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March 8, 2004
Kevin Alexander Gray
The Legacy of Strom Thurmond
March 6 / 7, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Understanding the World with
Paul Sweezy
Robert Pollin
Remembering Paul Sweezy
Jeffrey St. Clair
The Politics of Timber Theft
Tom Reeves
Bush's Mass Deportations: 63,000 and Counting
Charles Lewis
Who Mugged Howard Dean in Iowa:
Kerry, Torricelli and a Mysterious Frontgroup
Tom Jackson
My Breakfast with Sen. Judd Gregg
Kurt Nimmo
Is Venezuela Next?
Alan Cisco
A Report from Caracas
Jack Random
Haitian Democracy be Damned
Colin Piquette
Oh, Canada: the Coup Coalition
Lee Sustar
Labor's State of Emergency
William D. Hartung
Iraq and the Costs of War
David Sally
Rebuilding
Amérique
Mark Scaramella
When God Mooned Moses: Test Your Bible Knowledge
Mickey Z.
What We Can Learn from Ashcroft's Gallbladder
Ron Jacobs
Politics and Baseball
Dave Zirin
The Longest Jump: the Blackballing of Phil Shinnick
Poets' Basement
John Holt and Larry Kearney
Website of the Weekend
National Day of Action for Rachel Corrie
March 5, 2004
Chris Floyd
Uncle
Sugar: How the WMD Scam Put Money in Bush Family Pockets
Ron Jacobs
Chaos
Reigns: Haiti and Iraq
Lisa Viscidi
Guatemalan
Refugees: a Difficult Return
Yves Engler
Canada and the Coup in Haiti
Mike Legro
Those Bush Ads: Some Dead Bodies Are Worth More Than Others
Javier Armas
A Night of Inspiration: Oakland Benefit for Grocery Workers Strike
Bennett Hoffman
"Who Cares About Haiti, Anyway?"
Bill Christison
Faltering Neo-Cons Still Dangerous
Website of the Day
Haiti Support Group
March 4, 2004
Diane Christian
Sex
and Ideals
Sen. Robert Byrd
Stop the Stonewalling, Mr. President: Fairy Tales, Bush and the
9/11 Commission
Norman Solomon
Assuming the Right to Intervene: The US Press and Haiti
Jack Brown
A Fragrant Saga of Mexico's Greens
Hal Cranmer
The
John Kerry Experience
David Lindorff
Greenspan's Pension
Sam Smith
The Election is Over, We Lost
Christopher Brauchli
Goin'
to the Chapel: The Gay and the Dead
Brian D. Barry
The "Perfect" World of E-Voting: A Computer Scientist
Reports from the Polling Booth
Richard Oxman
Arsonists for Haiti?
Peter Phillips
Haitian
Fantasies: Mainstream Media Fails Itself, Again
Tariq Ali
Notes on Anti-Semitism, Zionism and
Palestine
Website of the Day
What If Boeing Ads Told the Truth?
March 3, 2004
Heather Williams / Karl
Laraque
Marines
Retake Haiti
Jack McCarthy
Guy's
Our Guy: "I am the Chief. My Hero is Pinochet."
Robert Sandels
The
Purloined Label: The Struggle Over the Havana Club Trademark
Juliana Fredman / James Davis
Israeli Organized Crime
JG
The Yuppie Silence on Haiti
Emilio Sardi
The
Colombia/US Free Trade Deal: It's About More Than Trade
Alan Farago
Swimming in Sewage
Mike Whitney
"Blood
Will Have Blood": 143 Murdered in Liberated Iraq
CounterPunch Wire
Nader's Legislative Record in the 1960s
Steve Perry
Kerry
Advisory: Remember Lena Guerrero
Nelson George/ Marcus Miller
Miles Davis & Hip Hop: a Conversation
Website of the Day
$10,000 Is Yours for the Taking: The USS Liberty Challenge
March 2, 2004
William Blum
If Kerry's
the Answer, What's the Question?
