Writing for COUNTERPUNCH, Heather Williams has produced an informative article on the U.S. backed coup in Haiti. Here's an excerpt:

>> Haiti as Target Practice

How the US Press Missed the Story

By HEATHER WILLIAMS

http://www.counterpunch.org/williams03012004.html

The tragedy of this episode is that much of it was abundantly transparent. Running a sixty-second web search on any of the principals involved leads one to a fetid two-decade history of CIA and U.S. ultra-right subterfuge in Haiti. The fact that the group in charge of Haiti policy today in the State Department has been literally gunning for Aristide since before his initial election as a champion of democracy in 1990 has been left all but unmentioned by the press. Also forgotten is the fact that members of the armed groups burning their way through Haiti's cities today include groups that, (according to myriad sources including sworn testimony before Congress by U.S. officials, reporters, and reports of Haitian recipients of covert aid,) were funneling drugs to the U.S. while in the pay of U.S. intelligence agents.<<

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EMERGENCY RESPONSE DEMONSTRATION TODAY!

Protest U.S.-Led Coup in Haiti!

No U.S. Occupation of Haiti!

5PM Monday, March 1

Westwood Federal Building

Veteran at Wilshire

ALSO:

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3: PROTEST BUSH IN LA!

Bush will be in Los Angeles Wednesday to raise money for

his re-election campaign.

5-7PM Shrine Auditorium

Jefferson at Figueroa

Protest Bush's Coup in Haiti!

Bring the Troops Home Now!

No to Colonial Occupation from Iraq, Palestine,

Afghanistan and everywhere!

Money for Jobs, Schools, Education, Not for War!

Stand Against Racism at Home at Abroad!

Plese help get the word out on these actions

Called by A,N.S.W.E.R; Coalition Los Angeles

For more information, call (213) 487-2368

www.answerla.org

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Well, er, you see we had to go in to defend freedom. Freedom of trade, freedom to make a profit, all that sort of thing. And, er, Aristide was hiding wmds up in the mountains. At least I think there are mountains in Hati. If not, he was hiding them in the plains or somewhere else. And the people wanted us to come because they want free enterprise and religious broadcasts from the Crystal Cathedral. It is all for the best for everyone - globalization is inevitable, and we have no choice but to go along with it. It is like the law of gravity; there is no sense in struggling against it. And some of the Haitians are already free - the thugs have sold them some tvs that they looted from stores and they are watching quality shows like the Beverly Hillbillies right at this moment.

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 (news - web sites) 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."

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., told CNN she talked on the phone with Aristide's wife, Mildred, who said that Aristide was "forced to leave his home." Waters said an U.S. Embassy official told Aristide that he "had to go now — that if he didn't go he would be killed and a lot of Haitians would be killed."

Powell said flatly, "He was not kidnapped. We did not force him on the airplane. He went on the plane willingly."

McClellan said Aristide's aides had contacted the U.S. ambassador to Haiti on Saturday and asked if Aristide would be given protection by the United States if he resigned. The ambassador consulted with Washington, then called Aristide's aides and told them that if Aristide decided to resign, the United States "would facilitate his departure," McClellan said. "And we did."

The United States arranged for a plane to fly to Haiti to pick up Aristide, he said, adding that the aircraft arrived about 4:30 a.m., local time. Aristide went to the airport in the company of his own personal security guards, the spokesman said.

Asked directly if Aristide left of his own free will, McClellan said, "Yes."

Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said 800 to 1,000 Haitians had been returned to their country in recent days after being picked up trying to flee over the water.

Aristide apparently reconsidered his initial decision not to step down after learning over the weekend that the United States would not protect him, a Bush administration official said on condition of anonymity.

Guards from Aristide's security team, employed by the San Francisco-based Steele Foundation, asked the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince on Saturday whether they could count on American protection in the event of rebel hostilities at the presidential palace, the official said. Aristide's guards were told that no such protection would be provided, the official said.

Powell called former Rep. Ron Dellums, D-Calif., whom Aristide hired as a Washington lobbyist, the official said, and told him that the United States had no plans to protect Aristide.





At 1:30 a.m. EST Sunday, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) called President Bush (news - web sites) to inform him that Aristide was resigning, McClellan said. Bush then called Rumsfeld to authorize deployment of the Marines.

The crisis in Haiti has been growing since Aristide's party won flawed legislative elections in 2000, and international donors froze millions of dollars in aid.

As the Marines flew to Haiti late Sunday, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to authorize the immediate deployment of an international military force in Haiti for three months. The Marines are being joined by soldiers from France, Canada and several Caribbean nations.