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THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM

• Haitian President Charges U.S. Military
  Kidnapped Him in Support
  of White House-Backed Coup
  For story text and audio, Click here!

• Peace Groups Plan
  Worldwide Protests March 20 to
  Observe 1-Year Anniversary
  of Iraq War
  For story text and audio, Click here!

• Bush Administration and GOP Congress
  Propose Cuts to Public Transit and
  Other Transportation Alternatives
  For story text and audio, Click here!

• Underreported News Summary
  from Around the World
  For full summary and audio, Click here!

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After several weeks of attacks on Haiti's major cities, an armed rebellion led by death squad leaders and former soldiers succeeded in overthrowing the democratically-elected government of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Although the Bush administration and U.S media outlets initially reported that president Aristide had resigned his office to avoid more bloodshed, the former Catholic priest asserts he was kidnapped by the U.S. on the morning of Feb. 29 and flown to the Central African Republic. Aristide, in calls to U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, Randall Robinson, former director of the group TransAfrica and news organizations, asserted that he had been the victim of a U.S. coup and forced to leave Haiti at gunpoint.

Secretary of State Colin Powell described the allegations as "absolutely baseless and absurd." In denying the charge, the Bush administration refers to a letter of resignation that they say was signed by Aristide. But while some of the facts surrounding the president's exit from Haiti are still unknown, it is clear that the White House withheld all support for Aristide's democratic government until the head of state departed.

Even as hundreds of U.S. troops entered Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince, armed rebels and death squads have murdered Aristide supporters and rebel leader Guy Philippe declared himself the new head of a reconstituted Haitian army. From exile in France, former Haitian dictator Jean Claude Duvalier vowed to return to Haiti. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who examines U.S. policy toward Haiti during this latest crisis and the claim that the Bush administration was complicit in the coup which overthrew Aristide.

Contact the Center for Constitutional Rights by calling (212) 614-6464 or visit their website at www.ccr-ny.org

Related links

• "The Fire This Time in Haiti was US-Fueled," the Taipei Times / Taiwan, March 1, 2004
• "Why They Had to Crush Aristide: Haiti's Elected Leader was Regarded as a Threat by France and the US," by Peter Hallward, the Guardian/UK, March 2, 2004
• "U.S.-Sponsored Regime Change in Haiti," by Nirit Ben-Ari and Bill Weinberg, Alternet.com, March 1, 2004
• Council on Hemispheric Affairs (202) 216-9261 www.coha.org
• Haiti Progres, Haitian newspaper, in English, French and Creole www.haitiprogres.com
• "Aristide Kidnapped by U.S. Forces?" by William Rivers Pitt, truthout.org, March 1, 2004
• "President Aristide: 'I Was Kidnapped', 'Tell The World It Is A Coup'" Democracy Now!, March 1, 2004

  Background on Haiti

• "Year 501: The Tragedy of Haiti, by Noam Chomsky, cyberspacei.com, 1993
• "Background on Haiti: Some Questions and Answers," by Mary Turck, by Americas.org, Feb. 24, 2004
• "Throttled by History," by Gary Younge, The Guardian/UK, Feb. 23, 2004
• "U.S. Fails to Act as Death Squads Vow to Overthrow Government of Haitian President Aristide," Between The Lines interview with Larry Birns, executive director of Council on Hemispheric Affairs, conducted by Scott Harris, week ending March 5, 2004
• "Armed Rebellion Attempts to Oust Haitian President," Between The Lines interview with Kim Ives, Haiti Progres editor, conducted by Scott Harris, week ending Feb. 20, 2004
• "U.S. Hostility Will Be Major Challenge to Returning Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide," Between The Lines interview with Kim Ives, Haiti Progres editor, conducted by Scott Harris, Jan. 5, 2001.

Peace Groups Plan
Worldwide Protests March 20 to
Observe 1-Year Anniversary
of Iraq War

Interview with Leslie Cagan,
national coordinator
of United for Peace and Justice,
conducted by Scott Harris

One year after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, American soldiers and Iraqi citizens are continuing to die in the ongoing conflict between occupation troops and insurgents bent on driving them out. Recent deadly attacks occurred on March 2, when simultaneous bombings at Shiite Muslim holy shrines killed more than 140 Iraqi civilians and some Iranian religious pilgrims.

Despite the violence and instability, the Bush administration says it will transfer authority over the nation from Washington's administrator Paul Bremer to the U.S. installed Iraqi Governing Council on June 30, but with the Pentagon maintaining large numbers of American soldiers in Iraq for years to come. Critics charge that the transfer date was dictated by Mr. Bush's re-election campaign rather than in the interest of the Iraqi people. After Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most powerful leader of Iraq's Shiite majority, rejected a U.S. plan for regional caucuses, the U.N. is now working to organize a process for elections that will select an interim government.

It's been just over a year since 15 million people in hundreds of cities participated in the Feb. 15 international day of demonstrations organized to resist the Bush administration's plan to attack Iraq. Although those protests were unsuccessful in preventing war, the movement has remained active in opposing the U.S. occupation. On March 20, the one-year anniversary of the U.S.-British bombing and invasion of Iraq, protests will again be held in cities across the world. The Global Day of Action will call for an end to the occupation of Iraq and the Bush administration's militaristic foreign policies. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Leslie Cagan, national coordinator of United for Peace and Justice, who describes plans for the March 20 actions and reflects on the peace movement since the Iraq invasion.

