The King of Pointland

Haiti

Does anyone remember Haiti? An article in today's New York Times provides an update on its current state of affairs, and some new findings on the role the U.S. played in getting it to where it is today.

Incidentally, reporters Walt Bogdanich and Jenny Nordberg have done a great injustice to Otto J. Reich, the State Department's former assistant secretary of state for Latin American affairs. I will explain. Much of the Times' article centers on complaints from former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Dean Curran that Stanley Lucas, the International Republican Institute's point man in Haiti, was thwarting official U.S. policy in the run-up to the ouster of Haiti's then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In researching the story, the reporters contacted Reich, the ambassador's supervisor at the time, who denied that Curran had ever brought the matter to his attention:

"He never expressed any problems with Stanley Lucas to me, and I was his boss," Mr. Reich said. Asked why his name showed up on cables as having received Mr. Curran's complaints, and why Mr. Curran's cables detailed discussions with him, Mr. Reich replied: "I have absolutely no recollection of that. I'm not questioning it, I just have no recollection of that."

Why didn't the reporter who interviewed Reich tell him they had the cables before he opened his mouth? It would have saved him the trouble of lying to them.

Posted by cradle at January 29, 2006 10:41 PM