Obama Incompetence Was Key to the Escalation of the Honduran Crisis

July 3, 2009 (LPAC)—The Obama administration blew it on Honduras, a senior U.S. intelligence official told LPAC today, by ignoring clear indications it had for weeks that ousted President Manuel Zelaya was planning a virtual coup d'etat.

Five of the top seven Honduran military officials were graduates of the U.S.-run School of the Americas, the source reported, and most of them reached out to U.S. contacts, warning of "another Chavez going for a coup." Clearly Zelaya intended to use the "non-binding" referendum as the basis for a coup, and had it gone forward, it would have triggered a civil war. But unnamed Obama Administration officials told the U.S. military not to make further queries or intelligence probes.

The Obama administration waited too long before acting, the source continued, making uninformed initial statements, leaving it to the OAS to take the initiative. The U.S. should have led the OAS effort.

Asked about charges from the new Foreign Minister of Honduras, Enrique Ortez, that elements of the Zelaya government have ties to the drug trade, the source said that the U.S. has "clear indications" (not proof) that Zelaya and his people benefit from the drug trade. Since he came in as President, Honduras has become a significant stopover point for drug shipments bound for the United States.

The Obama Administration's failure to act on the basis of the advance warning of a Zelaya Chavista coup is the key to assessing this mess, the source concluded.