Conn Hallinan
Haiti:
the Dangerous Muddle
JoAnn Wypijewski
The Bravo
H-Bomb Test: One WMD They Couldn't Hide
Mike Whitney
Regime Change in Haiti: the Bush Dominos Keep Falling
Ra Ravishankar
Afghanistan, the Liberation That Isn't: an Interview with Mariam
from RAWA
Dan Bacher
Merle Haggard & the Politics of Salmon: "Clearcutting
is Rape"
Greg Moses
Oscar White
Brandy Baker
Mel Gibson's Minstrelsy Show
Little Tucker Carlson
What I Did on My Vacation
Robert Fisk
All This
Talk of Civil War, Now This
Merle Haggard
Kern River
Website of the Day
Rebel Edit
March 1, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Morris
Thanks War Criminal in Front of Billions
Richard Oxman
Oscar's
Obit: Thanking Bob McNamara
Elaine Cassel
Writing and Reading as "Terrorism"
Mickey Z
Thomas Friedman's Education
Mike Whitney
George Will and Anti-Semitism: a Cul-de-Sac of Prejudice
Heather Williams
Haiti
as Target Practice: How the US Press Missed the Story
Cathy Crosson
Chanson d'amour haïtienne
Website of the Day
God Hates Shrimp
February 28 / 29, 2004
Stephen Green
Serving
Two Flags: Neo-Cons, Israel and the Bush Team
Gary Leupp
Another Senseless Bush Battle: Defining and Protecting Marriage
William A. Cook
Israel:
America's Albatross
Ron Jacobs
Kucinich: Good Fight; Wrong Battlefield
Ben Tripp
A Nosegay of Posies: Queer Weddings at Last!
Leilla Matsui
Dances with Crucifixes
Mike Whitney
Dismantle
the Military Goliath
Yoel Marcus
Down and Out in the Hague
Uri Avnery
The Dancing Bear
Linda S. Heard
Britons and Americans Condemned to a Hobson's Choice
Al Krebs
Unmasking a Secret American Empire: Land, Water & Cotton
Stan Cox
Life (Pat. Pend.): Genetic Commandeering
JG
The Haiti Boomerang: "After The Looting & Pillaging,
Your Hunger Will Remain"
Rick Giombetti
Censorship at the Seattle P-I on Forced Psychiatry
Keith Hoeller
The Bankruptcy of Mental Health Insurance Parity
Dave Zirin
Colorado Football: Buffalo Swill
NADERAMA
Alan Maass
Nader and the Politics of Lesser
Evils
Michael Donnelly
Regime
Rotation: Anybody But Bush...Again?
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Exeunt Serenaders; Enter Nader
Doug Giebel
So Nader's Running? Get Over It
Bruce Jackson
An Open Letter to Naderites
CounterPunch Wire
Stalinists for Kerry! and Other Roars from the Crowd
Poets' Basement
Davies, Scarr, Kearney & Albert
February 27, 2004
Thomas C. Mountain
A
White Jesus During Black History Month?
Laura Carlsen
Americans
Abroad: Bush is Persona Non Grata
John B. Anderson
Nader's Campaign Brings Back Memories: Creating an Open Electoral
Process
Jason Leopold
Spying
on Kofi Annan
John Chuckman
Nader,
Risk and Hope
Standard Schaefer
An
Interview with Michael Hudson on Putin's Russia
Ray McGovern
Punished
for Honest Intelligence
Saul Landau
The
Haiti Redux
Website of the Day
Bush: Why I'm Running for Re-election
February 26, 2004
Brandy Baker
Is Nader
on to Something?
