Whuddya know: The Obama administration didn’t abandon anyone

The unabandoned “Southern Baptist Ten“ in Haiti apparently owe some thanks to the Obama administration, especially often-maligned Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

Reg Brown, a Washington,D.C., attorney for detainee Jim Allen of Texas, said Allen’s team of lawyers is “cautiously optimistic” that their client would soon be released. “We believe the secretary of state has played a constructive role in that Secretary (Hillary) Clinton wants to bring the Americans home,” said Brown, who this week wrote to Clinton asking for her assistance.

Self-protective outcry from Southern Baptist Convention bigwigs, despite their role in causing the problem, may have been irrelevant to the proceedings themselves and, given the SBC’s longtime role as a Republican Party auxiliary, off the Obama administration’s radar.

Haitian judge may release the 10 Baptists: Update

Finding no malevolent intentions, a Haitian judge has apparently decided to release the 10 Baptists who have been at the center of so much furor, Reuters reported Wednesday afternoon. The report was based upon disclosures by an unnamed “judicial source:”

“One thing an investigating judge seeks in a criminal investigation is criminal intentions on the part of the people involved, and there is nothing that shows that criminal intention here,” the source said.

That seems fair, and will give us all time to wonder why top Southern Baptist Convention officials seemed to be more concerned about the denomination’s image than about either the missionaries themselves or about the Haitian children whose protection is and was the objective of Haiti’s legal system in this case.

Bear in mind that the 10 Southern Baptists were arrested out of a legitimate Haitian concern with child trafficking. Specifically, the U.S. State Department issued a cautionary statement on Jan. 26 which said:

In the aftermath of a crisis such as the Haiti earthquake, children are especially vulnerable; and there is increased potential for abuse of, and trafficking in, children. The United States remains committed to working with the Government of Haiti to implement safeguards to protect children and their families in Haiti.

Update: Thursday afternoon

Release may be “provisional:”

Later, Saint-Vil said he would recommend provisional freedom for the detainees while the investigation continues. But it wasn’t clear whether their possible release means they would be allowed to leave Haiti, or what implications the judge’s decision could have on whether the charges may be dropped.