[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 29, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    THE PRESIDENT'S POLICY ON HAITI

  (Mr. McCOLLUM asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, it is said that if one does not study 
history, one is condemned to repeat it. Judging from the President's 
policy on Haiti; he appears not only to have not studied history, but 
quite evidently was too busy running for office between 1990 and 1992 
to even read the newspapers.
  Had the President paid any attention to the situation in Haiti before 
he became President, other than to take cheap political shots at his 
opponent, he would have realized that announcing aboard-ship asylum 
processing was an announcement for every Haitian to take to the open 
sea.
  And that is what has happened.
  Does the President forget that just 2 years ago, the United States 
was processing, at its peak, 13,000 Haitians a month under a policy 
similar to the one he has just reinstated?
  And what next? Rumors of a U.S. military invasion are rife in 
Washington. Does the President forget what happened the last time we 
invaded and occupied Haiti? We ended up occupying Haiti for 14 years 
and earned their enmity for many decades.
  How will troops tied down in an occupation of Haiti be able to 
respond to a real crisis on the Korean peninsula?
  Mr. President, read the papers and read history. Maybe we'll find a 
coherent foreign policy someday.

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