Jacques Kinau
AEI
to Colombia: "Can't Give You Anything But Guns, Baby"
Norman Solomon
Bugging Kofi Annan: UN Spying
and the Evasions of US Journalism
Greg Weiher
A Purloined Letter: the Zarqawi Gambit
Walt Brasch
Janet Jackson, Bush & No. 542: There are No Halftime Shows
in War
Shadi Hamid
The Music World Explodes in Anger
Norman Madarasz
As Canadian as Corruption
Chris Floyd
Bullets and Ballots
Virginia Tilly
The
Deeper Meaning of the Wall
Amy Goodman / Jeremy
Scahill
Haiti's
Lawyer Says US is Arming Haiti's Anti-Aristide Paramilitaries
Website of the Day
Clear Channel Sucks
February 25, 2004
Dr. Susan Block
Saddam's
Sex Therapist and the Rape of Free Speech
Bruce Anderson
Treacherous Bastards: The Greens and the Dems and Nader
Ron Jacobs
Our Power is on the Streets and
in Our Hearts
Mike Whitney
Bush
and Gay America: the Politics of Duplicity
Sam Husseini
Jesus in 100 Words
John L. Hess
Kick Off or Flub?
Sam Hamod
Bush's Newest Red Herring
Cockburn / St. Clair
Winning
with Nader
Website of the Day
VotePact
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Greg Moses
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Douglas O'Hara
The
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Phillip Cryan
Frozen in Time: The WSJ's Paranoid
Lens on Latin America
David Lindorff
John Kerry's China Connection
Jason Leopold
Cheney's Shame: Halliburton Faces New Charges
Gary Younge
Haiti: Throttled by History
Kromm, Masri & Purohit
Why No Democracy in Iraq?
Steve Perry
Tangled Up in Red and Blue: Beware the Electoral College
February 23, 2004
Neve Gordon
Israel's Apartheid Wall on Trial
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Richard Perle, Executioner: "Heads Should Roll"
Jonathan Franklin
US Soldier Seeks Refugee Status in Canada
Al Krebs
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|
March
8, 2004
"They Destroyed
Our Democracy"
An
Interview with Jean-Bertrand Ariside
By AMY GOODMAN
At approximately 7:20 am EST, Democracy Now! managed
to reach exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by
cell phone in the Central African Republic. His comments represent
the most extensive English-language interview Aristide has given
since he was removed from office and his country.
Moments before the Democracy Now! interview,
Aristide appeared publicly for the first time since he was forced
out of Haiti in what he has called a US-backed coup. The authorities
in the Central African Republic allowed Aristide to hold a news
conference after a delegation of visiting US activists charged
that the Haitian president was being held under lock and key
like a prisoner. The delegation included one of Aristide's lawyers,
Brian Concannon, as well as activists from the Haiti Support
Network and the International Action Center, representatives
of former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Shortly after they
arrived in Bangui on Sunday, the delegation attempted to meet
with Aristide at the palace of the Renaissance. The CAR government
rebuked them.
Shortly after, the country's foreign
minister held a press conference in Bangui. Armed men threatened
journalists in the room, warning them not to record the minister's
remarks. Mildred Aristide, the Haitian First lady, was brought
into the room, but was not permitted to speak. The CAR foreign
minister told the journalists that President Aristide would
hold a news conference within 72 hours. Hours later, Aristide
was allowed to address journalists.
In his interview on Democracy Now!, Aristide
asserted that he is the legitimate president of Haiti and that
he wants to return to the country as soon as possible. He details
his last moments in Haiti, describing what he called his "kidnapping"
and the coup d'etat against him. He responds to Vice President
Dick Cheney's comment that Aristide had "worn out his welcome"
in Haiti.
AMY GOODMAN: I am Amy Goodman from
the radio/TV program Democracy Now! around the United States.
We would like to know why you left Haiti.
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Thank you. First
of all, I didn't leave Haiti because I wanted to leave Haiti.
They forced me to leave Haiti. It was a kidnapping, which they
call coup d'etat or [inaudible] ...forced resignation for me.
It wasn't a resignation. It was a kidnapping and under the
cover of coup d'etat.
AMY GOODMAN: It was a kidnapping under
the cover of coup d'etat?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Who forced you out of
the country?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE:I saw U.S. officials
with Ambassador Foley.
Mr. Moreno, [inaudible...] at the U.S.
Embassy in Haiti I saw American soldiers. I saw former soldiers
who are linked to drug dealers like Guy Philippe and to killers
already convicted, Chamblain. They all did the kidnapping using
Haitian puppets like Guy Philippe, [inaudible], and Chamblain,
already convicted, and basically, this night, I didn't see Haitians,
I saw Americans.
