On February 29, 2004 Jean-Bertrand Aristide ~ the very popular, democratically elected president of Haiti was forced out of office in what Aristide described as a "a modern-day kidnapping in service of a coup d'etat backed by the United States".
At the time, Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! provided the world community with an interview with President Aristide which put a lie to Bush administration claims that Aristide left of his own accord.
One of the featured segments on today's edition of Democracy Now! begins with audio clips of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, then Secretary of State Colin Powell and White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan lying about the situation:
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"The idea that someone was abducted is just totally inconsistent with everything I heard or saw or am aware of. So I think that - that I do not believe he is saying what you say -- are saying he is saying." -- Donald Rumsfeld
"He was not kidnapped. We did not force him onto the airplane. He went onto the airplane willingly, and that's the truth." -- Colin Powell
"Conspiracy theories like that do nothing to help the Haitian people realize the future that they aspire to, which is a better future, a more free future and a more prosperous future. We took steps to protect Mr. Aristide. We took steps to protect his family as they departed Haiti. It was Mr. Aristide's decision to resign, and he spelled out his reasons why." -- Scott McClellan
The Bushies stated among other things that President Aristide was not being held captive in a tiny dictatorship in central Africa where he had been taken.
Shortly thereafter Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Randall Robinson, Washington Post journalist Peter Eisner, and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman flew to Africa and rescued President Aristide. The daring rescue and the entire misadventure in American foreign policy went virtually unreported and or misreported in the SCLM.
Here are links to the stories on Haiti which include audio archives of an interview with President Aristide: