Op bladzijde 176 van "FDR"* stuit ik op de volgende zinnen: "Franklin however, saw the the occupation as an example of American benevolence. When the Marines had arrived in 1915, the Haitians were primitive savages, living in mud and wattle huts concealed in the underbrush. They had to use force to bring the benefits of democracy to a primitive country. American investments would promote prosperity. Dictators would be overthrown and democratic principles would thrive."
Honderd jaar later lijkt er wat betreft de basis van de Amerikaanse buitenlandse politiek weinig veranderd, vergelijk Haiti van toen met Irak van tien jaar geleden. Ik citeer opnieuw uit "FDR". "In 1917, the island was in effect governed by the U.S. Navy. Smedley Butler (foto), a Marine general of the "we have landed and have the situation well in hand" school, was commander of the Haitian gendarmerie. He presided over the inauguration of President Dartiguenave, the handpicked choice of the State Department. "I won't say we put him in", Butler said. "The State Department might object. Anyway, he was put in." Butler ran the Haitian customs, administered Haitian finances, and was in charge of Haitian public works, primarily road building. He had 6,000 men at work on the road systems, most of them forcibly recruited. He bragged that this roads cost only $250 a mile and once wrote Franklin that "it would not do to ask too many questions as to how we accomplished this work." Herbert J. Seligman, who went to Haiti for the Nation in 1920, reported that "the road program was used as an excuse for kidnapping thousands of Haitians from their homes" and " forcing them to live for months in camps, insufficiently fed, guarded by Marines, rifles in hand .... when Haitians attempted to escape ... they were shot." Seligman charged that under the Marines , Haiti had become a police state. The Marines called the Haitians "gooks", treated them brutally, and in five years of occupation killed 3,000 of them."
Het enige verschil lijkt dat, anders dan in Haiti, in Irak Amerikaanse privé-firma's werden ingehuurd om het vuile werk op te knappen.
*"FDR, A Biography" (over Franklin Delano Roosevelt) van Ted Morgan uitgegeven door Simon and Schuster, New York. ISBN: 0-671-45495-1.