AMY GOODMAN: So, you say that they
kidnapped you from the country. Secretary of State Powell said
that that is ridiculous. Donald Rumsfeld said that is nonsense.
Your response?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Well, I understand
they try to justify what they cannot justify. Their own ambassador,
ambassador Foley said we were going to talk to the media, to
the press, and I can talk to the Haitian people calling for
peace like I did one night before. And unfortunately, once they
put me in their car, from my residence, a couple of days later,
they put me in their planes full with military, because they
already had all of the control of the Haitian airport in Port-au-Prince.
And during the night, they surrounded my house, and the National
Palace, and we had some of them in the streets. I don't know
how many are -- were there. So it's clearly something they planned
and they did. Now, if someone wants to justify what I think
they cannot justify and that's -- my goal is to tell the truth.
This is what now I'm telling you -- the truth.
AMY GOODMAN: President Aristide, did
you resign the Presidency?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: No, I did not resign.
I exchanged words through conversations, we exchanged notes.
I gave a written note before I went to the press at the time.
And instead of taking me where they said they were taking me
in front of the Haitian press, the foreign press, to talk to
the people, to explain what is going on, to call for peace.
They used that note as a letter of resignation, and I say, they
are lying.
AMY GOODMAN: When you went into the
car from your house, did you understand you were going to the
airport and being flown out?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Not at all. Because
this is not what they told me. This was our best way to avoid
bloodshed. We talked with them somehow in a nice, diplomatic
way to avoid bloodshed, we played the best we could in a respectful
way, in a legal and diplomatic way. Because they that told me
that they were going to have bloodshed. Thousands of people
were going to be killed, including myself. As I said, it was
not for me, because I never cared about me, my life, my security.
First of all, I care about the security and lives of other people.
I was elected to protect the life of every single citizen. So,
that night I did my best to avoid bloodshed and when they took
me, putting me in their plane, that was their plan. My strategy
was then all I could [do] to avoid bloodshed.
AMY GOODMAN: Are you being held in
the Central African Republic against your will?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Actually, against
my will, exactly. Let me tell you, this past twenty hours on
the American plane with American soldiers, including nineteen
American agents who had an agreement with the Haitian government
to provide security to us. They were also in that plane, maybe,
to keep the truth in the plane, instead of having one of them
telling the truth out of the plane. Because one of them had
a baby, one year and-a-half in the plane - he was an American
guy - and they wouldn't give him a chance to get out of the
plane with the baby. My wife, the first lady, who was born in
the United States, her father and mother were Haitians, with
me. She didn't have the right to even move the shade and look
out through the windows. Which means, they violated their own
law. Until twenty minutes before I arrived here, I knew where
they request going to land, which means clearly, clear violation
of international law. Unfortunately, they did that, but fortunately,
I pay tribute to the government of Central Africa for the way
they welcomed us. It was gracious, human, good, and until now,
this is the time kind of relationship which we are developing
together. I thank them for that once again.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you want to happen
now?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: I always call for
peace. Those who realize their kidnapping cannot bring peace
to the violence in my country. CARICOM, which means all of the
heads of the Caribbean countries, call for peace and restoration
of Constitutional order. In some way we heard the voice of
Americans - American Senators, American members, U.S. members,
members of the U.S. parliament. They're all -- they're all U.S.
citizens and the Haitians are actually calling for peace for
the restoration of Constitutional order. This is what I also
call for. Allow me to give you a very simple example. Peace
means for us, in this time, education and investment in health
care. In my country, after 200 years of independence -- we are
the first black independent country in the world - but we still
have only one-point-five Haitian doctors for its 11,000 Haitians.
We created a university, we founded a university with the faculty
of medicine that has 247 students. Once U.S. soldiers arrived
in Haiti after the kidnapping, what did they do? They closed
the faculty of medicine and they are now in the classrooms.
This is what they call peace. This is the opposite of peace.
