Kendrick Meek: “What I can tell you is what this Bush administration has done is it has created an atmosphere of conflict. What I mean…”

“What I can tell you is what this Bush administration has done is it has created an atmosphere of conflict. What I mean by that is the fact that we are saying we want Haitians to stay in Haiti, but we are not creating an environment for Haitians to be in Haiti with a democracy that is functional because it has the resources to be able to work towards providing the kind of services that Haitians need. I will say this: Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and it is very disturbing to see this democracy in our hemisphere, the poorest country, and we are standing in front of dollars that were committed years ago to Haiti. I would also say something else that is very disturbing, and that is why I cannot understand the policy. If we want Haitians to stay in Haiti, if we want to be able to have a strong government in Haiti, if we want to be able to provide drinking water and humanitarian efforts in Haiti, then we should not be standing in front of these dollars.”