[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 25 (Tuesday, March 2, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H748-H749]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   AMERICAN REGIME CHANGE IN NOVEMBER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, there is a president in the western

[[Page H749]]

hemisphere who was chosen in what many voters believe is a flawed 2000 
election. Many people in his country and around the world believe that 
this president misled his people into a violent conflict in which many 
lives were lost. Revelations of corruption including falsifying 
documents, financial mismanagement, gross overcharging by well-
connected corporations, kickbacks to politically allied organizations 
continue to accumulate. What is the proper response of the people of 
that country who no longer wish to be led by that president? Because it 
is a democracy, the answer is clear: vote him out at the next election.
  I speak of President George W. Bush, not President Jean-Bertrand 
Aristide of Haiti.

                              {time}  2245

  Those of us who do not support President Bush will work to remove and 
replace him in the November 2 election. That is the way we do it in our 
democracy. In a democracy, one does not take up arms against an elected 
President. We do not threaten his life nor is he forced out of the 
country nor are convicted murderers and drug dealers and armed thugs 
welcomed in to do the dirty work. In a democracy, one goes from elected 
President to elected President and not coup d'etat to coup d'etat.
  So this is a very, very sad time for those of us who believe in 
democracy. The Bush administration had the choice of defending the 
democratically-elected government in Haiti or supporting its overthrow. 
It chose the latter. Jean-Bertrand Aristide was the first 
democratically-elected President of Haiti, his successor due to be 
chosen in the next presidential election in 2005.
  Over the last several weeks, an armed insurrection was organized by 
former death squad leaders, convicted murderers and drug dealers. They 
used terrorist tactics to take over police stations and then cities 
which were protected by only a very small government police force.
  The New York Times describes these so-called rebels: ``The public 
face of the rebel army is the smile of Mr. Guy Phillipe. He is 
suspected by both Haitian and United States officials of cocaine 
trafficking. Mr. Phillipe has few democratic credentials. In 2001 he 
stood accused of planning a coup. Government said he masterminded a 
raid on the Presidential palace that left seven dead. He is joined in 
this rebellion by Louis Jodel Chamblain, the convicted assassin from 
FRAPH.''
  The New York Times described FRAPH as ``an instrument of terror 
wielded by the military junta that overthrew Haiti's embattled Jean-
Bertrand Aristide in 1991. It killed thousands over the next 3 years.''
  Rather than coming to the defense of the democratically-elected 
government of Haiti, the Bush administration joined with the anti-
democratic forces in the country to call for the President's ouster.
  The administration, our administration, the Bush administration has 
consistently supported a small, elite group in Haiti whose principal 
economic interests is working with multinational corporations to 
exploit Haiti's vast pool of cheap labor. It is not a pretty history.
  Last weekend, the United States and the international community met 
with President Aristide, at which time he agreed to a power-sharing 
proposal made by CARICOM and supported by the United States and France. 
He agreed but the opposition refused. Colin Powell extended the 
deadline, but the opposition stood by its insistence that Aristide step 
down, essentially dead or alive.
  So, in the end, the Bush administration sided with the murderers, 
with the terrorists. While it is unclear exactly what happened early 
Sunday morning, the message from the U.S. to President Aristide was 
crystal clear, the United States will not protect you from being 
cleared by the assassins that are on your doorstep.
  So President Aristide has gone. People are dead. The brutal former 
dictator Duvalier is on TV saying he wants to come back. Guy Phillipe 
wants to reinstate the brutal army. Chaos reigns in Haiti.
  Where do we go from here? Clearly, we need to be part of this 
international force to establish security, but it would be shameful if 
we do not look back and figure out how we got into this mess, that is, 
to have a full investigation of every taxpayer dollar that was spent in 
Haiti and find out whether it was involved in the destabilization of 
Haiti. We have to assure the security of the Aristides so that they can 
go to a country where they can be safe, and we have to help the 
refugees. We need that full investigation, and we will be pushing for 
it, starting tomorrow.

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