Why is Haiti important now?

I have no idea. Is it because it's relatively close to the U.S.? Why do we care enough about what's going on there to send our troops there. And then this happens: Yahoo! News - Aristide Tells U.S. Contacts He Was Abducted.

The President of a sovereign nation tells a U.S. congressman and a U.S. citizen that the U.S. military has abducted his family and flown them across an ocean (!) against their will. U.S. spokespersons deny this, saying the Haitian president signed a letter of resignation. Even if true, why was he flown to Africa? Why not just bring him to the U.S.?

What the heck is going on? Why is the U.S. military involved? Of what importance is this small island nation to the U.S.?

There's got to be more later, but why should we even care?
Paul