Peace means investing in human beings, investing in health care,
respect for human rights, not violations for human rights, no
violations for the rights of those who voted for an elected
President, and this is what it means. It means that, for humans
in the world, today this is their day, [inaudible] men in the
world, all together, we can all work hard to restore peace and
constitutional order to Haiti.
AMY GOODMAN: This is president Jean-Bertrand
Aristide speaking from the Central African Republic. Did you
want to return as President to Haiti now?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: If it's possible
now, yes, now. Whenever it's possible, I am ready because this
is what my people voted for.
AMY GOODMAN: Are you being held --
do you see yourself as being held as a prisoner in the Central
African Republic?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Here I say it again,
the people and government and the President, President Bozize,
they are gracious, the way they treat us. I just paid public
tribute to them, and if you have citizens of Central Africa
listening to me, allow me to tell them [inaudible], which means
thank you very much, because their country is a country called
zo-quo-zu, in the language which means every human being is
a human being. All that is to say, we I am grateful to them.
But when you living in a house or in a palace that is their
palace, which is a good sign of respect for us, and we are living
in their conditions, although it's still good because of the
way they welcome us, we also feel that we should be in Haiti
with the Haitian people doing our best to keep investing in
education, health care, building a state of law. Slowly, but
surely, building up that state of law.
AMY GOODMAN: President Aristide, at
least five people were killed in Haiti on Sunday. Opposition
leaders say it was pro-Aristide forces that opened fire. Also
including journalists - a Spanish journalist based in New York
was shot dead. Another was also shot. Your response?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: First of all, I wasn't
there, and I don't have many pieces of this information to comment,
but the respect that I have for the truth, I will make some
comments but I say it again, I wasn't there. I don't have yet
any information so, I cannot go too far in my way to analyze
the situation. I do believe because for the past years, each
time drug dealers like Guy Philippe, people already convicted
like Chamblain kill people, we heard exactly what I just heard.
They blame the non-violent people and they blame the poor. When
are poor, they are violated in their eyes, like the way they
did. When you are already convicted, you are not violating human
rights. So, I think or I suspect they are lying when they talk
like that, accusing my followers.
AMY GOODMAN: What message do you think
the United States is sending the people of Haiti and the rest
of the world in their actions with you?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: I think the citizens
of the United States supporting democracy in Haiti, the Haitian
People, and Haitians in Washington, Brooklyn and Milano, in
Boston and elsewhere, calling for my return to Haiti and the
constitutional order, I think all the citizens of the United
States [inaudible] are a sending a very strong, critical signal
to all of the countries in the world willing to work in a peaceful
way for democracy. But those who [inaudible] me are sending
a very wrong signal because if we don't reach the result of
democratic elections and then we cannot be elected and then
you do that here and elsewhere, the signal you are sending is
"No to democracy," while you are talking about democracy.
So, that's why I wish they would connect - they did realize
that they are wrong and they have a new approach, which will
be protecting the rights of humans in the world. Because in
the world, what do we mean, meaning peace. What do we mean,
meaning democracy. What do we mean, we need to invest in human
beings. Therefore, to go back, we should not send wrong signals
as they did. They went to Iraq. We see how is the situation
in Iraq. They went to Haiti. We see how is the situation in
Haiti. Pretending they are imposing democracy with people killing
people. Why don't they change their approach to let democracy
and the constitutional order flourish slowly, but surely. After
imposing a criminal embargo on us being, from the cultural
point of view, very rich from a historic point of view very
rich but from an economic point of view, very poor because we
are the poorest country in the western hemisphere, after imposing
their economic embargo upon us, because the people wanted one
man, one vote, so equality among us. Then they use drug dealers,
they use people who are already convicted, pretending to lead
the rebellion, while they went to Haiti killing people in Gonaives,
killing people in Cap Hatian and killing people in Port-au-Prince
and elsewhere. And now they continue in the face of the entire
world, blessing impunity supporting those killers. My god, I
have said it's really ugly that image they project in the face
of the world. Now it's time for them to change, to respect them
but we will also respect the truth. That's why respectfully,
we are telling them the truth. I said, when someone is wrong,
the wrong way to behave is to continue to be wrong. The right
way to behave is a move from wrong to being right. Now, it's
time to move from being wrong on their side to become right
by supporting the constitutional order.
