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but, .....I repeat myself.
Suppose you were a heartless bastard, and suppose you were a Republican, but, .....I repeat myself. Mark Twain
Monday, March 01, 2004
 
Boston Globe- Aristide backers blame US for ouster

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff, 3/1/2004

WASHINGTON - Members of Congress and supporters of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti said the Bush administration inspired - if not actively supported - the removal of a democratically elected leader.
Senior US officials denied having any hand in the three-week rebellion that ultimately forced Aristide to leave the country early yesterday under US Marine guard to an undisclosed location, saying Aristide's corruption and repression were responsible for the uprising.
Critics of the Bush administration accused the United States of collusion, giving the rebel opposition a chance to veto a proposal last week to participate in power sharing and squeezing the Aristide government in recent years. They said Washington helped remove a leader whom it helped regain power a decade ago but with whom it steadily lost favor.
Chief supporters of Aristide made more pointed accusations. They contended that the rebellion was orchestrated by US military and intelligence officials and planned over several years to topple Aristide.
A senior US military official acknowledged that some American weapons sold to the neighboring Dominican Republic last year may have ended up in the hands of opposition forces in Haiti, but stressed that they were not provided as part of some covert US activity and could have been acquired from the Dominican military.The Central Intelligence Agency declined to respond to questions yesterday whether it had any role in Haiti.
The United States was blamed for cutting off international aid to Haiti and, as a result, slowly making Aristide's position untenable. The United States put a stop to hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from the World Bank in 2000 after independent observers said Aristide's party won an overwhelming victory in fraudulent elections.
Aristide's lawyer, Ira Kurzban, also accused the United States of playing a leading role on the ground in Haiti. He said that the rebel leader, Guy Philippe, is an ally of Jadel Chamberlain, the cofounder of FRAPH, the paramilitary organization that terrorized Haitians in the early 1990s and that Kurzban claimed was founded with the help of US intelligence agencies.
Kurzban, who said he had not been able to reach Aristide and was concerned about his safety, said he believes that some of the rebels crossed into Haiti from the Dominican Republic, aided by the US weaponry.
``I think they had an active role, and the key is Chamberlain,'' Kurzban said in an interview from Miami. He provided no evidence for the allegations.
The senior US military official said a small number of US special forces conducted antiterrorism exercises, called Operation Jaded Task, with the Dominican military in February 2003, a program he described as ``routine.''
According to news reports at the time, the exercise apparently came as a surprise to the country's foreign minister, who publicly denounced the operation. The US official said 20,000 M-16s were provided to the Dominican forces to help the country guard its border with Haiti and that all the weapons could not be accounted for.
Another senior defense official who asked not to be named called the allegations of US meddling in Haiti ``utter nonsense.''
``I'm not sure I'd call it a coup d'etat,'' Richard Haas, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, told ABC. ``This was something that was much more revolutionary, if you will, much more from the streets.''

Chicago Tribune - Aristide flees, riots erupt
One rebel leader, Louis-Jodel Chamblain, headed a feared paramilitary group that killed several thousand civilians in the early 1990s. He is joined in the insurgency by several other notorious paramilitary leaders as well as Philippe, a former police official whom Aristide accused of leading at least one failed coup against his government.

VOA - Rioting, Looting Leaves Much of Port-au-Prince in Shambles
The first of several hundred U.S. Marines ordered to Haiti by President Bush arrived in the chaotic capital Sunday. Much of the city lies in shambles one day after the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Much of Haiti's capital lies in shambles one day after the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide under international pressure. Several have been killed and countless shops and other businesses left in ruin.
Automatic gunfire rang out repeatedly near Haiti's national palace in the wake of Mr. Aristide's resignation, as armed gangs of Aristide die-hard loyalists drove city streets, voicing their displeasure with bullets.
But one local resident, who identified himself only as a businessman, was smiling. "I am more than happy. Why? Because the devil has left the country, OK?"
But any joy the man may have felt was soon drowned out by anarchy and lawlessness.

BBC - Guy Philippe: The rebelling soldier
But Mr Philippe's career in the police came to an abrupt end in 2000, when the authorities accused him of plotting a coup with other police chiefs.But Mr Philippe's career in the police came to an abrupt end in 2000, when the authorities accused him of plotting a coup with other police chiefs.
He fled - first to Ecuador, then to the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
In December 2001, when armed men tried to seize the presidential National Palace, a year after disputed elections returned Mr Aristide to office for a second term, authorities accused Mr Philippe of masterminding the operation.
But extradition negotiations failed, and Mr Philippe remained at large.
While in the Dominican Republic, Mr Philippe's reputed taste for luxury hotels fuelled speculation he was involved in drugs trafficking - a charge that he vehemently denied in a recent interview.
"You can look in all the banks of the world, but you will not find any money of mine, because I am not rich," he said.
He fled - first to Ecuador, then to the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
In December 2001, when armed men tried to seize the presidential National Palace, a year after disputed elections returned Mr Aristide to office for a second term, authorities accused Mr Philippe of masterminding the operation.
But extradition negotiations failed, and Mr Philippe remained at large.
While in the Dominican Republic, Mr Philippe's reputed taste for luxury hotels fuelled speculation he was involved in drugs trafficking - a charge that he vehemently denied in a recent interview.
"You can look in all the banks of the world, but you will not find any money of mine, because I am not rich," he said.

Haiti: The Past Is Prologue
Louis Jodel Chamblain is, beyond any doubt, the most shocking figure to have reemerged among the rebels. A sergeant in the Haitian army until 1989 or 1990, Chamblain was one of the founders in 1993 of the paramilitary group known as the Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress (FRAPH). As FRAPH's second in command, and its operational leader, he had a reputation for violence and action.
"I was never paramilitary chief," asserted Chamblain in a recent interview with the New York Times. "I was the leader of a political organization. FRAPH helped people and brought the Haitian people together."
FRAPH's repressive activities, in fact, helped lead nearly 100,000 Haitians to flee their country. At least 3,000 people were killed during military rule, and many thousands more suffered torture, rape, beatings, extortion, arbitrary detention and other abuses

But remember this was not a US backed coup!!! After all we would never support known mass murderers or train a new batch of them !

All that is left to do now is to watch the body count! Hopefully we won't outdo the Cedras count.


The only thing that has me baffled is the interest of the US in the internal affairs of Haiti, a country that is the poorest in the Americas and has no great Natural resources to speak of.

- posted by Don Quijote @ 7:10 AM


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