Why did we kidnap Aristede?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

My first theory was that we did it as an example (the PNAC's favorite tactic to make leaders fall in line with US interests) to Hugo Chavez.

Then I heard a theory that we did it to appease broken ties with the French.

I don't know what to think. My fiance keeps asking why the US would bother with the poorest nation in the hemisphere. One with no (or hardly any) white people. It doesn't add up on the surface.

I know there are people in DU who can enlighten me. Please do. This thing seems big to me.

[AP]

1. We did it because Levi-Strauss's profits were dropping.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/category.asp?txt=M3100&cycle=2004

[dand]

2. Empire expansion, or....

Cheap labor source, I am not smart enough to figure it out either. How about cannon fodder for our over stretched military.

[lapislzi]

3. It has not yet been determined that Aristede was "kidnapped"

That's one helluva strong word. I don't know if you heard the WBAI/Pacifica broadcast yesterday morning with Charlie Rangel. He made a point of saying that it was not clear whether Aristede was actually kidnapped. The WBAI interviewer kept repeating the word "kidnapped," but call me a hair-splitter; I am not convinced. I'm not ruling it out, but I'd need to see more evidence that doesn't come out of the mouth of Aristede, who naturally has an axe to grind. And Charlie Rangel has no agenda with regard to Aristede; he was one of the people who tried to help.

We do know he was forced to leave Haiti and forced to resign, escorted in "protective custody" for his own "safety." We also know that he still considers himself the democratically elected sovereign of Haiti.

Haiti was allowed to deteriorate by degrees because it suited the WTO and IMF, both of whom Aristede originally opposed. Aristede was damned by lack of support. At least that's my understanding. Other DUers with more in-depth knowledge of the region will no doubt fill you in here.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

4. Thanks.

:toast:

[supercrash]

5. ?

You said he might have NOT been kidnapped....

Then you say..."We do know he was forced to leave"

When you are forced to go somewhere you don't want to...it is kidnapping

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

6. Either way you phrase it - I want to know why

I don't really care what you call it.

[lapislzi]

7. Kidnapping is a very loaded word

as I pointed out in my post.

I can get kicked out of a bar, or dragged out, but that doesn't mean I've been kidnapped.

Aristede was given the choice by the State Department to either leave under armed escort or stay in Haiti with no guarantee with safety. I would concede that the terms were certainly coercive, but I am not convinced that the action amounted to de facto kidnapping.

Give me some more evidence. I'm willing to be persuaded.

[radwriter0555]

12. I agree with you. Aristide was either going with the those guys or he'd be

dead by now at the hands of his people.

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Being taken against your will is still called kidnapping

Many kidnappings are done without force and/or weapons. I think US military showing up at my house at 2:00 AM with a helicopter sitting on the front lawn is a pretty strong hint that it's time to go.

If the US didn't take Aristide against his will, then why didn't we give him asylum in the US? And why is he being treated like a prisoner now?

[lapislzi]

14. 'Cause Aristede is not our man in Port-au-Prince

there is no love lost between Aristede and the corporate government of the U.S. And the last thing Bush would want would be to open the door to pro-Aristede refugees coming in. He already unequivocally stated several weeks ago that NONE would be given asylum. To allow Aristede in would be to suggest that we actually support him, which we emphatically do not.

It has been U.S. policy for decades to keep the region poor and unstable. What do you suppose would happen if places like Puerto Rico started getting ideas about democratically elected leadership?

[no_hypocrisy]

8. Hey, he was lucky that he wasn't a victim of state-sponsored assassination

It's been done before and it will done hereafter.

[Mairead]

9. Interesting that Danziger seems to buy into the Aristide-is-a-twerp line

I wonder why. Normally he seems more perceptive.

[radwriter0555]

11. To prevent all the haitians from leaving and coming to FL/ ELECTION year

and all..

Can't have a PROBLEM to deal with in FLORIDA with all those votes at stake.

[StopThief]

13. To keep him from being shot. . .

and dragged through the streets by the advancing rebel forces.

[DoYouEverWonder]

15. Okay, here's my tinfoil hat theory

I don't think this is a WH mission and I don't think this is an OSP operation either. I think it's some folks in the CIA(?) stirring this mess up in Haiti, to screw Bu$h.

This is a no win situation for Bu$h. Yes, Bu$hCo doesn't like Aristide and refused to support him since 1991 but they would rather pretend Haiti didn't exist and let them all kill themselves. Strategically, we don't need Haiti for a base. There are plenty of others already in the region. Heck if we want to invade Cuba all we have to do is take down the fence at Guantanamo.

The first three weeks, when the unrest started, Bu$hCo didn't even pay attention to what was happening and despite Aristide pleas for help, they put him on ignore. Then when the rebels surrounded the capital we no longer had a choice about getting involved but instead of doing the right thing and protecting Aristide we took the chickenshit way out and gave him the free plane ride instead of letting his own people kill him.

Now we have US troops deployed in Haiti and a misadministration with a leader who only found out that Haiti was in the western hemisphere two weeks ago. When Americans start dying in Haiti right before an election, Bu$h can forget about getting elected dog catcher no less President.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

17. Interesting theory

I like it

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. Plus this will likely start up

the refugee boats again. Right now the Coast Guard is turning them right back to Haiti, but they can't maintain that level of vigilance all the time. Before long some of the boats will get through and end up in Miami and that's something else, that Bu$hCo wants to avoid before the election. At least with Aristide in power the refugee problem was under control.

[spanone]

16. It's just our compassionate president with his "humble" foriegn policy

Never has more bullshit lip-service been heaped upon the folks of this land.