US [strongly] hints Aristide should go

“I regret to say that President Aristide, I think, has made some mistakes over the years,” Powell told CNN’s Paula Zahn. “I hope he will just examine the situation that he is in, and make a careful examination of how best to serve the Haitian people at this time.

The United States regrets nothing, except possibly that it’s taken this long for events in Haiti to come to a head…. according to The Progressive Media Project the Bush administration has blocked $500 million in development aid to Haiti because of their problems with Aristide, provided $120 million

to nongovernmental organizations that are often working at cross-purposes with the Haitian government.

and

… funneled some $70 million to create, fund and organize an opposition to President Aristide.

There is no doubt in the world that Aristide has not been the perfect Haitian leader (point me to a country that does have one of these in power)…. does that give the United States the right to hinder that nations potential development by blocking aid and directly funding opposition to that government? It’s an odd stance indeed given that the Bush administration is so buddy, buddy, with countries like Azerbaijan with its fraudulent elections and human rights abuses - - maybe if Haiti, like Azerbaijan, had joined the George W. Bush “Coalition of the Willing Cheering Section” it might have worked out different for them.

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