it. They just don't care what Haiti's consitution or international law says. They see themselves as above the law.