Comment E-mail Print Bio Archives

Page 2 of 3

On June 28, a "Teleconference Background Briefing" was held with the major media by "two senior officials" who were guiding coverage of the events in Honduras but whose identities were protected from disclosure by the lapdog press.

The transcript shows a New York Times reporter asking, "Is the U.S. Government calling this and considering this a coup d'état? Can you talk about the use of language? Some other governments have called it that."

The answer was, "...I would certainly characterize a situation where a president is forcibly detained by the armed forces and expelled from a country an attempt at a coup. We―I mean, we still see him as the constitutional president of Honduras. So it was an attempt at a coup. We don't think it was successful."

The official is saying it wasn't successful because the Obama White House wants to work with the Marxist governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua (backed by Iran) to bring Zelaya back to power.

At the same time, however, the official conceded that the controversy in Honduras stemmed from the effort by Zelaya to maintain himself illegally and unconstitutionally in power through a referendum or "survey" he had no right to initiate. He explained, "The fundamental political divide within Honduras was whether or not this effort by President Zelaya was seen as constitutional and legal, or whether it was seen as illegitimate and unconstitutional. And several institutions, including the public ministry, which is their equivalent of Attorney General, the Supreme Court, and the Congress had declared this survey to be illegitimate and illegal."

Notice how the U.S. official said that "the public ministry, which is their equivalent of Attorney General, the Supreme Court, and the Congress had declared this survey to be illegitimate and illegal."

He went on to say, "Obviously, it was the armed forces that detained the president today and expelled him from the country. But as we're seeing now with the naming of an interim president by the congress, this was an effort that has included other political institutions."

Indeed, this was not a "military coup" in the traditional sense of the army acting unilaterally to depose a popular president. The Army was acting in accordance with the dictates of the other political institutions.

Not only did the Congress and the Supreme Court act against Zelaya, the Catholic Church of Honduras―which is not under the sway of Marxist-oriented Liberation Theology―had opposed his illegal acts.

One question from a CNN reporter helped illustrate the incoherent nature of the Obama policy: "You said that you felt other institutions felt that it was illegal and unconstitutional, but did you think it was and did you advise the president not to invoke it?" The official replied, "Again, it's not up to us to determine what's legal or not within the context of Honduras. It was important for us to leave this to Honduran institutions to try to resolve."

>> Continued -- Page 1 2 3