Cheney Says Aristide Had Worn Out Welcome
Vice President Dick Cheney said on Tuesday Jean-Bertrand Aristide had "worn out his welcome" as Haiti's president but that the United States did not force him to leave as he claims.
"He made the choice to leave. He resigned the office of his own free will and left on a civilian aircraft which we chartered for him. He left with his security detail. This was his decision to go," Cheney told the Fox News Channel.
Aristide, who left Haiti on Sunday and is living in temporary exile in the Central African Republic, has claimed he was abducted by U.S. soldiers and was a victim of a coup.
"They lied to me, and they may lie to you too," Aristide told CNN on Monday. "They used force to push me out."
Cheney made clear the United States had lost patience with Aristide in the 10 years since helping him regain power. Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus have accused the Bush administration of allowing the toppling of a democratically elected government in Haiti.
"The fact of the matter was, that Mr. Aristide had worn out his welcome. He was democratically elected but he didn't govern in a democratic manner and had reached the point where clearly the opposition groups, rebels, were increasingly successful at undermining his authority," Cheney said.
A senior Bush administration official, seeking to rebut Aristide's claims, cited indications that Aristide was preparing to depart several days before he left.
PACKING HIS BAGS
"There were strong indications that he was packing his bags for several days before this," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "In one conversation with a U.S. diplomat, he talked about how he had already packed up his computer."
In addition, a State Department official said Aristide signed a letter of resignation in his residence and showed it to the American diplomat Luis Moreno, who led the U.S. group escorting him Sunday from his home to the airport. Moreno is the deputy chief of mission from the embassy in Haiti.
The United States has been working with Canada and France and the Organization of American States and Caribbean nations on seeking to stabilize Haiti.
In Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice had assured Canada that Aristide's departure was voluntary.
"My ministers and officials did speak directly to the Americans -- Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice -- and they confirmed the original version: in other words that the president was facing a catastrophe and that he himself made the decision (to go)," Martin said.
Connecticut Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd accused the Bush administration of being "complicit in watching a democratically elected government have to leave office."
He told CNN on Monday night that Aristide had been given a choice.
"The fact of the matter is, we said to President Aristide: Look, you can you stay and be killed or you can leave; you make the choice. That's hardly a voluntary departure," he said.
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