[Mb-civic] "Freedom and Liberty" Iran and Haiti

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

Here are two short and poignant articles illustrating the stunning hypocrisy of 
our current leaders' avoid dedication to democracy and human rights.  The first 
araticle is by the Iranian woman human rights activist who won last year's 
Nobel Peace Prize.

It is so important that we Americans are very clear about the true motives and 
actions of our government....

------
 
Published on Saturday, February 19, 2005 by the lndependent (UK) 
 
Attacking Iran Would Bring Disaster, Not Freedom 
by Shirin Ebadi
 
It is hard not to see America's focus on human rights in Iran as a cloak for its 
larger strategic interests.
 
Condoleezza Rice has given assurances that a military attack by the United 
States on Iran "is simply not on the agenda at this point".
 
But notwithstanding Rice's disavowal, recent statements by the Bush 
administration, starting with President Bush's State of the Union address and 
Vice President Dick Cheney's comments about a possible Israeli military attack 
on Iran, are reminiscent of the rhetoric in the months leading up to the invasion 
of Iraq in 2003. 
 
And Rice herself made clear that "the Iranian regime's human rights behavior 
and its behavior toward its own population is something to be loathed."
 
American policy toward the Middle East, and Iran in particular, is often 
couched in the language of promoting human rights. No one would deny the 
importance of that goal. But for human rights defenders in Iran, the possibility 
of a foreign military attack on their country represents an utter disaster for their 
cause.
 
The situation for human rights in Iran is far from ideal. Security forces harass, 
imprison and even torture human rights defenders and civil society activists. 
The authorities attack journalists and writers for expressing their opinions and 
regularly shut down newspapers. Political prisoners languish in jails. 
Superfluous judicial summonses are routinely used to intimidate critics, and 
arbitrary detentions are common.
 
But Iranian society has refused to be coerced into silence. The human rights 
discourse is alive and well at the grassroots level; civil society activists 
consider it to be the most potent framework for achieving sustainable 
democratic reforms and political pluralism. Indeed, readers might be surprised 
to know how vigorous Iran's human rights organizations are. Last autumn, 
when security forces unlawfully detained more than 20 young journalists and 
bloggers because of what they had written, independent Iranian organizations 
like the Center for Defense of Human Rights, the Association of Journalists for 
Freedom of Press, and the Students Association for Human Rights 
campaigned for their release.
 
This outcry, in tandem with support from the international community and 
organizations such as Human Rights Watch, led to the release of detainees. In 
fact, so great was the criticism that some of Iran's most senior government 
officials came out in favor of releasing the detainees.
 
Independent organizations are essential for fostering the culture of human 
rights in Iran. But the threat of foreign military intervention will provide a 
powerful excuse for authoritarian elements to uproot these groups and put an 
end to their growth.
 
Human rights violators will use this opportunity to silence their critics by 
labeling them as the enemy's fifth column. In 1980, after Saddam Hussein 
invaded Iran and inflamed nationalist passions, Iranian authorities used such 
arguments to suppress dissidents.
 
American hypocrisy doesn't help, either. Given the long-standing willingness of 
the American government to overlook abuses of human rights, particularly 
women's rights, by close allies in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, it is 
hard not to see the Bush administration's focus on human rights violations in 
Iran as a cloak for its larger strategic interests.
 
Respect for human rights in any country must spring forth through the will of 
the people and as part of a genuine democratic process. Such respect can 
never be imposed by foreign military might and coercion - an approach that 
abounds in contradictions.
 
Not only would a foreign invasion of Iran vitiate popular support for human 
rights activism, but by destroying civilian lives, institutions and infrastructure, 
war would also usher in chaos and instability. Respect for human rights is 
likely to be among the first casualties.
 
Instead, the most effective way to promote human rights in Iran is to provide 
moral support and international recognition to independent human rights 
defenders, and to insist that Iran adhere to the international human rights laws 
and conventions that it has signed.
 
