Destabilization 101.

• Author: Rothschild, Matthew
• Position: Editorial

George W. Bush chalked up another overthrow, this time that of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. No Mandela, Aristide was still the democratically elected leader of Haiti. His overthrow has all the earmarks of a successful U.S. destabilization campaign.

First, the Bush Administration strangled Haiti's economy by blocking U.S. foreign aid and pressuring other countries and the World Bank to hold off. For this poorest country in the hemisphere, such an aid embargo proved devastating.

Second, the Administration was in cahoots with Aristide's opponents for some time. Bush hardliners, such as White House adviser Otto Reich and Robert Noriega, U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States, actively promoted regime change in Haiti.

"Ambassador Noriega is working closely with the opposition in Haiti," the Congressional Black Caucus wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell shortly before the overthrow of Aristide. Noriega, who was heading the State Department's negotiations there, used to be Senator Jesse Helms's chief of staff, which gives you a big clue. Noriega "has a long history of being aligned with the anti-Aristide business owners in Haiti and undermining the democratically elected governments of Haiti," the letter from the Black Caucus said.

Third, the United States may have helped out the armed rebels, even though many of them had blood all over their resumes. Aristide's general counsel, Ira Kurzban, accused Washington of direct involvement with the rebels. "This is a group that is armed by, trained by, and employed by the intelligence services of the United States," Kurzban told Amy Goodman and Jeremy Scahill of Democracy Now! "I am especially concerned by the possibility that the U.S. government may have armed and trained the former military officers and death squad leaders" who carried out the coup, said...