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19966: Leiderman: rangel vs. noriega (fwd)



From: Stuart M Leiderman <leidermn@cisunix.unh.edu>


the streaming audio/video of last week's important Congressional hearing
on Haiti is now at: <http://boss.streamos.com/real/hir/34_who30304.smi>

March 3, 2004:
2:00 p.m., 2172 Rayburn House Office Building
Hearing: The Situation in Haiti
Hearing Notice, Hon. Cass Ballenger, Hon. Roger F. Noriega, Hon. Arthur
E. Dewey, Hon. Adolfo A. Franco, Hon. Timothy M. Carney (no prepared
statement), Hon. Orlando Marville, Mr. Pierre-Marie Paquiot, Robert
Maguire, Ph.D. (no prepared statement), Jeffrey D. Sachs, Ph.D.

- - - - - - -

background:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/03/05/2003101218

                  At a hearing dominated by Democratic
                  members of the Congressional Black Caucus,
                  Roger Noriega, the assistant secretary of state
                  for Western Hemisphere affairs, was denounced
                  as insolent and misguided, and faced derisive
                  laughter, as he testified that the US had not
                  forced Aristide from office.

                  "We did not support the violent overthrow of
                  that man," Noriega told members of a House
                  international relations subcommittee.

                  Aristide, who was flown into exile in the Central
                  African Republic aboard an American plane on
                  Sunday, has said he was kidnapped by
                  American officials determined to oust him.

                  Angry Democrats excoriated the administration
                  for effectively carrying out a coup d'etat. In the
                  hearing, lawmakers said Aristide had been
                  coerced into resigning.

                  "He was forced out," said Representative
                  Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, who
                  spoke with Aristide by phone on Wednesday.
                  "He told me that he did not go of his own will."

                  In separate testimony, Powell dismissed the
                  notion that Aristide had been forced out, instead
                  characterizing him as a flawed leader who had
                  not governed democratically.

                  "But having said that, we tried to help him,"
                  Powell said. "We tried to get him into a process
                  with the opposition. But by the time this thing
                  came to a crisis, the opposition had been so
                  disappointed and so resentful and untrusting of
                  President Aristide's efforts over the years that
                  we couldn't get that together."

                  Noriega acknowledged that the administration
                  had told Aristide that it could not guarantee his
                  safety as rebels made a final push toward the
                  Haitian capital. He defended the decision not to
                  "prop him up" in office.

                  "We do not have an obligation to put American
                  lives at risk to save every government that might
                  ask for help," said Noriega, who called the
                  deposed president erratic and unreliable. "In the
                  case of Haiti it was a difficult decision, but I
                  think it was the right one."

                  Noriega confirmed that an American diplomat
                  had sought a letter of resignation from Aristide
                  before giving him and his relatives safe passage
                  out of Haiti on Sunday. The reason, Noriega
                  said, was to establish a "sustainable, political"
                  solution after Aristide's departure.

                  Representative Charles Rangel, a New York
                  Democrat, asked Noriega if the Bush
                  administration would have rescued Aristide
                  without a letter of resignation.

                  "Probably, yes," Noriega replied. He said that
                  Aristide's wife, Mildred Trouillot, is an
                  American citizen.

                  Rangel said that under a threat to his life,
                  Aristide had little choice but to sign a resignation
                  letter.

                  "I would have signed one too," Rangel said.

                  Noriega also confirmed reports that Aristide
                  had taken off from Haiti without a set
                  destination in mind. In fact, Noriega said, he did
                  not learn that the Central African Republic
                  would be his place of temporary refuge until
                  about 20 minutes before he landed.

- - - - - - -

Stuart Leiderman
leidermn@christa.unh.edu