US State Department and Millennium Challenge Corp. Contradict Each Other Over Honduras Coup Aid

This is kick-ass reporting. I want to know where in the hell the corporate media is on this story. Beyond these basic facts is a much deeper story, just waiting to come out. What political game is being played between Clinton, Obama, Lanny Davis, etc? Without this key piece of journalism, that story doesn't exist at all. Hats off ... and, the corporate media should be shamed if they don't follow up on this breaking story. Chavez and Morales have both indicated that there's evidence of US support of the coup regime on some level and this is direct evidence of that. It is outrageous that the US Secretary of State is directly involved in sending millions of dollars of funding to the coup regime while, at the same time, the policy of the administration she works for is against that. Unbelievable. And what irony, given Obama's choice of words in calling critics "hypocrites" ... what greater hypocrisy can there be than this slight-of-hand support for a coup regime that has more blood on its hands as each day rolls by? I've been doing my own research on the right's counter-attack, just as Latin America heads into a period of several critical elections coming up in the next year. I've been focusing on UnoAmerica, which is unique in its direct attacks on the Foro de São Paulo. I'll make sure to include the Honduras/MCC scandal in my research and request a comment, even if it's just to let them know that people are paying attention to this.

Nice work. But, now you know why the official designation of this as a 'coup' hasn't happened. If such an official designation were to be made, then its obvious what the law requires and it would all happened more or less automatically. However, under an informal 'pause' declared by the State Dept, everything is more cloudy. So, the forces who want to support the coup continue to do so, meanwhile claiming 'confusion' about whether or not they have to halt the aid dollars. Meanwhile, a few more million go to the coupsters to help pay for the repression and the shootings in the streets.

Remember, the State Dept was always being very slippery in what it said about this aid. I went back to my blog and found what I wrote at the time. Read the last line of the quote I found, the bit about 'democracy promotion.' http://commondebate.blogspot.com/2009/07/us-talks-stalls-takes-no-action... [quote] On the critical issue of U.S. aid, Clinton stated, "We have paused in the aid that we think would be affected by the letter of the statute. There is humanitarian aid, and that is a concern for us—the well-being of the people of Honduras. But we’ve made the decision to basically pause on any further aid." The government has still not made the official designation of a military coup in Honduras, which would automatically mean a cut-off of certain types of aid. Ian Kelly, when pressed, added: "Basically, what we’re looking at is aid that would directly benefit the de facto regime down there, so obviously, that means military assistance programs. But we’re still – I mean, we’ve taken a policy decision to stop aid that might be subject to this – the statute. And so I think that’s kind of a broad definition. I mean, it’s still a fairly small percentage of our overall aid because most of our aid would not come under this statute. And this would be humanitarian aid, which goes directly to the people – it doesn’t go to the government – and any aid that would be construed as democracy promotion." [quote] I quoted from AmericasMexicoBlog, which has a link onto the State Dept website. http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2009/07/clinton-announces-arias-to-me... At the time, it looked like a big loophole that was being left wide open. Especially since the US has poured money into anti-democratic coupsters throughout the region via its 'democracy promotion' programs. MCC will most likely claim that their 'economic freedom' programs fit under this 'democracy promotion' exception that the Obama-Clinton team deliberately left open. Some good reporter should look closely under the "Humanitarian aid' category as well. That's the other loophole that's been left open. It sounds nice in a press release. But remember, we are the nation that sold Saddam Hussein weapons up until just before the Gulf War under the category of 'agricultural aid'. Don't be confused that this contradicts the nice sounding words that Obama puts out. That's been standard-operating-procedure for the Democrats for at least the last 20 years. Stand up and spout nice sounding words while the real money does exactly the opposite.

If this information is even somewhat true, it has not been considered newsworthy. Is this not important to readers of blogs, like Daily Kos, to readers and watchers of major media, or should I apply for membership in a conspiracy regarding withholding derogatory news? While it is scary to imagine MCC and SOS in cohoots, it is more scary to think it hasn't risen to headline status. Am I looking in the wrong places? Do I need to work this hard to find out what is going on? If it is true, SOS Clinton has no incentive to recognize the obvious truth that the military imposition of their own chosen "de facto government" can be nothing else other than a "coup d'etat", by any idiot's definition. Regardless of who is elected in November to become President in January, if the current situation is not identified as a "coup", the next President will be subject to being shipped out of Honduras at any time on a military whim.