[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 94 (Tuesday, July 19, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1930
 
  GRAVE CONCERN ABOUT EXPECTED COMMITMENT OF UNITED STATES TROOPS IN 
                                 HAITI

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Weldon] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON. Mr. Speaker, I rise again this evening as a member of the 
Committee on Armed Services to express by grave concern about the 
expected action of the President of this country to commit our troops 
to military action in Haiti within the next several weeks.
  Last Thursday, I documented a memo, a confidential memo, from Dante 
Caputo, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, that basically said that our 
intentions were not what they appear to be on the surface, but rather 
were being motivated for political purposes.
  In fact, during a meeting between Mr. Caputo and Secretary General 
Boutros-Ghali, Mr. Caputo is quoted as saying:

       The Americans will not be able to wait much longer than 
     August at the latest to invade. They the Americans, want to 
     do something. They are going to try to intervene militarily.

  Then the memo itself, released by Dante Caputo, this confidential 
memo in fact states that the reasoning behind the invasion by this 
country of Haiti,

       Is to demonstrate the President's decisionmaking capability 
     and firmness of leadership in international political 
     matters.

  This is an internal memo circulated within the U.N. to the Secretary 
General.
  Now, why would our President have to take this kind of action to 
demonstrate his firmness? I refer my colleagues to an article that was 
written and printed in the Daily Local News of Westchester on June 27, 
written by B.J. Cutler of Scripps Howard, their Scripps Howard foreign 
affairs columnist. He cites some of the editorial comments by the 
foreign media relative to our President's foreign policy leadership.
  ``Most foreign leaders are too polite to contradict him publicly,'' 
B.J. Cutler went onto say, ``but the overseas media are scathing.'' 
Example: ``On foreign policy he is simply embarrassing,'' said 
Britain's The Economist. ``Some of his flailing is understandable, but 
much of it is the result of lack of attention, time, and care, and, not 
least, lack of spine.''
  France's L'Express went on to say,

       Clinton, since his election, shows himself a real disaster 
     in foreign policy matters.

  B.J. Cutler went on to cite in his article four specific quotes by 
candidate and President Clinton on Haiti, as well as Somalia, China, 
and Bosnia, where in his own words the President has flip-flopped 
dramatically, which has caused these foreign leaders and the foreign 
media to respond accordingly.
  Let me just cite the quotes on Haiti. November 12, 1992, Candidate 
Clinton:

       I think that sending refugees back to Haiti was an error. 
     And so I will modify the process. I can tell you I am going 
     to change that policy.

  On January 14, 1993, President-elect Clinton then said,

       The practice of returning those who flee Haiti by boat will 
     continue after I become President.

  Then on October 13th, 1993, President Clinton said,

       I have no intention of asking our young people in uniform 
     to go in there to do anything other than implement a peace 
     agreement.

  Then on May 3 of this year, the same President said,

       I think that we cannot afford to discount the prospect of a 
     military option in Haiti.

  Now we see why the foreign media and foreign leaders do not respect 
this President on foreign policy, because as they say, he has none. He 
flip-flops all over the place, puts his finger up in the air, and 
whatever way the wind blows, he makes a decision.
  Now, we have seen an article in the Washington Post on July 12 of 
this year written by Lally Weymouth that in fact the President has 
already made an exchange with the Russians for their vote in the U.N. 
Security Council in support of the Haiti operation, that Russia will 
get in return sphere of influence peacekeeping abilities in the 
satellite countries around Russia.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow our troops, our men and women, to be 
used as political pawns. There is no justifiable reason to commit our 
troops to a military operation in Haiti. As one member of the Committee 
on Armed Services who also sits on the Committee on Merchant Marine and 
Fisheries that overseas our Coast Guard that is being heavily taxed at 
this very moment in terms of the Haiti operation, I will use every 
ounce of energy in my body to oppose any use of force in Haiti that 
will jeopardize the lives of American troops.
  Mr. Speaker, I would hope that our colleagues would understand the 
very tense situation that we are in right now and the direction this 
President is taking us, much like we saw in Somalia, where the generals 
were denied the backup support for those troops who were ultimately 
unable to be rescued in the streets of Mogadishu.
  This President has got to learn one very important fact: This 
Congress will not allow him to use our military forces for his own 
political expedient actions.

                          ____________________