[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 127 (Tuesday, September 13, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
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]

 
                    UNITED STATES INTEREST IN HAITI

  Mr. DODD. Madam President, I would like at the outset to express some 
general thoughts on Haiti, if I may.
  It was under the Presidency of George Bush, almost 3 years ago, that 
a handful of military leaders in the tiny nation of Haiti, only a few 
miles off the southern coast of our own Nation, overthrew the elected 
President of that nation and began a reign of terror in that tiny 
Caribbean country. This illegal and repressive military regime has held 
onto power in the face of worldwide condemnation, a U.S. naval 
blockade, and a global embargo on commerce and trade.
  Madam President, it has been said over the last several days that 
Haiti does not deserve to be inflicted with a military invasion, if 
that option is exercised. Let me state at the outset, I am not 
enthusiastic at all about such an option. I do not know of anyone who 
is--certainly not most of the people in this country. But I would also 
note that we have tried over the last number of years under two 
administrations now to right a terrible wrong in that country, not just 
acting alone but in concert with other countries in this hemisphere and 
around the globe.
  We have had countless meetings with organizations, and diplomatic and 
political efforts, to try to restore a democratic government in that 
country. We have sought international cooperation to do so. Yet, 
despite all of those efforts, those handful of people, the military, 
who hijacked the democracy in Haiti, remain in power.
  Many do not think that defending or trying to preserve democracy is a 
great national security interest. I happen to disagree. I think it is. 
I think democracy is what most people, if not all, seek to have around 
the globe as to how they are governed. And certainly, while one does 
not want to see military power used frivolously or unnecessarily, if we 
are going to lead in the world at a time when the cold war is over, 
then I think we are going to have to stand up for those principles 
where they are threatened or where they have been stolen.
  So tomorrow, we are going to have some 7 hours to debate the issue of 
Haiti and what ought to be done there. But as I listen to some of the 
people who are talking about this issue, it does not seem to make any 
difference what happens in Haiti. Let me just remind my colleagues that 
the wholesale abuse of human rights in this little country is 
unparalleled in this hemisphere. We have seen other examples of it in 
the recent past in this hemisphere in places like Argentina and Chile 
and Paraguay. We have seen it in other nations, in Central American 
countries. I would love to think that democracy, now that it has been 
achieved in all but two nations in this hemisphere, all but in Cuba and 
Haiti, would never again be threatened. Unfortunately, that is not the 
case. Democracy is a fragile experiment in many nations, and we ought 
to make sure we are doing everything we can to solidify those 
democratic gains.
  Now, hopefully, that can be done without resorting to military 
intervention at all. I hope that is not the case. But I also hope that 
those people who are adamantly opposed to military intervention in 
Haiti will not simultaneously be offering any kind of comfort to those 
who stole democracy by suggesting that under no circumstances will this 
country participate in an effort to try to restore and bring democracy 
back to that nation, and to give the people of the nation of Haiti a 
chance to determine their own destiny and their own future.
  So in these coming days, I know we are all going to be watching 
carefully what happens, but I hope the people will exercise some 
caution, some thought on this matter, rather than just because the 
polls do not look right, deciding we are not going to do what is right. 
Had that been the case, President Truman might not have decided to 
support the Marshall plan.
  There have been countless other examples in the conduct of foreign 
policy that were not popular at a given moment in time but turned out 
to be the right thing to do. I hope that we remind ourselves here in 
these coming days that our obligation is to do what is right, not just 
what the political winds dictate from day to day reading the current 
polls.
  I appreciate that. I am certainly as conscious of them as anyone 
else. But when it comes to being a leader in the world, to try to 
exercise responsible authority as the great superpower on this globe, 
then I think we have to do more than just read polls. We have to try to 
follow a policy that will help make a difference for people, and in 
Haiti they are looking to this Nation and to others to see how 
democracy might be restored, and the thugs who are running the place 
will not be around that much longer.
  Madam President, tomorrow I look forward to engaging in a longer 
discussion on the subject matter. But I did not want the evening to end 
without expressing my concern that this heavy-handed rhetoric we are 
hearing about never, ever, ever in this hemisphere, is heard in a lot 
of other corners around the globe. We can never say ``never, never.''

  So my hope is, again, that this matter is resolved through diplomatic 
and political means. But I do not want to be a party to those who are 
giving comfort to Mr. Cedras and Mr. Francois and others who murder 
priests, nuns, and innocent children and dismember those bodies and 
feed then to the animals on the streets of Port-au-Prince. That goes on 
every day just a few miles off our shore. Hopefully, we can resolve 
that problem without exercising the military intervention. But let us 
not be associated by our aversion to military intervention by 
suggesting somehow that those who continue to engage in those 
activities are going to have the benign neglect of the United States of 
America when it occurs.

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