KQED Broadcasting Lies About Aristide: Call In Now!

The people NPR is interviewing are saying the best thing for Haiti is to have no elections for awhile... its amazing that the US can take out a democratically elected leader and then both sides interviewed by the mainstream media are talking about the US impossing a government without elections on Haiti.

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 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 that she talked on the phone with Aristide's wife, Mildred, who said that Aristide was "forced to leave his home." Waters said an 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."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/03/01/national1354EST0651.DTL

"What you need to ask is this: Would [Aristide] call three different people -- two members of the United States Congress and tell us that he has been kidnapped -- that a coup d'état has taken place -- unless he believed that?" Waters said. "And do you think we would make this information up?"

Aristide attorney Kurzman said the story originated with groundskeepers and housekeepers at Aristide's home in Haiti.

"The State Department refused to put me in contact with my client," Kurzman said. "I have found out today everything that was my worst nightmare. Today I have learned that the president of the Republic of Haiti was kidnapped by U.S. Marines, taken forcibly from his home, put on an American aircraft," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/03/01/haiti.revolt/index.html

I was listening to Talk of the Nation this morning and in fact they did mention the claim that Aristide was forcefully abducted by US troops, and included Colin Powell's rebuttal as well as a comment from a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who spoke to Aristide himself. I mention this only because I heard it myself, not that I feel compelled to defend NPR and their editorial decisions/omissions.

On Forum they did have such interviews but on the national show they briefly mentioned that there were "rumors" that Aristide was kidnapped and then inetrviewed people for the whole hour about what the US should do next in Haiti. The debate was about nation building with all mention of the fact that the sending of US troops to Haiti is illegal under international law completely ignored. Corporate news has actually had more mention of the illegality of US involvement in Haiti than NPR. Why?
It seems like NPR liberals start from the asumption of a benevolent US government and ask how we can impose our will on Haiti to make things better. Corporate news conservatives are more likely to not support "nation building" since it involves costs but both views are based on an assumption that the US is a benevolent power that should be changing governments around the world without the concent of those it effects.

Hey, sfres-where do you think the anti-aristide armed thugs got their weapons and finances? You thing they paid for US made assault rifles, machine guns, 2 helicopters, and one plane from having a bake sale? PBS has about the worse coverage on Haiti and on about everything else. On one program, I forgot which one, Charles Krauthamel makes these totally fabricated right wing statements, without any, or at most the most minimal challenge from the rest of the panel.

Lies? I think Maxine Waters is the one who isn't credible. She has a reputation for suggesting "conspiracies" and has NEVER YET been able to prove any of her allegations over the past few years. Just because a hated leader "tells" you he has been kidnapped by the US doesn't make it true. I'm sure the French would be the first to point out any US misbehavior in their former colony. A supposed "priest" is supposed to live in poverty....not become a multi-millionaire from his countries repeated loans from other countries.