[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 104 (Tuesday, August 2, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    KEEPING OPEN THE PEACEFUL OPTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
February 11, 1994, and June 10, 1994, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. 
Goss] is recognized during morning business for 4 minutes.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, ``all options are on the table.'' This is a 
phrase we hear a lot from the White House and from William Gray, the 
President's Special Adviser on Haiti. In recent months, however, we 
have heard a great deal from the administration about the need to keep 
open the military option in Haiti and very little about anything else. 
Granted, we do currently have an ill-advised and hurtful policy of 
sanctions but unlike the sanctions envisioned in the Governor's Island 
accord--those that should have gone into effect on January 15 when the 
military failed to honor the accord--the current sanctions policy is 
not attached to any political strategy. To date, no one in the 
administration has been able to answer this question to my 
satisfaction: How do we go from sanctions or military intervention to 
democracy in Haiti? It is not as simple as getting the military to step 
down or as simple as dropping President Aristide off in Port-au-Prince. 
The machinery of the Haitian Government will not simply pick up and 
chug along from where it left off in 1991. On the political front, 
United States policymakers--and Father Aristide--need to recognize the 
fact that Haiti has a parliamentary system which was designed with the 
specific goal of ending the 200 year succession of dictatorships in 
Haiti. In this decentralized form of government, President Aristide 
must work to build a majority, a working coalition. This means Haitians 
sitting down at the table with other Haitians. Current United States 
policy in Haiti is encouraging anything but that. It is time to put 
some other options on the table and the only way to do that is to take 
off the pressure. Pull back the 14 warships and the 2,400 troops who 
stand at ready in the waters off of Haiti. Open the borders and let the 
desperately needed food and medicine into Haiti. Stop the sabre 
rattling--invading Haiti won't solve that small nation's problems but, 
if our 1915 experience tells us anything, will mean many more for 
American policymakers. Use the safe haven idea but in a more effective 
way by seeking havens in Haiti for the immediate provision of 
humanitarian relief and refuge for those who truly are escaping 
economic or political repression. The UNHCR has done this before in Sri 
Lanka on Mannar Island with some success. Once the pressure is off we 
can seize the opportunity to pursue the peaceful option. By focusing on 
the moderates and the legitimately elected parliamentarians--48 of whom 
signed a letter to the bipartisan leadership of both Houses of this 
Congress--we isolate the extremes and start building something for 
Haiti's future. We need to do the homework too--send down the Chris 
Smith or the Dole Commission to open up channels of communication, to 
assess the possibility of a peaceful resolution or the need for 
military action. And, work with the business and legitimate 
institutional Haitian leaders to develop positive steps for rebuilding 
infrastructure and services as quickly as possible. Despite the green 
light for military action from the United Nations, it seems clear that 
the American public and the Congress are not willing to give the same 
go ahead. There are alternatives; there are legitimately elected 
Haitians, in Haiti, willing to work with the United States and Father 
Aristide. We should not invade Haiti; we should put a peaceful, 
negotiated solution back on the agenda. Let us get started.

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