AMY GOODMAN: President Aristide, Vice
President Dick Cheney said you wore out your welcome in Haiti.
It's time for you to go. He also said -- can I get your response
to that?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: How can someone,
after the kind of elections they had, now talk like that regarding
Haiti where you had fair, democratic elections regarding the
elected president. I think someone can have power, but that
does not mean, we cannot see the truth and say the truth. I
respect the rights of every single citizen in the world to talk,
and we have to be tolerant because this is also about democracy.
That's why I have respect for him, I respect the way his way
to talk, but at the same time I have respect for my people
and for the truth. I say it, and I say it again, the Haitian
people are a non-violent people. They voted for democracy.
They will continue to fight in a peaceful way for democracy,
and I will continue to be faithful to them doing the same.
The peaceful approach, fighting peacefully for the restoration
of the constitutional order.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you still consider
yourself President of Haiti?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Yes, because the
people voted for me. They are still fighting in a peaceful way
for their elected President. I cannot betray them. That's why
I do my best to respect their will.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, how would you describe
the situation in Haiti today? U.S. and French forces and Canadian
troops are in Haiti. It is something you called for before you
left, to support you, and to protect the -- and to protect you
there, then?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Yes. I called for
them before they forced me to leave the country. Now, unfortunately,
they are in Haiti. They don't have the elected President with
them to move with the constitutional order. But despite of that,
I wish the United Nations in Haiti through peacekeepers can
help keeping peace in the country, protecting all the Haitians,
every single Haitian, because the life of every single man or
woman is sacred. You have to respect that. So, I wish they will
protect the lives and the rights of every single citizen by
the time we continue to work hard, peacefully to restore democracy
in Haiti.
AMY GOODMAN: Vice President Cheney
said, 'I have dealt with Aristide before when I was Secretary
of Defense. We had a crisis involving Haiti. He left of his
own free will. He signed a resignation letter on his way out.
He left with his security detail on an aircraft we provided,
not a military aircraft, but civilian charter. Now, I suppose
he's trying to revise history. But the fact of matter was, he'd
worn out his welcome with the Haitian people. He was democratically
elected, but he never governed as a democrat. He was corrupt,
and he was in charge of many of the thugs that were committing
crimes in Port-au-Prince. The suggestion that somehow the United
States arrested him or forcibly put him on an aircraft to get
him to leave, that's simply not true. I'm happy he's gone. I
think the Haitian people are better off for it. I think now
they'll have an opportunity to elect a new government, and that's
as it should be. '
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Well, as I said before,
he has the right to talk, and I respect his right, as I have
the right to say the truth, and I will be saying the truth.
I disagree with him, and I will continue to believe that the
Haitian people will continue to fight in a peaceful way to restore
democracy, and when the day will come to have elections, of
course, they will have the ability to vote. Unfortunately,
they didn't want a coup d'etat, and they never wanted the Haitian
people to keep moving from election to election. They preferred
the Haitian people to move from coup d'etat, to coup d'etat.
We celebrated 200 years of independence. We had a [inaudible]
coup d'etat. We know, usually, who can choose to be behind the
coup d'etat. So, now that we just had a kidnapping which they
call a resignation, which others call coup d'etat, it's clear
that some people will be do their best to justify, but they
may not be able to justify, and I will continue to be on the
side of the truth, on the side of the human rights, on the side
of all of those who knew about what happened, and stand firm
with the Haitian people. The heads of the Caribbean countries
stand firm for the restoration of the constitutional order,
for peace. We have senators in the United States, members of
the U.S. House, citizens in the States standing firm for peace,
for democracy, for constitutional order, and I join them.
AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think that
the United States government does not want you to be the president
of Haiti?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Maybe, if you could
just one single example, it can tell the world a lot. I know
I have already told you that, but I will go through it again.
