Steve Quayle News Alerts

Feb. 27, 2004

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Friday is set to review possible military options to respond to the escalation of violence in Haiti, including one option that would send three Navy ships and 2,000 Marines to the Caribbean should an emergency evacuation be required, U.S. officials tell NBC News.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, emphasized that no decision to send those troops has been made, NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reported from the Pentagon.

Another factor that could warrant sending Marines is if U.S. Coast Guard crews feel they need back up to stem any massive wave of Haitian refugees fleeing the country by boat.

The group would be led by the helicopter carrier USS Saipan, joined by the USS Oak Hill and the USS Trenton, ships now in Norfolk, Va.

In Haiti itself, the conflict between President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and political as well as armed opposition continued Friday. In the capital Port-au-Prince, most commercial flights were canceled and thousands of pro-Aristide looters descended on port facilities.

Rebels drove police out and freed about 67 prisoners in Mireblais, about 25 miles southeast of Port-au-Prince, witnesses said. It was unclear whether the rebels were still in the town or were pushing toward the capital.

Haiti’s third-largest city, Les Cayes, fell Thursday and is now in the control of the Base Resistance, an anti-government group allied with Haiti’s opposition Democratic Platform but not tied to the rebels.

In Paris, meanwhile, a Haitian government team met with French officials and France later made a new appeal for Aristide to quit as a first step toward restoring order in Haiti. France earlier this week urged the "immediate" formation of an international civilian force to support a new government.

Aristide has said he will see out his term in office to 2006 but was willing to share power.

Haiti opposition likes new plan

An opposition representative welcomed France’s involvement in trying to broker a settlement, making clear that he expected Aristide to leave office.

The opposition had earlier rejected a U.S.-backed proposal that would have left Aristide in power but forced him to open the government to opposition leaders.

A French ministry spokesman said logistical problems had prevented the opposition from attending separate talks with Villepin Friday, but that he was ready to receive them as soon as possible. Diplomatic sources said the delegation had been unable to fly out of Haiti.

The three-week-old rebellion has seen more than 60 people die and Haitians and foreigners continued to flee Port-au-Prince and coastal areas as rebel fighters moved closer to the city, reportedly awaiting an order to attack.

France, the United States and other international players have said they are ready to approve an international peacekeeping force for Haiti on condition that government and opposition reach agreement on sharing power and ending the violence.

Powell unclear on specifics of U.S. role
In Washington, as concern increased about a possible refugee crisis, Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday also openly questioned whether Aristide can continue to serve effectively as Haiti’s leader.

It was the closest Powell has come to suggesting that Aristide bow out as president before his elected term ends.

“Whether or not he is able to effectively continue as president is something he will have to examine carefully in the interests of the Haitian people,” Powell told reporters.

Earlier Thursday, Powell said the United States would be willing to join an international security force to enforce a political settlement in the Caribbean nation.

But Powell, testifying before the Senate Budget Committee, did not say whether U.S. participation would provide personnel, equipment or both. State Department officials were unable to clarify his remarks.

Powell said such a force could be “police or military.” Until now, the Bush administration has spoken only of a police presence.

He said most countries share his view that no outside force should go into Haiti until there is a political resolution.

“Anybody who looks at this says, ‘What is it we’re getting into?”’ Powell said. “We’ve got to get into something that looks like it’s a political solution. And that has not yet emerged.”

He referred to the rebels as terrorists and said, “At any time those terrorists may come to Port-au-Prince and kill thousands of people.”

Invoking history

Hundreds of Aristide supporters, some armed with machetes and pistols, gathered Thursday in front of the National Palace and, with teenagers driving bulldozers and forklifts, started building a defensive rampart.

“If Aristide goes, cut off their heads and burn down their houses!” they shouted, echoing the war cry of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the Haitian general who ousted French colonizers from Haiti to end slavery 200 years ago. The Aristide loyalists shouted epithets against France.

As rumors spread that the rebels were arriving by boat, truckloads of Aristide supporters armed with old pistols were seen heading toward the seaside Carrefour neighborhood.

In Carrefour, gunmen fired shots at the home of Haiti’s most prominent architect, Albert Mangones, and wounded a security guard, a family member said. The French Embassy was calling the police to try to evacuate Mangones’ widow, an elderly French citizen, and their daughter.

