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Bush Rebuffs Aristide, Warns Haitians
(Steve Holland, Reuters, February 25, 2004)
President Bush on Wednesday rebuffed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's appeal for immediate security assistance to head off a rebel advance and warned Haitians not to flee to the United States. . . . His position drew immediate criticism from members of the Congressional Black Caucus. They rushed to the White House to meet Bush and express concern at what they felt was his refusal to do more to preserve the democratically elected government in Haiti. . . . Aristide, trying to fend off a bloody revolt against his presidency by insurgents, had appealed for international help for his outgunned police. But Bush was insistent that peacekeepers only be sent once a political settlement to the crisis was reached. . . . Speaking in the White House Oval Office, Bush also said he had instructed the U.S. Coast Guard to "turn back any refugee" from Haiti who seeks to land on U.S. shores. . . . Members of the Congressional Black Caucus first met U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and insisted on meeting Bush, too. Secretary of State Colin Powell and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card were there as well. . . . The caucus chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, said his concern was that "lives are being lost, that substantial loss of life seems to be imminent, and we're concerned very much about the government and humanitarian assistance we want to see go into Haiti." . . . "We made it very clear to the president, many may disagree with the way Mr. Aristide has run the country, but the fact is, we in this country have gone all around the world to protect democracies, and here we have one 650 miles away, a leader who was elected by a democratic process, and that we must stand up," Cummings said after the half-hour meeting. . . . Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson said Cubans are allowed to come to U.S. shores and Haitians should be as well. "President Bush is projecting a 'Haitians only' policy. It is inhumane, indifferent to suffering,"

[COMMENT: I hope the Black Republicans will take note of the Bush administration's racist policies.]

posted by Lorenzo 6:40 PM