[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 53 (Thursday, May 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                       DON'T DO IT, MR. PRESIDENT

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott 
and Deputy National Security Adviser Sandy Berger briefed the Foreign 
Relations Committee on Tuesday regarding President Clinton's policy 
toward Haiti. They had previously briefed the Members of the House of 
Representatives last week on the same subject, and that testimony last 
week was widely reported in the media.
  Under the circumstances, it therefore seems to me absurd that 
Tuesday's briefing, if you want to call it that, by Secretary Talbott 
and Mr. Berger, was declared to be a secret meeting, an action which I 
protested at the time. I mention the matter today because not one 
syllable was uttered by either Mr. Talbott or Mr. Berger or anybody 
else that has not already been reported by the media.
  However, Mr. President, the American people have every right to be 
astounded that the Clinton administration is unable to answer even the 
most basic policy questions about Haiti. Small wonder then that the 
conclusion is inescapable that the Senate briefing was classified 
totally for political reasons, and the American people are entitled to 
know that.
  First of all, Mr. President, I am absolutely convinced, beyond any 
peradventure, that there is no justification for Mr. Clinton even 
thinking about sending United States military personnel into Haiti--as 
he clearly indicated was an option in some of his recent public 
statements. The Wall Street Journal described the President as a man 
who ``talks loudly and carries a twig.''
  Having said that, Mr. President, it is important to bear in mind that 
all this political pontification about ``restoring democracy to 
Haiti''--and we hear that over and over again--this is pure nonsense 
because Haiti has never had any democracy to restore. The nearest thing 
to a democracy that Haiti has ever known was when that country was 
occupied by the U.S. Marines.
  Mr. Aristide did not rule democratically by any stretch of the 
imagination during the 7 months that he was president, nor did he even 
try to. I will not go into the necklaces, and all the other things that 
occurred. But he did not try to be a democratic president.
  Nevertheless, the administration continues to orate about 
returning Aristide to power. Considering the fact that sanctions have 
failed miserably, just what is it that the administration is proposing? 
``Tougher sanctions,'' said Mr. Talbott and Mr. Berger, plus a foolish 
hope that they expressed that the Haitian military will somehow and for 
some reason take flight and give up. Sanctions have not even begun to 
work, and there is no logic to support or believe that sanctions will 
ever work.

  So, Mr. President, speaking for myself alone, as ranking member of 
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, my unyielding position 
regarding Haiti is that not one American soldier or sailor shall be put 
in harm's way in Haiti. Congress must continue to forbid this 
administration sending United States troops to Haiti.
  The United States has only one national security interest in Haiti, 
and that is to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the United 
States. The life of even one American soldier or sailor should not be 
put at risk in a vain attempt to restore--``to restore,'' and I am 
saying that with quotation marks surrounding it --Mr. Aristide to 
power.
  Just remember, on October 21 of last year the Senate passed by a vote 
of 98 to 2 a nonbinding resolution urging that the President not send 
United States troops to Haiti without congressional approval. I 
seriously doubt that Congress will even consider approving risking the 
lives of American service men and women in Haiti to defend Mr. 
Aristide, who demonstrably is no friend of the United States.
  There was an interesting irony this past Tuesday. While President 
Clinton's advisers were in room S-116 on the first floor just below the 
Senate Chamber testifying at that secret meeting of the Foreign 
Relations Committee, and talking only about tougher sanctions, the 
President of the United States was by no means ruling out sending 
United States Armed Forces to Haiti.
  But, Mr. President, surely, Mr. Clinton has given at least some 
consideration to the cost of U.S. military intervention. How long for 
example would it last? Will United States marines have to occupy Haiti 
for 19 years as they did earlier in this century? How many American 
lives will the Clinton administration be willing to lose to defend 
Aristide? And what will the President say to the parents of American 
soldiers and sailors who may be killed in that action of folly?
  The last time the United States intervened militarily in Haiti 
earlier this century, there were 208 casualties--with 36 U.S. marines 
killed or wounded in action.
  The Congress must make clear that the President should not even think 
about a repeat of that disaster. In other words, I say to the President 
of the United States, with all due respect, do not do it, Mr. 
President. Do not do it.

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