Getting the Iranian government to abide by these international standards is the 
human rights movement's highest goal; foreign military intervention in Iran is 
the surest way to harm us and keep that goal out of reach.
 
Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is the founder of the 
Center for Defense of Human Rights in Tehran.

 
***
 
Haiti: A Bleak and Dismal Country One Year Later 
    By Ira Kurzban 
    The Miami Herald 
    Tuesday 01 March 2005 

    One year after the coup d'etat against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand 
Aristide, the nation's first democratically elected president, the situation is 
dismal. 

    The Caribbean Community of nations (CARICOM) just last week expressed 
deep concern over ''the deteriorating human-rights situation in Haiti,'' including 
''serious abuses at the hands of the police'' and ``the indefinite detention of 
Lavalas (Aristide's party) leaders and activists.'' 

    Former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and former Minister of the Interior 
Jocelerme Privert, held for almost one year without any charges, are now on a 
hunger strike. 

    Even journalists broadcasting for U.S. news services are no longer safe 
from the U.S.-installed government of Gerard Latortue. Abdias Jean, a 
correspondent for a Miami radio station, was summarily executed last month 
by Haitian police because he had witnessed the execution of a 17-year-old girl. 
The situation has become so grave for journalists in Haiti that the Inter-
American Press Association convened an Emergency Forum on Press 
Freedom in Haiti two weeks ago. 

    At the same time, Haitians supportive of Aristide are being slaughtered in 
the neighborhoods. The Latortue government and Minister of Justice Bernard 
Gousse celebrated the anniversary of the coup by condoning the execution of 
more than 25 Aristide supporters in various poor areas of Port-au-Prince this 
weekend. The police, who are now largely made up of former military and 
death squad members, conduct ''operations'' in Aristide strongholds that 
constitute little more than summary executions. 

    Just yesterday, Haitian police fired on peaceful protesters marking the one-
year anniversary of Aristide's ouster. Early reports said at least two protesters 
were killed and about a dozen wounded. 

    Meanwhile, U.N. troops provide the firepower to support the political 
cleansing operation. The former members of the Haitian army still remain in 
control of the vast majority of the country and their actions, including the rape 
of 11- and 14-year-old girls last week, go unreported by the mainstream press 
and unchallenged by the U.N. troops allegedly providing security. 

    Aristide's forced departure and kidnapping by the Bush administration is one 
of the saddest moments in our unfortunate history with Haiti. That Aristide was 
kidnapped cannot be seriously challenged, despite reports to the contrary. The 
person who translated his letter of resignation for the U.S. government has 
stated that the version that the Bush administration presented to the United 
Nations and Organization of American States as proof of Aristide's voluntary 
departure was flawed and inaccurate. 

    The Haitian president never resigned, according to the accurately translated 
letter. Rather, U.S. troops allegedly sent to guard the U.S. Embassy in the 
days leading up to the coup were actually special forces used to remove 
Aristide and his wife, a U.S. citizen. He was taken out of his own country on a 
CIA-sponsored aircraft with a phony tail registration, and he and his wife were 
kept incommunicado for 20 hours. Even the declaration presented to the 
government of Antigua when the aircraft stopped to refuel was a phony 
declaration that declared there were no passengers on board. 

    A recent report in The Herald suggesting that Neptune's actions support the 
view that Aristide left voluntarily is deeply flawed. Aristide's alleged 
conversation asking Neptune to leave with him never took place. In fact, 
Neptune, like many people during the days after the coup believes that he was 
duped and has asked for an investigation into Aristide's ``departure.'' 

    The sad fact is that Haiti is another example of the Bush administration's 
complete incompetence and unwillingness to support democratic principles. 
While President Bush seeks democracy in Iraq, he was apparently willing to 
end it in Haiti because he wanted to complete the first coup that his father and 
Dick Cheney, as the secretary of defense at the time, began against Aristide in 
1991. 

    Ira Kurzban is counsel for Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the former attorney for 
the government of Haiti. 


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