To get more information on local and national March 20 protests, contact United for Peace and Justice at (212) 868-5545 or visit their website atwww.unitedforpeace.org

Related links:

• "Blasts at Shiite Ceremonies in Iraq Kill More Than 140," by John F. Burns and Jeffrey Gettleman, The New York Times, March 2, 2004
• Between The Lines Special Report: Interviews Recorded at "The World Says 'No' to War" in NYC, Feb. 15, 2003 in MP3. Danny Glover, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Angela Davis, Leslie Cagan, Medea Benjamin, Ossie Davis and more.
• "Between The Lines Antiwar Report," Week Ending 3/21/03

Bush Administration and GOP Congress
Propose Cuts to Public Transit and
Other Transportation Alternatives

Interview with Hank Dittmar,
executive director
of Reconnecting America,
conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Republicans, who control both the House and Senate, had been planning to attach controversial energy legislation to the $300 billion transportation bill that's also moving through Congress. But that idea was eventually dropped, and the transportation bill has generated its own controversy. For more than ten years, the percentage of the budget going toward non-highway projects, though miniscule, was on an upward trend. However, under President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress, that trend may now be swinging downward.

Many who consider themselves environmentalists, smart-growth advocates or public health promoters have weighed in to try to squeeze dollars out of the transportation bill to support other forms of transportation that take people into account, not just cars.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Hank Dittmar, executive director of Reconnecting America, about the problems he sees with the transportation bill and his organization's efforts to have transportation serve human needs, like safe cycling, walking routes and supporting the development of transit-centered communities.

Contact Reconnecting America at (505) 426-8055 or visit their website at www.reconnectingamerica.org

This week's summary
of under-reported news

Compiled by Bob Nixon

• A top Pentagon planning unit has concluded that global warming is a real threat to national security. ("A New Ice Age?," The Nation, March 1, 2004)
• War in northern Sudan causes 25,000 people from the Darfur region to flee across the border to Chad. ("Darfur, the Forgotten Sudanese War," World Press Review, March 2004; "Sudan Civilians flee 'safe' Darfur," BBC News, Feb. 27, 2004 web version)
• Israeli nuclear weapons whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu pledges to speak out against nuclear proliferation once he is released from 18-year prison sentence. ("Israeli arms mole vows to fight on after release," The Independent, Feb. 27, 2004 web version)
  

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Credits:
Senior news editor: Bob Nixon
Program narration: Denise Manzari
News reader: Elaine Osowski
Segment producer: Melinda Tuhus
Distribution: Anna Manzo, Harry Minot, Jeff Yates
Senior Web editor/producer: Anna Manzo
Web producer: Jeff Yates
Web editors: Hank Hoffman and Bill Cosentino
Executive producer: Scott Harris
Theme music: Mikata

Last Week's Program

Between The Lines Week Ending 3/5/04

Election 2004

"Kerry Condemns Bush For Failing To Back Aristide," The New York Times, Mar. 7, 2004

"White House Directed Effort To Discredit Wilson," Newsday, Mar. 6, 2004

"Kerry's Foreign Policy Record Suggests Few Differences From Bush," By Stephen Zunes, Common Dreams, Mar. 5, 2004

"Out Of Touch? Bush's Economic Indicator: Two New Jobs," Washington Post, Mar. 5, 2004

"Bush Exploiting 9/11," By Bill Berkowitz, Alternet, Mar. 4, 2004

"9/11 Panel Rejects White House Limits On Interviews," The New York Times, Mar. 3, 2004

"Democrat Not Spoken Here," Creative Loafing (Atlanta), Mar. 2, 2004

"Kerry Should Explain His War-Making Stand," By John Nichols, Madison Capital Times, Mar. 2, 2004

"Why They Had to Crush Aristide," the Guardian/UK, March 2, 2004

"How Bush Helped My Marriage," By David Corn, TomPaine.com, Mar. 1, 2004

"U.S.-Sponsored Regime Change in Haiti," Alternet.com, March 1, 2004

"Greenspan Testimony Highlights Bush Plan for Deliberate Federal Bankruptcy," truthout.org, March 2, 2004

American Empire/War Profiteering

"The Coup In Haiti" By Amy Wilentz, The Nation, Mar. 22, 2004

"Human Rights Watch: U.S. Troops Killing And Abusing Afghans," The Guardian/UK, Mar. 8, 2004

"Growing Disquiet In Latin America Over Haiti Coup" The Observer/UK, Mar. 7, 2004

"The High Cost Of Privatized Warfare," By William Hartung, Counterpunch, Mar. 6, 2004

"From His First Day In Office, Bush Was Ousting Aristide," By Jeffrey Sachs, Los Angeles Times, Mar. 4, 2004

"Bush Fails Democracy In Haiti," Madison Capital Times, Mar. 3, 2004

"Postwar" Occupation of Iraq

"An Empty Sort Of Freedom: Women In The New Iraq," The Guardian/UK, Mar. 8, 2004

"Hans Blix: Bush And Blair's 'Witch Hunt' Over WMDs," The Independent/UK, Mar. 8, 2004

"As U.S. Detains Iraqis, Families Plead For News," The New York Times, Mar. 7, 2004

"A Constitution Drenched In Blood," Asia Times, Mar. 4, 2004

"The Inspector's Final Report," The Guardian/UK, Mar. 3, 2004

"Doubts Cast on Saddam-Al Qaeda Link," Knight Ridder, Mar. 2, 2004

Civil Liberties

"Waite Blasts U.S. For Guantanamo 'Terror' Methods," Agence France Presse, Mar. 5, 2004

"Criminalization Of Dissent Still A Problem Nationwide," StraightWords E-Zine, Mar. 3, 2004

"Writing And Reading As Terrorism," By Elaine Cassel, Counterpunch, Mar. 1, 2004

Media And Activism

"The Endless Bummer: Bumiller Questions The Candidates" The Daily Howler, Mar. 2, 2004