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Official grilled over US role in Haiti

US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his top aide for Latin America faced fierce questioning on Wednes-day from lawmakers who rejected the administration's claims that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had resigned of his own free will.

At a hearing dominated by Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Roger Noriega, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, was denounced as insolent and misguided, and faced derisive laughter, as he testified that the US had not forced Aristide from office.

"We did not support the violent overthrow of that man," Noriega told members of a House international relations subcommittee.

Aristide, who was flown into exile in the Central African Republic aboard an American plane on Sunday, has said he was kidnapped by American officials determined to oust him.

Angry Democrats excoriated the administration for effectively carrying out a coup d'etat. In the hearing, lawmakers said Aristide had been coerced into resigning.

"He was forced out," said Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, who spoke with Aristide by phone on Wednesday. "He told me that he did not go of his own will."

In separate testimony, Powell dismissed the notion that Aristide had been forced out, instead characterizing him as a flawed leader who had not governed democratically.

"But having said that, we tried to help him," Powell said. "We tried to get him into a process with the opposition. But by the time this thing came to a crisis, the opposition had been so disappointed and so resentful and untrusting of President Aristide's efforts over the years that we couldn't get that together."

Noriega acknowledged that the administration had told Aristide that it could not guarantee his safety as rebels made a final push toward the Haitian capital. He defended the decision not to "prop him up" in office.

"We do not have an obligation to put American lives at risk to save every government that might ask for help," said Noriega, who called the deposed president erratic and unreliable. "In the case of Haiti it was a difficult decision, but I think it was the right one."

Noriega confirmed that an American diplomat had sought a letter of resignation from Aristide before giving him and his relatives safe passage out of Haiti on Sunday. The reason, Noriega said, was to establish a "sustainable, political" solution after Aristide's departure.

Representative Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, asked Noriega if the Bush administration would have rescued Aristide without a letter of resignation.

"Probably, yes," Noriega replied. He said that Aristide's wife, Mildred Trouillot, is an American citizen.

Rangel said that under a threat to his life, Aristide had little choice but to sign a resignation letter.

"I would have signed one too," Rangel said.

Noriega also confirmed reports that Aristide had taken off from Haiti without a set destination in mind. In fact, Noriega said, he did not learn that the Central African Republic would be his place of temporary refuge until about 20 minutes before he landed.
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