In 200 years of independence, making Haiti the first black independent
country of the world, we still have 1.5 Haitian doctors for
each 11,000 Haitians. Then we have a university who the faculty
of medicine had 237 students. [inaudible], they are now in that
faculty of medicine, they closed it. And the students are out,
and this is not what they decided to do. If, have a government
or a President willing to invest in health care, apparently
they don't want that. If you have a president or government
willing to invest in education, maybe they don't want that.
I will continue to believe that we must invest in human beings.
We must invest in education and health care. This is what will
bring peace. Because peace is not an empty word. It has to be
full. Investing in education and health care, bring the real
peace to the country, and what they call peace is not the real
peace. It is violence. It is kidnapping. What we call peace
through education is telling the world that we are right.
AMY GOODMAN: President Aristide in
your news conference, did you say that your country is now in
the midst of an unacceptable occupation?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: It's an occupation,
and the last example I just gave says it is an occupation. How
you can imagine that you come to me, you want to be in peace,
and you close my university and you send out 247 students of
medicine in the country where you don't have hospitals and you
don't have enough doctors. God, this is an occupation. When
you protect killers, when you protect drug dealers like Guy
Philippe, like Chamblain, when you protect the citizens of
the United States in violating the law of the United States,
Mr. Andy Apaid is a citizen of the United States, violating
the Neutral Act, the way with this act will destroying our
Democracy, and once we do that, then this is an occupation.
AMY GOODMAN: Is true that -- did you
say that your security force around -- that protected you in
Haiti, from the Steele Foundation--that they were told by the
U.S. government they could not send in reinforcements?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Yes. As a matter
of fact they blocked them, to stop providing security, and twenty-five
[inaudible] did come the day after, they were prevented to
come. So it was a clear strategy did to move their way according
to their plan. Now, time is gone. Unfortunately I need to stop
because they just asked me to leave.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you think that you
will ever see Haiti again as President?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: I will. I will once
the Haitian people and the international community continue
to work hard. It's not impossible.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you think people
can do in the United States?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: I think they can
continue to mobilize human resources to help bring peace for
Haiti--democracy for Haiti. This is what the Haitian people
want: Peace and democracy.
AMY GOODMAN: Will you be leaving the
Central African Republic? Do you want to leave?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: No, no, no, no. They
are not asking me to leave the country, they are asking me to
end the...
AMY GOODMAN: I understand. I understand.
I understand, but do you want to leave the country? Do you want
to return immediately to Haiti?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: If I can go today,
I would go today. If it's tomorrow, tomorrow. Whenever time
comes, I will say yes, because my people, they elected me.
AMY GOODMAN: What is stopping you
from returning today?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Because it means
to clear the way, and that's what we are doing now.
AMY GOODMAN: Thank you very much for
joining us, President Aristide.
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Thank you so much
for you and wishing that we can meet again in Haiti.
Click here to listen to the interview.
Weekend
Edition Features for March 6 / 7, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Understanding the World with
Paul Sweezy
Robert Pollin
Remembering Paul Sweezy
Jeffrey St. Clair
The Politics of Timber Theft
Tom Reeves
Bush's Mass Deportations: 63,000 and Counting
Charles Lewis
Who Mugged Howard Dean in Iowa:
Kerry, Torricelli and a Mysterious Frontgroup
Tom Jackson
My Breakfast with Sen. Judd Gregg
Kurt Nimmo
Is Venezuela Next?
Alan Cisco
A Report from Caracas
Jack Random
Haitian Democracy be Damned
Colin Piquette
Oh, Canada: the Coup Coalition
Lee Sustar
Labor's State of Emergency
William D. Hartung
Iraq and the Costs of War
David Sally
Rebuilding
Amérique
Mark Scaramella
When God Mooned Moses: Test Your Bible Knowledge
Mickey Z.
What We Can Learn from Ashcroft's Gallbladder
Ron Jacobs
Politics and Baseball
Dave Zirin
The Longest Jump: the Blackballing of Phil Shinnick
Poets' Basement
John Holt and Larry Kearney
Website of the Weekend
National Day of Action for Rachel Corrie
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