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 So, after Aristide says that he was forced out of Haiti by English and French troops, it's now reported that, though these allegations have been denied by the US and France won't comment, French Troops are "guarding" Aristide in Africa."Paris-AP -- French troops stationed in the Central African Republic are guarding Haiti's ousted leader.
But France's defense chief tells Europe-One radio his country doesn't intend to control Jean-Bertrand Aristide's "comings and goings."
Officials aren't saying whether Aristide requested French protection.
Meanwhile, President Bush and French President Chirac have spoken by telephone today about the Haitian crisis. Chirac's spokeswoman says the two leaders praised the cooperation between their countries in handling Aristide's relatively smooth departure into exile.
The French Foreign Ministry won't comment on Aristide's allegation that the United States forced him to leave his country. The Bush administration says it didn't do that. |
Cheney is claiming that Aristide left on his own free will, but had "worn out his welcome.""WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney said on Tuesday Jean-Bertrand Aristide had "worn out his welcome" as Haiti's president but that the United States did not force him to leave as he claims.
"He made the choice to leave. He resigned the office of his own free will and left on a civilian aircraft which we chartered for him. He left with his security detail. This was his decision to go," Cheney told the Fox News Channel.
...
"There were strong indications that he was packing his bags for several days before this," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "In one conversation with a U.S. diplomat, he talked about how he had already packed up his computer." |
I guess we'll have to wait to find out the truth. There are two very different stories here - one from the man who claims he's been kidnapped, and the other from the folks being accused of the kidnapping, who deny the charges.So, the whole thing smells pretty fishy to me, but I have no way of knowing what's actually going on. Also, Haiti isn't the only country in the area to be weary of U.S. intervention. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela thinks that they're also behind the coup that removed him from power for 2 days in 2002 and are still trying to remove him. He's threatened to restrict all oil exports to America if the U.S. tries anything.
UPDATE, 3:51 PM: Center for American Progress has alot of good info, and Body and Soul has a really nicely-done investigation."If you look at the ways the story has been told, not just by the NYT and the LAT, but by Maxine Waters, Randall Robinson, a caretaker at Aristides' home, and Aristide himself, you see a lot of factual overlap with different interpretations, with a few differences in points of fact. Charles Rangel, in the LA Times article, gets to the heart of the story, about which there seems to be little dispute:
Asked if Aristide was kidnapped, Rangel replied: "That's subjective. You can either stay and get shot, or leave with the military. He chose to leave with the military. So I suspect that you may have a hard time prosecuting the kidnapping. But it was against his will."
The official story, from the NYT, isn't much different:
While American officials insist that they did not force Mr. Aristide to resign, they acknowledge that they made it clear to him that they could not protect him if he clung to power, and that they offered to give him safe passage out of the country if he would leave by dawn on Sunday. |
By the way, here's the caretaker.
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