Naomi Klein makes it:
But when Aristide began to implement the plan, it turned out that the financiers in Washington thought his democratization talk was just public relations. When Aristide announced that no sales could take place until Parliament had approved the new laws, Washington cried foul. Aristide says he realized then that what was being attempted was an “economic coup.” “The hidden agenda was to tie my hands once I was back and make me give for nothing all the state public enterprises.” He threatened to arrest anyone who went ahead with privatizations. “Washington was very angry at me. They said I didn't respect my word, when they were the ones who didn't respect our common economic policy.”
Aristide's relationship with Washington has been deteriorating ever since: While more than $500 million in promised loans and aid were cut off, starving his government, USAID poured millions into the coffers of opposition groups, culminating ultimately in the February 2004 armed coup.
Anybody wanting to claim that the U.S. has made any real effort to spread freedom and/or democracy in the past few years has a lot of explaining to do on this one. And of course the effect of the U.S.' choice is to have a state not far away from the U.S. deteriorating into chaos - just the kind of chaos that'll turn at least some of the worst-off locals into rabid anti-Americans with nothing to lose.
If I was charged with winning a war on terror, I'd be looking to avoid that kind of situation at all costs. That probably makes me too sane to be in charge of the real thing.
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