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"Operation Baghdad" brought to you by AP
Oct 3 |
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- HNW -
"Operation Baghdad"
brought to you by AP - Oct 3
Article:
Associated Press (AP) - Stevenson Jacobs
"Aristide's partisans have begun an urban guerrilla operation that they call 'Operation Baghdad,' human rights activist Jean-Claude Bajeux said Saturday. "The decapitations are imitative of those in Iraq, and they are meant to show the failure of U.S. policy in Haiti."
Analysis:
This quote appeared in several Associated Press (AP) news feeds on October 3rd and 4th in an article written by Stevenson Jacobs who had until recently been posted in Kingston, Jamaica. The first credits for the story also included Michael Norton of AP who is currently in San Juan, Puerto, Rico. Norton is well known for his political sympathies to the political opposition to president Jean-Bertrand Aristide prior to his ouster on February 29th of this year. While Norton would provide full coverage to demonstrations demanding the ouster of Aristide he would consistently ignore and downplay counter demonstrations by supporters of his embattled government. Given that Jacobs is new to Haiti, it would be safe to assume that Bajeux was a contact given to him by Norton.
Since our first release of this information on Bajeux, Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has begun to repeat Bajeux's assertion of the existence of an "Operation Baghdad." Lavalas has denied that such a strategy exits and a spokeman for the party recently stated "this is a calculated attempt to manipulate the media and U.S. public opinion against us. We condemn these acts of violence which are being used to justify destroying our political movement. It was the police who fired on unarmed demonstrators on September 30th that started the violence. This claim of an "Operation Baghdad" is being used to justify continuing the slaughter and arbitrary arrests of our members." Jacobs and AP have consistently avoided printing the responses of Lavalas leaders to the allegations of the existence of a "Operation Baghdad."
Infraction:
Bajeux is a biased news source, likely to be unreliable
Omitted Information:
Source:
The New York Review of Books:
Haitians on Haiti Volume 41, Number 18 November 3, 1994
Jean-Claude Bajeux is director of the Ecumenical Center for Human Rights in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and one of the leaders of the political party Konakom.
Source:
Residents claim police deserting Haiti posts
The World Today
Friday, 27 February , 2004 12:31:11
Reporter: Michael Vincent
MICHAEL VINCENT: Jean-Claude Bajeux is a human rights activist and supporter of the political opposition in Haiti. He says gangs loyal to President Aristide, called Chimere, have been on the rampage. This morning, he says they attacked the compound of a high profile friend of his and the family only survived by escaping in the back of a Red Cross ambulance.
Source:
With Aristide gone, Haitians left with chaos The man once dubbed the Haitian Mandela has left anarchy in his wake
By Gary Younge
THE GUARDIAN , PORT-AU-PRINCE
Wednesday, Mar 03, 2004,Page 9
"He [Aristide] hasn't changed," said Jean-Claude Bajeux, the director of the Ecumenical Center for Human Rights, and Aristide's former minister of culture.
"We made the mistake of thinking he was a political leader. But he does not know or understand what a political party is for," Bajeux said.
Source:
Haitians Now Ask: 'What Next?' By Howard LaFranchi
Christian Science Monitor
March 1, 2004
Mr. Bajeux and other members of Democratic Platform, the opposition's umbrella organization.