Mar 1st, 2004, 04:53 PM
Did US Kidnap Aristide?
I doubt it. On the other hand, we are the country of preemptive regime change now. Maybe this is just a trial run fro Venezuela.
Administration Denies Forcing Aristide Out
AP
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The White House and military and diplomatic officials on Monday denied allegations Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was kidnapped by U.S. forces eager for him to resign and be spirited into exile.
With U.S. military forces already on the ground in the Caribbean nation and more on the way, chief presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said, "It's nonsense, and conspiracy theories do nothing to help the Haitian people move forward to a better more free, more prosperous future."
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld estimated that between 1,500 and 2,000 U.S. troops would go to Haiti for a "relatively short period." They would participate in an interim force, which could include as many as 5,000 troops from several countries, that would stay until replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force.
Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell joined the White House in denying that the United States had forced out Aristide.
McClellan told reporters that Aristide left on his own free will. "We took steps to protect Mr. Aristide and his family so they would not be harmed as they departed Haiti," he said.
Rumsfeld, at a Pentagon (news - web sites) news conference, said he was involved in the diplomatic flurry preceding Aristide's departure. "The idea that someone was abducted is inconsistent with everything I saw," he said. "I don't believe that's true, that he's claiming that. I would be absolutely amazed if that were the case."
An African-American activist, Randall Robinson, said Aristide told him on the phone Monday that he had been kidnapped at gunpoint by American soldiers and ousted in a U.S. coup d'etat. Aristide said he was being held prisoner at the Renaissance Palace in Bangui, Central African Republic, Robinson said.
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., told CNN that when he spoke with Aristide on Monday morning, the exiled Haitian leader told him that the international community had let him down — "that he was kidnapped, that he resigned under pressure, that he was taken to a Central African country."
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