Most of the barricades that had been erected by Aristide supporters in Port-au-Prince were removed Thursday and streets were empty, except for motorists lining up for dwindling supplies of gasoline.

History of Haiti
1492
Christopher Columbus lands on the island that became known as Hispaniola. It was originally inhabited by the Taino-Arawak Indians, who referred to their home as "Hayti" or mountainous land.
1697
Spanish control over the colony ends with the Treaty of Ryswick, which divides the island into French-controlled St. Domingue and Spanish Santo Domingo. The island is prized by the European powers for its natural resources, including cocoa, cotton and sugar cane and the French ship in thousands of slaves, mainly from West Africa, to harvest the crops.
1804
After a slave rebellion led by a Jamaican-born Boukman in 1791, Haiti becomes the first black independent state under General Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who declares himself emperor.
1844
After three decades of strife and multiple rulers, the island splits into two nations, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
1862
After decades of delay, fearing that it would inspire its own slaves, the United States grants Haiti diplomatic recognition. In 1889, noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass becomes the U.S. Consul-General.
1915
U.S. Marines occupy Haiti to calm a state of anarchy. The Americans improve the infrastructure while helping to create the Haitian armed forces.
1934
The United States pulls out of Haiti. But the nation remains torn by tension between the wealthier French-speaking mulatto minority and the overwhelming majority of impoverished black Creole speakers.
1957
Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier becomes leader, declaring himself president for life in 1964 and ruling through terror perpetrated by his notorious street gangs known as the "Tontons Macoutes."
1971
Jean-Claude Duvalier, known as "Baby Doc" becomes president at the age of 19, succeeding his father who dies in office.
1986
As anti-government protests gather steam, the United States arranges exile in France for "Baby Doc" and his family. He is succeeded by General Henri Namphy.
1990
A charismatic priest from the slums, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, wins a U.N.-organized presidential election, gaining more than 67 percent of the vote.
1991
Aristide is ousted in a military coup and is forced to seek exile in the United States. The coup sparks a mass exodus with more than 40,000 Haitians rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard during a 12-month period.
1994
After several abortive efforts to restore democracy, the United States leads an international force into Haiti, forcing the military rulers to step down. A month later, Aristide returns as president to Port-au-Prince.
1996
Rene Preval becomes president as Aristide is precluded by the Constitution from succeeding himself.
2000
Municipal and legislative elections end in disarray because of a flawed vote count, alleged irregularities and fraud charges. The controversy triggers a boycott of the presidential elections later that year, won by Aristide.
2004
The crisis sparked by the allegedly fraudulent election deepens amid a failure of international mediation efforts, a foundering economy and growing political violence. A few weeks after the nation celebrates its 200th anniversary in January, a rebel movement seizes control of a number of towns in an uprising that poses a formidable threat to the Aristide government.

U.N. staff, diplomats' families evacuate

Earlier, a convoy of buses with diplomatic families, charity workers and a Haitian orphan on the way to a new family in Spain sped out of a U.N. compound. Wives and children wept as they waved goodbye to their husbands and fathers.

“It’s not an easy country right now,” U.N. worker Francois Handfield, a Canadian citizen, said before he boarded a bus. ”It’s going to blow up one day, that’s for sure.”

Special forces from a U.S. diplomatic protection unit were helping foreigners leave.

Amid concerns of a refugee exodus toward Florida, the U.S. Coast Guard said it has intercepted about a dozen small vessels within 50 miles of the Haitian coast during the last three to four days. Coast Guard spokesman Luis Diaz said 546 Haitians have been brought onto Coast Guard cutters, where they were receiving food and water.

Haitians fled a political crisis in large numbers 12 years ago. There has been little evidence of a repeat of that situation thus far. President Bush has said the U.S. Coast Guard would turn back Haitian refugees reaching American shores.

Aristide, a 50-year-old former priest, once commanded widespread support as Haiti’s first democratically elected leader and savior to the poor, but he has steadily lost support as poverty deepened after his party swept flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors suspended aid.

French and U.S. diplomats say Aristide used police and supporters to crush dissent, contributing to the violence, and failed to fight corruption in the police and judiciary.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4244322/