stAllio!'s way

arisitide has fled hait, & us marines & french troops are on their way in. but how big a role is the us actually playing in this? the nytimes claims that aristide called up the american ambassador asking for ideas of where he could flee to.

but an alleged eyewitness says differently. he says aristide was forced out at gunpoint by american soldiers. (before anyone points out that this report is from a french news agency, also keep in mind that french troops are going to haiti too, so spreading false rumors about this story would not be doing france any favors)

could this be yet another us-led coup? we haven't had one of those in... well... months. or is this man alleging to be aristide's caretaker just an opportunist?

why did the us refuse to send troops until aristide quit? lots of people are suspicious, like according to the kansas city star/knight ridder, several congressmen & foreign diplomats think bushco was trying to force out aristide all along:

But Rep. Charles Rangel, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who was deeply involved in restoring Aristide to power in 1994, said the United States must shoulder much of the blame for Aristide's fall and the chaos that brought it on.

"I don't know what's going on, but we are just as much a part of this coup d'etat as the rebels, looters or anyone else," Rangel, D-N.Y., said on ABC's "This Week."

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., echoed the sentiment. "Obviously the Bush administration had a plan from the beginning and it's played out now. Unfortunately so many Haitians had to lose their lives in that plan."

and also

At least one foreign diplomat who was part of the recent negotiations between Aristide and the opposition said it was clear that Washington had its own agenda during the mediation, when the United States refused to talk about sending in peacekeepers to help thwart the gunmen's uprising in the countryside as part of a peace plan.

"When they were refusing to address the security concerns, it was clear they had other things in mind," the diplomat said. "It was clear to me two weeks ago that Aristide was a goner."