Another of Lil’ Billy’s foreign policy “successes” is
unraveling. This time, it’s the Aristide government of Haiti. The
last time we heard of Aristide and Co. was when Mr. Clinton
insisted that — despite the predations of his party — Mr.
Aristide was the elected ruler and had to be restored to power,
three years after the sorta-coup that had tossed him out in 1991.
Now, with over 80% of Haiti’s people still living in abject
poverty, civil unrest may unseat Aristide again.
Traditionally, American troops are sent to Haiti to quell the
violence and restore order under one bunch of incompetents or
another. Now, American troops are pretty busy elsewhere. Never
wishing to see any opportunity pass that can demean America or
lessen its influence, France is suggesting it could send troops
from nearby Martinique to restore order in Haiti. Because Haiti is
so completely messed up — any of those who served in the past few
decades would say Haiti defines the term “FUBAR” — it’s tempting
to say that the French should go ahead. It’s hard to imagine how
even they could screw it up worse. But they could, which means we
need to say, “No thanks, Clouseau.”
Haiti is ripe for all sorts of political and internecine
warfare. But it’s not likely to be a base for terrorists, given the
fact that some 80% of its people are Catholic, and another 16% or
so Protestant. Not many Islamists among them, but there could be.
France has had too cozy a relationship with nations such as Syria,
Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia for us to trust them with anything in
the Western Hemisphere. Anybody remember the Monroe Doctrine?
There’s a modern and perfectly valid reason to maintain it.
TEDAC — the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center — is
under the FBI’s umbrella but combines several agencies’ efforts
with the FBI’s awesome lab to search for connections between
terrorist acts. And it’s found plenty. According to the New
York Times (which actually is capable of getting it right, if
not on the editorial or op-ed pages), TEDAC had found commonality
of bomb design in Iraq, Afghanistan, and even Richard Reid’s shoe
bomb. Connections between terrorist groups are not uncommon, and
where the opportunity for safe haven presents itself, terrorists
are sure to be there.
All too close to Haiti is Cuba, which harbors heaven only knows
how many terrorists. Part of the IRA’s Cuba delegation was caught
training FARC narco-terrorists in Colombia how to make better
bombs, even land mines. If France rules Haiti — even for a while
— terrorism may have a chance to sprout there. The people are so
poor that money might buy silence and support, and we can be quite
confident that France would turn a blind eye to their Cuban pals’
activities. For the same reason we can’t have the French there, we
don’t need the UN either. The UN — and its pet kangaroo court, the
International Court of Justice — are making enough trouble right
now. As usual, the UN’s target is Israel.
KOFI AND THE KUPCAKES are at it again. This time, at the behest of
the Palestinians, the General Assembly passed a resolution asking
the ICJ for an opinion on the legality of the Israeli terrorist
barrier known as the Fence. The Fence — a tall barrier festooned
with sensors and guard posts — is being built generally along the
cease-fire line from the 1967 war to prevent terrorist incursions
from the West Bank into Israel. The cease-fire line — called the
“Green Line” — has no legal status as a boundary or border. The
Palestinians want to keep it open, so they can smuggle suicide
bombers into Israel as they did yesterday, killing at least seven
and wounding 59 people riding on a commuter bus in Jerusalem. The
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade — part of Arafat’s terror network — were
the perps.
Israel has wisely decided to sit on the sidelines and let the
ICJ play its games. There is no possibility of a decision favoring
Israel. One of the ICJ judges, who are picked by the General
Assembly, Nabil Elaraby, is an Egyptian, formerly a legal adviser
to his government and one of the staff who worked on the Camp David
peace accords. Israel asked that Elaraby be barred from
participating in the case, and of course the ICJ declined. Of the
remaining fourteen judges, only half come from nations that have an
independent judiciary. The rest are accustomed to following orders
from their governments. And those governments — China, Russia,
Jordan, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, Slovakia, and Venezuela — are
all enemies of Israel.
The U.S. and even the EU have asked the ICJ to refuse to take
the case. Fat chance. The ICJ has already decided to let the Arab
League and the Organization of Islamic Conference participate. The
whole thing is a sham, another device to pressure Israel to leave
its cities and towns vulnerable to terrorist attacks. If the UN
were capable of feeling shame — which it perforce is not — this
would be one thing to be ashamed of. And speaking of those who are
shameless, there’s another burp from Jean-Pierre Kerry.
This time Kerry — whose only campaign slogan so far is “I
served in Vietnam and Bush didn’t” — wrote a letter to the
president accusing him of unfair campaign tactics in raising the
issue of Kerry’s outrageous anti-military conduct after he returned
from Vietnam. Kerry served well, but became a prime mover in the
Vietnam Veterans Against the War. According to one report, Kerry’s
letter says, “As you well know, Vietnam was a very difficult and
painful period in our nation’s history, and the struggle for our
veterans continues. So, it has been hard to believe that you would
choose to reopen these wounds for your personal political gain.
But, that is what you have chosen to do.”
For the past month, the media has been bombarding us with unfair
slanders of President Bush’s service in the Texas Air National
Guard. Why is it fair to smear Bush falsely and unfair to raise the
facts about Kerry’s despicable statements calling soldiers who
served in Vietnam murderers, rapists and every other kind of war
criminal? It ain’t, Jean-Pierre. We’re on the trail of the facts.
And they will all get published as soon as we can gather them into
something readable.
TAS Contributing editor Jed Babbin was a deputy
undersecretary of defense in the first Bush administration, and now
often appears as a talking warhead on radio and
television.
