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So, do we support military coups when we don't like the guy who was elected and oppose them in the name of "democracy" when we don't? Most of the democratic world is also crying foul on this action. Honduras should have let the people make their decision. Unfortunately, we've interfered way too much in South America in the past and hopefully Obama just contents himself with voicing what the disapproval everyone else has.

I believe Obama set the right tone with Iran, making it extremely difficult for the mullahs to blame the big bad U.S. for it's internal strife.

mshadow, this was not a military coup, the Supreme Court of the country ruled that the president violated the constitution and the military was charged with arresting Zacary, he made a deal to leave the country instead of going to jail and they let him do that. An orderly succession of power was made by the constitution, and the head of congress took over the presidency until elections are held in November. No military took power, they just enforced the law. We are the ones who want them to ignore their constitution. This is similar to what Venzula tried to do with Chavez, but he was able to maintain power and we see where that went. Sometimes the people have to take action to preserve democracy when the elected official oversteps their authority and threatens the very freedom of the country. Their actions in this case seems very democratic and reasonable to me - wish the people of Germany had acted in a similar fashion, a lot of lives would have been saved - our actions in Hondouras will punish the poor people for trying to maintain their freedom.

It's a dangerous path when the military is charged with removing or placing anyone in power. S. America has a history of abuses with this, including Honduras. Any time a president is replaced or put in power by the military - not a vote it ceases to be a democratic government. We'll see in November what happens with the elections.

Venezuelans have only themselves to blame for Chavez. During one critical vote the opposition party chose to boycott the election, giving Chavez the votes he needed to change the constitution. Like him or not, Chavez is the democratically elected leader of Venezuela and the government they now have is one they chose.

Had to add: I love the way our government is set up with the succession of powers. A president may be impeached and removed from office for high crimes - and the VP will succeed him. In the even both the President and the VP are removed from office or killed the Speaker of the House succeeds them. It's unfortunate other countries don't have the same electoral process. AFAIK, we've only had an unelected President once - Spiro Agnew resigned for tax fraud (accepted bribes) and resigned, Gerald Ford was nominated as VP, then Nixon was forced to resign. I also like the fact our military has nothing to do with who is or isn't in power.

Right on the mark Mtngirl. Here's another article:

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The military response in Honduras shows how a constitutional democracy is SUPPOSED to work. In it - "The law is king" In a dictatorship "The king is law".
A President of a democracy cannot make fiat decisions and expect the people to just go along with it all. Of course the "sheeple" might.

You're absolutely right, but there should be means other than the military to handle it. Any way you look at it is a military coup when a military action forcibly removes a president and installs another. It's not democracy in action by any means.

This excerpt from the article Scottmpa just linked to explains a lot about the situation and makes it clear that the Supreme Court of Honduras is acting according to the letter of the law contained in their constitution. It was not a military coup, on the contrary the military acted at the request of the Supreme Court to remove a president who was acting outside of the law. That the United States would join with the likes of Chavez, Castro and Noriega to condemn an act by a governing body of a country to oust a leader bent on destroying the democratic principals of his country makes one wonder at where our government is leading us. But then we know the answer to that, don't we.

"It remains to be seen what Mr. Zelaya's next move will be. It's not surprising that chavistas throughout the region are claiming that he was victim of a military coup. They want to hide the fact that the military was acting on a court order to defend the rule of law and the constitution, and that the Congress asserted itself for that purpose, too.

Mrs. Clinton has piled on as well. Yesterday she accused Honduras of violating "the precepts of the Interamerican Democratic Charter" and said it "should be condemned by all." Fidel Castro did just that. Mr. Chávez pledged to overthrow the new government.

Honduras is fighting back by strictly following the constitution. The Honduran Congress met in emergency session yesterday and designated its president as the interim executive as stipulated in Honduran law. It also said that presidential elections set for November will go forward. The Supreme Court later said that the military acted on its orders. It also said that when Mr. Zelaya realized that he was going to be prosecuted for his illegal behavior, he agreed to an offer to resign in exchange for safe passage out of the country. Mr. Zelaya denies it."

Thanks Scott for the EXCELLENT article. It clearly explains the REAL situation in Honduras and why the U.S., the OAS, and (surprise!) Chavez, Castro, and Noriega are out of order in this instance.

The only thing that the U.S., OAS, and other countries will manage to do is to starve already starving people. Now that hardly seems like a worthy idea. And for what? For following their Constitution.

We need to leave this situation alone.

And here's another article written by a Honduran that further explains the situation and why it was NOT a military coup.

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"Under our Constitution, what happened in Honduras this past Sunday? Soldiers arrested and sent out of the country a Honduran citizen who, the day before, through his own actions had stripped himself of the presidency."

" The Supreme Court and the attorney general ordered Zelaya's arrest for disobeying several court orders compelling him to obey the Constitution. He was detained and taken to Costa Rica. Why? Congress needed time to convene and remove him from office. With him inside the country that would have been impossible. This decision was taken by the 123 (of the 128) members of Congress present that day.

Don't believe the coup myth. The Honduran military acted entirely within the bounds of the Constitution. The military gained nothing but the respect of the nation by its actions."