Aristide 'Ready To Die' For Haiti

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said Thursday he is "ready to die" to defend his country, indicating he will not give up power as demanded by political opponents and rebels creating chaos in northern Haiti.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon Thursday said a small U.S. military team will be sent to Haiti to assess the security situation.

Defense spokesman Larry Di Rita said it comes at the request of the U.S. ambassador in Haiti, exercising his responsibility to assure security.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday the United States and other countries will offer a proposal to Aristide and opposition leaders for ending the political crisis in that county.

"I think if they will both accept this plan and start executing on it, we might find a way through this crisis politically," Powell said in an interview with ABC Radio's "Live in America" program.

Powell said there is a "solid consensus" on the Haitian issue among the United States, the Organization of American States, the United Nations, France and Canada.

He said the international community must do what it can to help Aristide in his capacity as Haiti's elected leader.

Powell gave no details of the plan except to say that it does not contemplate Aristide's stepping down before his term ends in Feb. 2006.

The U.S. has a long history of intervention in Haitian affairs, the last time being 1994 when 20,000 troops were sent in to restore Aristide to power after he was ousted in a coup. But Aristide has failed to deliver on promised reforms, says CBS News State Department Reporter Charles Wolfson.

Aristide, speaking on the 14th day of a rebellion that has taken some 60 lives, honored police officers killed in the uprising and urged a constitutional resolution to Haiti's crisis.

"I am ready to give my life if that is what it takes to defend my country," he said. "If wars are expensive, peace can be even more expensive."

Aristide, who has survived three assassination attempts and a coup d'etat, spoke after rebuffing a U.S. proposal that he defuse the situation by calling early elections and allowing a temporary board to govern Haiti until a president is elected.

He repeatedly has said that he will not leave office before his term expires Feb. 7, 2006.

"Our mandate we will protect by facing terrorism in a legal way," he said.

Aristide was chosen as Haiti's first freely elected leader in a landslide election in 1990. Eight months later he was ousted by the army and went into exile in the United States. He was restored by a U.S. invasion in 1994 and disbanded the army.

Aristide called for the international community to recognize that his is a legitimate government that is fighting for democracy against a band of terrorists.

And he asked police officers to help Haitians preserve democracy.

"I order the police to accompany the people courageously with the constitution as their guide," he said. "When the police are united to the people, they are invincible."

Haiti's police force, which Aristide said numbers less than 4,000, is demoralized in the face of rebels who outnumber and outgun them in outlying posts where the primary target is police stations that are torched and officers who are killed.

It's not known how many officers have been killed in the revolt that began Feb. 5.