Speech David Irving comments: THIS reads like something out of the Nuremberg trial — the pre-trial interrogations of 1945/1947. I see no reason to doubt Aristide’s version of events, against that rendered by Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld who are proven liars. Amy Goodman interviews ex-President Aristide on how and why he left Haiti for audio click image AMY GOODMAN: We would like to know why you left Haiti.

PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: It was a kidnapping and under the cover of coup d’etat. AMY GOODMAN: Who forced you out of the country? PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: I saw U.S. officials with Ambassador Foley . Mr. Moreno , [inaudible…] at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti. I saw American soldiers. AMY GOODMAN: Secretary of State Powell said that that is ridiculous. Donald Rumsfeld said that is nonsense. PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Well, I understand they try to justify what they cannot justify.

Their own ambassador, Ambassador Foley, said we were going to talk to the media, to the press, and I can talk to the Haitian people calling for peace like I did one night before. And unfortunately, once they put me in their car, from my residence, a couple of days later, they put me in their planes full with military, because they already had all of the control of the Haitian airport in Port-au-Prince.

And during the night, they surrounded my house, and the National Palace, and we had some of them in the streets. So it’s clearly something they planned and they did. AMY GOODMAN: President Aristide, did you resign the Presidency? PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: No, I did not resign. I gave a written note before I went to the press at the time.

And instead of taking me where they said they were taking me — in front of the Haitian press, the foreign press, to talk to the people, to explain what is going on, to call for peace — they used that note as a letter of resignation, and they are lying. AMY GOODMAN: When you went into the car from your house, did you understand you were going to the airport and being flown out? PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Not at all.

Because this is not what they told me, (that) this was our best way to avoid bloodshed. We talked with themto avoid bloodshedin a respectful way, in a legal and diplomatic way. Because they told me that they were going to have bloodshed. Thousands of people were going to be killed, including myself. As I said, it was not for me, because I never cared about me, my life, my security. First of all, I care about the security and lives of other people.

I was elected to protect the life of every single citizen. So, that night I did my best to avoid bloodshed and when they took me, putting me in their plane, that was their plan. AMY GOODMAN: Are you being held in the Central African Republic against your will? PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Against my will, exactly. Let me tell you, twenty hours on the American plane with American soldiers, including nineteen American agents who had an agreement with the Haitian government to provide security to us.

They were also in that plane — maybe to keep the truth in the plane, instead of having one of them telling the truth out of the plane. Because one of them had a baby, one year and-a-half in the plane — he was an American guy — and they wouldn’t give him a chance to get out of the plane with the baby. My wife, the first lady, who was born in the United States. She didn’t have the right to even move the shade and look out through the windows. Which means they violated their own law.

Until twenty minutes before I arrived here, I knew where they request going to land, which means clear violation of international law. Unfortunately, they did that, but fortunately, I pay tribute to the government of Central Africa for the way they welcomed us. AMY GOODMAN: What do you want to happen now? PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: I always call for peace. CARICOM, which means all of the heads of the Caribbean countries, call for peace and restoration of Constitutional order.

American Senatorsand Haitians are actually calling for the restoration of Constitutional order. In my country, after 200 years of independence — we are the first black independent country in the world — we still have only 1.5 Haitian doctors for 11,000 Haitians. We founded a university with a faculty of medicine that has 247 students. Once U.S. soldiers arrived in Haiti after the kidnapping, what did they do? They closed the faculty of medicine, and they are now in the classrooms.

This is what they call peace. This is the opposite of peace. Peace means investing in human beings, investing in health care, respect for human rights, not violations of human rights, not violations of the rights of those who voted for an elected PresidentIt means that, for humans in the world, today this is their day, [inaudible] men in the world, all together, we can all work hard to restore peace and constitutional order to Haiti.

AMY GOODMAN: Did you want to return as President to Haiti now? PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: If it’s possible now, yes, now. Whenever it’s possible, I am ready because this is what my people voted for. AMY GOODMAN: Do you see yourself as being held as a prisoner in the Central African Republic? PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Here I say it again, the people and government and President Bozize are gracious, the way they treat us.

Their country is a country called “zo-quo-zu,” which means every human being is a human being. I am grateful to them. But when you living in a house or in a palace that is their palace, although it’s still good because of the way they welcome us, we also feel that we should be in Haiti with the Haitian people doing our best to keep investing in education, health care, building a state of law. Slowly, but surely, building up that state of law.

AMY GOODMAN: President Aristide, at least five people were killed in Haiti on Sunday. Opposition leaders say it was pro-Aristide forces that opened fire. Also including journalists — a Spanish journalist based in New York was shot dead. Another was also shot. Your response? PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: First of all, I wasn’t there, and I don’t have yet any information so, I cannot go too far in my way to analyze the situation.

I do believe because for the past years, each time drug dealers like Guy Philippe , people already convicted — like Chamblain — kill people, we hear exactly what I just heard. They blame the non-violent people and they blame the poor. When you are already convicted, you are not violating human rights. So, I suspect they are lying when they talk like that, accusing my followers.

AMY GOODMAN: What message do you think the United States is sending the people of Haiti and the rest of the world in their actions with you? PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: I think the citizens of the United States supporting democracy in Haiti, the Haitian People, and Haitians in Washington, Brooklyn and Milano, in Boston and elsewhere, calling for my