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Ramsey Clark On Haiti: "A Clear Demonstration of U.S.
Regime Change By Armed Aggression"
Exclusive: U.S. Psy-Ops Exposed, South Africa Rejects Washington's
Claim Aristide Was Denied Asylum
Black Caucus Vows to Find Out if U.S. Engineered Coup Against
Aristide
Head of U.S. Security Firm That Guarded Aristide Speaks Out
Ramsey Clark On Haiti: "A Clear Demonstration
of U.S. Regime Change By Armed Aggression"
We speak with former Attorney General Ramsey Clark Clark
about the overthrow of the democratically-elected President
Jean Bertrand Aristide. During the 1991 coup, Clark traveled
to Haiti several times in an effort to restore him to power.
It has been 2 days since President George W Bush stepped
onto the White House lawn and announced to the world that
Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide had resigned. But
now the truth is coming out. In a series of phone calls from
the Central African Republic to US Congressmembers, the Haitian
president has attempted to tell the world that he was forced
from power in what he called a US coup; that he was threatened
by what he called "white Americans, white military men."
Aristide says he was kidnapped, along with his wife Mildred-who
is an American citizen-and taken by force to Africa. Last
night, Aristide called CNN and said, "Again and again,
I am telling the truth. I call it a coup d'etat in a modern
way to have modern kidnapping."
Democracy Now! first broke the story yesterday morning when
Congressmember Maxine Waters said on our program that she
had just received a call from Aristide at 9am EST. Waters
told us "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is
in jail, he said. He says he was kidnapped.
Waters said Aristide had been threatened by what he called
US diplomats. According to Waters, the diplomats reportedly
told the Haitian president that if he did not leave Haiti,
paramilitary leader Guy Philippe a former police chief who
was trained by US Special forces in Ecuador would storm the
palace and Aristide would be killed. According to Waters,
Aristide was told by the US that they were withdrawing Aristide's
US security.
TransAfrica founder and close Aristide family friend Randall
Robinson also received a call from the Haitian president early
this morning and confirmed Waters account. Robinson told us
that Aristide "emphatically" denied that he had
resigned.
"He did not resign," Robinson said. "He was
abducted by the United States in the commission of a coup."
The story began to spread rapidly around the world. And as
the press briefings began at the White House, State Department
and Pentagon, the administration was forced on the defensive.
At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld responded
to questions by reporters saying, "The idea that someone
was abducted is just totally inconsistent with everything
I heard or saw or am aware of. So I think that - I do not
believe he is saying what you say - are saying he is saying."
At a press conference with European foreign ministers, Colin
Powell said, "He was not kidnapped. We did not force
on the airplane. He went onto the airplane willingly and that's
the truth."
Over at the White House, the controversy dominated Scott
McClellan's press briefing. McClellan repeatedly called the
statements made by Waters and Robinson "nonsense."
- Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General.
EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Psy-Ops Exposed, South Africa Rejects
Washington's Claim Aristide Was Denied Asylum
In a Democracy Now! exclusive, South African ambassador
to the United Nations, Dumisani Kumalo, says President Aristide
did not request asylum or exile in South Africa, nor did the
South African government deny him asylum or exile as alleged
by the US State Department and The New York Times.
The US government/corporate media psychological operations
campaign against Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide
has been in full swing for weeks. Aristide has been portrayed
as "fleeing Haiti" "abandoning his country"
and "resigning" his post. Over the past 24 hours,
a very different picture has emerged. As we have reported
extensively on Democracy Now!, it is becoming very clear that
Aristide was forced out of Haiti in what can only be called
another U.S. coup; that he was threatened by US officials
and that he was taken to Africa against his will.
Over the weekend, as Aristide's whereabouts were still unknown,
the psy-ops campaign intensified. The New York Times and other
corporate media outlets quoted unnamed "senior State
Department officials" as saying that Aristide was denied
exile in South Africa. In a front page article yesterday,
the Times said President Thabo Mbeki did not want to provoke
a political controversy in South Africa.
Democracy Now! has learned from the South African ambassador
to the United Nations, Dumisani Kumalo, that President Aristide
did not request asylum or exile in South Africa, nor did the
South African government deny him amnesty or exile as alleged
by the US State Department and The New York Times.
- Dumisani Kumalo, is the South African ambassador to the
United Nations.
Black Caucus Vows to Find Out if U.S. Engineered
Coup Against Aristide
We speak with actor, activist and TransAfrica chair Danny
Glover about President Aristide's claims that the U.S. forced
him out of office as well as Rep. Barbara Lee who says she
plans to raise the issue at a meeting of the House International
Relations Committee tomorrow.
The Congressional Black Caucus vowed Monday to get to the
bottom of allegations that the United States "kidnapped"
and took Aristide to the Central African Republic by force.
Five members of the Congressional Black Caucus along with
UN goodwill ambassador Danny Glover met with UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan to begin consultations on Haiti. Their
visit was consumed with questions surrounding Aristide's removal
from Haiti on Sunday morning.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), who chairs the Black Caucus,
said the 43 members will not allow the issue to die. Cummings
said, "As far as what has happened to president Aristide,
we, members of Congress, will not stand around and watch a
democracy being taken apart by our own country."
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) said she planned to raise the issue
at a meeting Wednesday of the House International Relations
Committee.
- Danny Glover, actor, activist and chair of the TransAfrica
board.
- Rep. Barbara Lee, Democrat from California and member
of the Black Congressional Caucus.
Head of U.S. Security Firm That Guarded Aristide
Speaks Out
Reports emerged yesterday that the private U.S. security
firm guarding President Aristide was prevented by the White
House from sending reinforcements to Haiti last week to bolster
his security. We speak with the CEO of the firm Kenneth Kurtz.
[includes transcript]
As we reported yesterday on Democracy Now!, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide says he was told by US officials this weekend that
if he did not leave Haiti, paramilitary leader Guy Philippe
would storm the palace and Aristide would be killed. Congressmember
Maxine Waters said on this program that Aristide was told
by the US that they were withdrawing Aristide's US security.
But just what was Aristide's "US Security?"
It turns out that Aristide was being guarded by a private
security firm, based in San Francisco. It is called the Steele
Foundation. It is made up of former US special forces soldiers,
intelligence officers and other security experts. The company
has been on a State Department-approved contract with the
Haitian government since 1998.
The Miami Herald reports that the White House blocked a last-minute
attempt by Aristide to bolster his US security as the paramilitaries
reached the capital. The paper said U.S. officials prevented
reinforcements from the Steele Foundation from going to Haiti
last week to protect Aristide.
According to media reports, the Steele Foundation asked the
U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince on Saturday whether the company
could count on American protection in the event of rebel hostilities
at the presidential palace. They were reportedly told that
no such protection would be provided.
The Steele Foundation knows well the Haitian leaders of the
current coup. In December 2001, Steele's guards fought back
a coup attempt by paramilitary leader Guy Philippe - who had
been trained by US Special Forces in Ecuador in the early
1990s. In that coup attempt, Guy Philippe led two dozen heavily
armed men in attacking the National Palace in Port-au-Prince,
killing four people.
Aristide was not in the palace at the time and survived the
attempt. Following the incident, Aristide's Steele guard rose
from about 10 to about 60 in 2000 after an apparent coup attempt
the previous December, according to Herald reports.
- Kenneth Kurtz, CEO of the San Francisco-based security
company Steele Foundation.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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