Aristide says U.S. deposed him....

[osprey4]

in a modern-day 'coup d'etat', according to an intrview he gave to CNN.

I sincerely hope the State Department realizes their error and immediately returns Aristide to Haiti, where he will be welcomed with open arms by his adoring public.

[MTAtech]

I think the issue is the Bush team is now overthrowing democratically elected gov'ts. only because they don't like the leader. The rebels, who are the death squads from the previous dictatorship, are being funded by the U.S. It is likely the unrest was created and Aristide's effort sabotaged.

[Chuckiechan]

Haiti has been a basket case since 1804 when the French abandoned it as a colony.

Aristide is nuttier that a hatter. For the black caucus, election year or not, to take his word over Sect of State Powell, is scary. This is a no win for everyone, including the Haitians. They have no industry, no raw materials to speak of. No real educational system. It has been run by one "Thugocracy" after another. These people still do VooDoo down there and it ain't a video card!

He ran to save his skin, and the USA gave him the way out.

[wallie_x]

MTAtech sez:

I think the issue is the Bush team is now overthrowing democratically elected gov'ts. only because they don't like the leader. The rebels, who are the death squads from the previous dictatorship, are being funded by the U.S. It is likely the unrest was created and Aristide's effort sabotaged.

Geez MTAtech where are you coming up with this stuff???
Since I'm in the doghouse for my 'abrasive tone' and teetering on banishment, I can't say what I'm really thinking about such unsubstantiated________.
(Fill in the blank yourself.)

He ran to save his skin, and the USA gave him the way out.

Also to avoid a potential blood bath, and spare that poor country more misery.

[ClubMed]

From a different but very relevant thread I think:

Originally posted by ClubMed
Late breaking news.

In Killing Hope William Blum documents quite a few cases where the CIA undermined governments around the world:

China 1945 - 1960s
Italy 1947 - 1948
Greece 1947 - 1950s
The Philippines 1940s and 1950s
Korea 1945 - 1953
Albania 1949 - 1953
Eastern Europe 1948 - 1956
Germany 1950s
Iran 1953
Guatemala 1953 - 1954
Costa Rica mid-1950s
Syria 1956 - 1957
The Middle East 1957 - 1958
Indonesia 1957 - 1958
Western Europe 1950s and 1960s
British Guiana 1953 - 1964
Soviet Union late 1940s - 1960s
Italy 1950s - 1970s
Vietnam 1950 - 1973
Cambodia 1955 - 1973
Laos 1957 - 1973
Haiti 1959 - 1963
Guatemala 1960
France/Algeria 1960s
Ecuador 1960 - 1963
The Congo 1960 - 1964
Brazil 1961 - 1964
Peru 1960 - 1965
Dominican Republic 1960 - 1966
Cuba 1959 - 1980s
Indonesia 1965
East Timor 1975
Ghana 1966
Uruguay 1964 - 1970
Chile 1964 - 1973
Greece 1964 - 1974
Bolivia 1964 - 1975
Guatemala 1962 - 1980s
Costa Rica 1970 - 1971
Iraq 1972 - 1975
Australia 1973 - 1975
Angola 1975 - 1980s
Zaire 1975 -1978
Jamaica 1976 - 1980s
Seychelles 1979 - 1981
Grenada 1979 - 1984
Morocco 1983
Suriname 1982 - 1984
Libya 1981 - 1989
Nicaragua 1978 - 1990
Panama 1969 - 1991
Bulgaria 1990/Albania 1991
Iraq 1990 - 1991
Afghanistan 1979 - 1992
El Salvador 1980 - 1994
Haiti 1986 – 1994

A very interesting book, case by case. Worth a read.

Although I can't be sure at this moment in time, what's happening in Haiti has the classic CIA fingerprints.

[Epidemic]

all Bush bashers.

Lets logic this one out again.

Aristide was apparently powerless to stop the coupe.
He stood in his palace and every day the opposition moved closer. Apparently absolutely powerless to slow their advance. Now if the US wanted him out of power did we need to take him out alive under escort, or could we have just waited until tuesday when his people put a tire around his neck and filled it with gasoline?

