Sunday, April 17, 2005
Bush policy: shoot them all and let God sort them out
Andrew Buncombe of the Independent reports that:
The Bush administration has been accused of ignoring its own arms embargo and overseeing the sale of $7m-worth (£3.7m) of weapons to the Haitian government to equip its police force.
Human rights groups say the police carry out routine executions of dissidents and weapons are often illegally funneled to armed militia.
Robert Muggah of the Swiss-based Small Arms Survey, a non-profit group, said that last year the US effected the sale of thousands of weapons to the interim government headed by Gerard Latortue, despite a 13-year arms embargo. "They are meant to brace up a shaky security force, but the reality is they could actually undermine security by jeopardizing an innovative disarmament effort just getting under way," said Mr. Muggah, who has spent several months in Haiti interviewing diplomats and UN officials for a report.
That's a polite way of saying that LaTortue is running death squads.
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