Mòde Soufle - Part I

"Just as in New York, there are rats in Haiti..."

Of course the first rats in Haiti were French, or rather, brought by the French. The constant word-play between the rats of subspecies Rattus rattus rattus and homo sapiens has been going on for some time. This story is about the latter. The subspecies applied to this portable punchline, are journalists:

"...there's just some things you can't get a rat to do."

Mòde Soufle is part of the imaginative Haitian terminology. It comes from the endearing vision of a rat - of the Rattus rattus rattus variety - visiting the sleeping victim during the night, biting to draw blood. The Rat now transitions anthropomorphically - believing that she is more intelligent than the Haitian victim - as she blows on the wound, cooling it off, so as not to wake the victim. The Rat blows gently, and when the victim stops stirring, The Rat bites again...

Such, is the writing of New York Times correspondent, Lydia Polgreen.

Hey! ...and what about that New York Times? Today, "...the Editors of The NY Times apologized for propagating LIES about Iraq which led to WAR." I realize, of course, that's not exactly how they put it. They did dance around the subject a bit; saying that they "were taken in" as opposed to being on the take. "Plausible deniability" was the tone, the biggest catastrophe of this editorial wasn't the spin, it was the omission:

War is a plague where humans kill each other for political domination

Nowhere in this NY Times editorial, "The Times and Iraq," do the editors ever mention the human toll of this war. Wholesale slaughter and death are the byproduct of the U.S. misinformation and destabilization campaign. The killing in Iraq is far from over. The same goes for Haiti. The other night three more Lavalasien were hunted down and murdered in an attempt to repress the aspirations of The People of Haiti. If you changed the title to "The Times and Haiti," switched the cast of characters and a few situations, the main message would work equally well for the current crisis in Haiti.

"Some critics of our coverage during that time have focused blame on individual reporters."

Lydia Polgreen had a job to do in Haiti, she completed that job and has returned to her base. She was exposed to the truth, real situations and privileged information. By ALL reports the aspirations of the interviewees was frustrated when they finally were able to read the resuling story in the NY Times. Some even read it more than once doubting their own comprehension. Lydia had a script and she followed it.

"The problematic articles...shared a common feature. They depended at least in part on information from a circle of Iraqi informants, defectors and exiles bent on 'regime change' "

The Haiti Democracy Project (HDP) starts their misinformation with their name, and it never stops. Even though they don't need any help the other misnamed cohorts of the HDP - the National Coalition of Haitian Rights (NCHR) - enjoy the same impunity, never being challenged by Lydia Polgreen. But the importance of what WAS admitted by the NY Times cannot be overstated. There are clear IMPLICATIONS (implied truth is more than I expected).

The impact of these revelations will be huge, it's up to us to make sure that Haiti shares the light.

"We consider the story of Iraq's weapons, and of the pattern of misinformation, to be unfinished business. And we fully intend to continue aggressive reporting aimed at setting the record straight." It's a great admission of culpability for these editors to even use the word. Misinformation is not an accident, it has to be intentional. It has a design, it follows a pattern. For Haiti, its goal was to destabilize the democratically elected government, and neutralize President Aristide's base of support amongst the liberal and progressive communities outside of Haiti.

The Internet and the corporate media are already abuzz with the chit-chat about The Times and Iraq. Here at www.HaitiAction.net we'll provide The Times and Haiti for you until those Editors decide to include this story. Most of the rats - rattus journalistas - have left Haiti as it grows even more deadly for Lavalas. In Part II we'll take a closer look at what Lydia Polgreen wrote for the NY Times. Do your homework and read up on her biting commentary of the last few months. Stay tuned...

RAW

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