"a modern way to have a modern kidnapping"

no matter how adamantly colin powell insists the allegations are "absurd", the idea that aristide was forced out of office by the US will not die. in fact, aristide himself is now the one saying he was "kidnapped":

Aristide alleged in telephone interviews Monday with CNN and The Associated Press that he was ''forced to leave'' Haiti by U.S. military forces who said they would ''start shooting and killing'' if he refused.

''I was forced to leave,'' he said. ``They were telling me that if I don't leave they would start shooting.''

When asked who ''they'' were, he responded, ''White American, white military.'' He added: ``They came at night. . . . There were too many. I couldn't count them.''

yet another case of whitey trying to keep a brother down? that's a definite contrast to the understated version of events put forth by us ambassador luis moreno:

Moreno, who has known Aristide for a decade, described their conversations early Sunday as ''amicable, but somber.'' He said at no time was there any pressure nor was Aristide physically forced to flee.

Moreno said he told Aristide that it was too bad he had to abandon his presidency. He said Aristide responded in English: ``Sometimes, life goes like that.''

i can just picture them both politely sipping tea through this conversation... too bad your career is in shambles, old chum, wot wot? moreno says, dipping his scone as he skims over the resignation letter. right spot of bad luck, aristide replies, now could you pass the milk?

according to the la times, some congressmen & some in the un tell a different story:

But in statements throughout Monday, Aristide and supporters including Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) — who spoke to him by phone — insisted that the story was quite different.

Rangel, after meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and five other members of the Congressional Black Caucus at the United Nations in New York, said Aristide's resignation letter had been dictated to him by American officials.

Asked if Aristide was kidnapped, Rangel replied: "That's subjective. You can either stay and get shot, or leave with the military. He chose to leave with the military. So I suspect that you may have a hard time prosecuting the kidnapping. But it was against his will."

Waters, in a news conference in Los Angeles, said, "I'm convinced that our country has been involved in a regime change." In the same way that the U.S. has sought to undermine leaders such as Cuba's Fidel Castro, she said, Aristide was pushed out because "these are leaders of governments who are not considered to be puppets of our country."

A Haitian diplomat said Monday that a copy of the resignation letter was faxed to him by the U.S. State Department. The diplomat said that led him to believe that Aristide did not write the letter and lent credence, he believed, to Aristide's claim that his departure was coerced. In his CNN interview, Aristide said that his resignation letter had been doctored.

obviously someone is lying.