The Bush bash simply defies logic once more. My take on it is aristide said please take me out of here. The marines came in and took him out of there. Then when he got to Africa he has decided to save face, maintain possible support for another attempt to gain power and mad a Bush for not sending in Marines to assist him he decided that blaming Bush would be a nice jab.

I actually think aristide was probably better than what is coming but it was probably not going to happen.

[Theophylact]

Here's Adam Felber's take on all this:

Being a respectable commentator with impeccably high standards, I generally don't trade in rumors unless I have the opportunity to start them (and thus secure myself a place in journalistic history if they turn out to be true). But the possible kidnapping of Aristide by US marines is just too rich and weird to pass up. There's a lesson here: If you want us big media types to pick up your implausible rumor, you've gotta swing for the fences.

So, the big question is this: What the @#&$! went on there?

[By the way, my thanks to William Safire, who in last Sunday's "On Language" column explained that @#&$! is derived from the latin root "$#*" and seems to be a colloquial merging of that and the old Flemish "@^%~." I'd always thought it was a bastardization of the Portuguese "%@$!"]

Anyway, there seem to be a limited number of possibilities here, and they all have the virtue of being utterly ridiculous:

1) Aristide is lying. He's so embarrassed by what's happened and so determined to to muster popular support for his eventual return that he actually asked our marines to escort him to safety and then, while still in their custody, turned around and accused them of kidnapping. It's not the kind of thing that you or I would feel comfortable doing while still surrounded by a battalion of heavily-armed leathernecks, but Aristide might be made of sterner stuff. And I use "stern" in its Old English sense, meaning "the quality of being out of one's &$*#$ gourd." [Thanks again to Mr. Safire!]

2) Aristide is telling the truth. It's uncomfortable to say so, but this one's pretty plausible. The Bush administration has demonstrated again and again that it's willing to break a few eggs in the interests of making a more palatable international omelette. The eggs in question are multilateralism, protocol, international law, transparency, and honesty, but it'd be hard to argue that they're not capable of justifying some extremely loony means in pursuit of some desirable ends. Besides, there's always the tried and true Bush excuse that it was done by a Well Meaning But Ultimately Misguided Underling Who Helped Us Achieve Our Ends But Whose Actions We Don't Condone At All No Sir Not In The Least. The administration seems to be riddled with these handy rascals, who have been responsible for everything from riots at Florida voting centers to the Plame leak to file stealing to the insertion of nonexistent African yellowcake in the State of the Union address. Every morning, it seems, the White House wakes up to see that they've been supplied with dozens of pairs of shoes by benevolent elves, saving their modest cobbler's existence. And if a lot of other folks wake up to find their shoes mysteriously missing, well, we can't blame that on the administration...

3) It was all a big misunderstanding. It's possible. Think of it: The last time a phalanx of armed marines came marching into your house and politely offered their services in the event that you should want to hop onto a plane and live out your life in African exile, did you jump to the conclusion that this was more of an order than a request? You probably did.

Ultimately, Aristide's exit is a good thing, preventing a lot of bloodshed and suffering, at least in the short term. And if memory serves, it wouldn't be the first time in the past year that the US has effected a desirable regime change with Charles Bronson-esque disregard for international law and protocol. And the Haiti thing bears one more telling resemblance to the Bush administration's other foreign escapades:

We don't have any coherent idea of what to do next.

[Epidemic]

Great quote theo,

Do you have an opinion?

[osprey4]

So no one likes my idea? Send him back and let the people of Haiti decide?

Riots at Florida voting centers, is it now? Pretty soon it will be wholesale genocide of Democratic voters.

[aldtech]

I don't know about the kidnapping part but I would have to agree on the coup aspect in regards to US involvement. I read an article yesterday off of someone else's post that outlined the coup and the reasons behind it and it brought up some very good points.

There seem to be a lot of connections being made to individuals in the current administration who where supporters of the pre-Aristide government. Also, things seemed to be going good for Aristide until he decided to support his own economy by raising their minimum wage and supporting local farmers instead of buying from the US. Since then, the US cut support for him, why? He was only trying to help his own country survive on its own.

One question I have is where did those "rebels” get all the guns and ammo? Some pictures depict them with some very familiar looking weaponry (M-16s, M-60s).

This has got to make you think.