[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 127 (Tuesday, September 13, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            AFTER WE INVADE HAITI, WHAT THEN, MR. PRESIDENT?

  (Mrs. VUCANOVICH asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. VUCANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I am very alarmed to see President 
Clinton's erratic Haiti policy take yet another dramatic turn to one of 
imminent invasion. Unfortunately, the question is no longer if we 
invade Haiti, but when we invade Haiti.
  I am alarmed because I do not understand how Haiti poses a threat to 
United States national interests. I am alarmed because most foreign 
policy experts say a quagmire similar to Somalia awaits the United 
States in Haiti. It is certainly not worth putting thousands of 
American lives at risk.
  Former Assistant Secretary of State of Inter-American Affairs Elliot 
Abrams sums it up best:

       After we invade Haiti? What then, Mr. President? When will 
     the troops be withdrawn? When will Haiti become democratic? 
     What if that takes 10 years?
       Should our soldiers act as Mr. Aristide's bodyguards? And 
     what if Mr. Aristide misbehaves, jailing opponents or 
     advocating violence against them? Will the administration 
     that put him back in power then take him out? As in Somalia, 
     intervening is easy; it is getting out that will be hard.

  Mr. Speaker, at the very least, President Clinton should not put 
American troops into harm's way without the support of the Congress and 
the American people. As far as most Nevadans I have talked to are 
concerned, American troops have no business in Haiti.

                          ____________________