Is anyone else wondering what, exactly, went down in Haiti this weekend? It seems there is no way for a layman like myself to figure out what went on, and I’m putting the blame on the media. The administration says that Haiti’s President, Jean-Bertrand left the country voluntarily, but I’m troubled by the idea of US soldiers showing up at his house in the middle of the night and telling him that they had a plane waiting for him. It’s not as though they were doing him a favor — Aristide’s relations with the current administration are poor at best. There’s also a long and complex backstory here involving Roger Noriega and Otto Reich, current Bush foreign policy hands with ugly histories. Over at Counterpunch, Heather Williams has an analysis of what’s going on, and how poor the media coverage of the situation has been. Maybe the administration claims that they had nothing to do with arming or supporting the rebellion are true, but thanks to the bad job the media is doing, there’s no way to tell.

Update: The New York Times reports that Aristide had been getting ready to go for awhile.