[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 21, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 21, 1994]



                      A MAGNIFICENT LANDMARK EVENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
February 11, 1994, and June 10, 1994, the gentleman from New York [Mr. 
Owens] is recognized for 30 minutes as the designee of the majority 
leader.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, what has happened in Haiti is a magnificent 
landmark event which sets a higher moral precedent for the new world 
order. We should rejoice and not take the cynical tone of the previous 
speaker.
  In the new world order, the greatness of the industrialized nations 
will be measured not so much by the way they pursue their own obvious 
self-interest but by their assistance to the least of the nations among 
us. In the new world order, the moral nations who uphold democratic 
principles will also gain the greatest amount of influence over the 
people and the markets of the world.
  So in the final analysis, as we compete for the markets of the world, 
our high moral road in our relationship with other nations will 
establish a more permanent path to peace and prosperity for Americans.
  It is important to note also that the island of Haiti, the island 
nation of Haiti, has always been of great concern to the United States. 
We have made it our concern not so much because the Haitians fought in 
the Revolutionary War against the British at the Battle of Savannah, 
and we never really have thanked them for that; there are no monuments 
out there, and the Haitians were involved in the Revolutionary War 
fighting on the side of the people who established this country, not so 
much because the Haitians in their defeat of Napoleon created a 
situation where Napoleon had to leave the New World.
  Haitians are the descendants of a group of people who were the only 
slaves in the history of the world to rise up to overthrow their 
slavemasters. The Haitians overthrew the French slavemasters. They 
defeated the army of Napoleon. They drove the army of Napoleon out of 
the Western Hemisphere.

                              {time}  1910

  Napoleon was so wracked with debts and problems that he sold the 
Louisiana Territory to the United States for almost nothing. And the 
Louisiana Territory is not just Louisiana, it is several other States 
which made up the Louisiana Territory in addition to Louisiana. A large 
part of the United States is now part of the United States because of 
the valor, the bravery, and the courage and effectiveness of the 
Haitian slaves who drove Napoleon out of the Western Hemisphere.
  The United States became very preoccupied with Haiti later on because 
after all they were a nation of slaves and had overthrown their 
slavemasters. And we had a nation filled with slaves at that time.
  So we began to dominate Haiti from the time they had won their 
freedom from France, on. We have always exercised a great deal of 
influence and sometimes deliberately dominated and militarily occupied 
Haiti. We have always considered it important. In the Monroe Doctrine 
days, the Monroe Doctrine said everything that happened in this 
hemisphere is important to us. So whatever happens in Haiti is 
considered important.
  It is important to note also that when I attended the debriefing at 
the White House, when President Carter, General Powell, and Senator 
Nunn came back to brief us, that President Carter stressed the fact 
that these were people in the military, Mr. Cedras and the other 
generals, who felt that they had a great tie to the United States. Most 
of them had been trained in the United States at Fort Benning, GA. 
General Powell noted the fact that on the wall of the staff 
headquarters of the Haitian Army there are photos of all the past 
commanders of the Haitian Army. Three of the past commanders of the 
Haitian Army were Americans. The Haitian Army was established when we 
occupied Haiti. The present modern-day Haitian Army was created by the 
United States. The present Haitian Army was armed by the United States. 
Their equipment, their supplies. They are a creature of the United 
States.
  So we cannot say that Haiti is of no interest to us. We have always 
shown a great deal of interest. Most of the foreign businesses in Haiti 
are American businesses. Most of the foreign businesses are American 
businesses. Large numbers of people who are citizens of this country 
are people of Haitian descent. They are Haitian-Americans. They are as 
American as anyone else, but they are of Haitian descent. Haiti is a 
nation of 7 million people, 7 million people. It is no small matter, as 
the previous speaker tried to make us think.
  Haiti is a land mass, still unexplored. It is not as poor as it 
seems. Wherever there is land and wherever there are people, there is a 
possibility of wealth.
  The great problem is it has never had a government, it has never had 
leadership that has held the government together long enough for the 
nation to fully exploit its resources. And its greatest resource, of 
course, is people.
  I am overjoyed at the almost political miracle, it is almost a 
political miracle that the right thing was done. It was the right thing 
to do to insist that the legally elected government of Haiti be 
restored, that President Aristide be returned. After all, President 
Aristide was elected by 70 percent of the population of Haiti; 70 
percent of the voters who came out voted for President Aristide. There 
were two or three other candidates, and altogether they shared 30 
percent of the vote. For anyone to say that Aristide is not the choice 
of the people and Aristide will not be able to hold Haiti together as a 
leader is an insult to democracy and the whole process of democracy.
  I sent a message to my own constituents and to the other people of 
Haitian descent in New York City on the morning after. I want to read 
this message briefly. It was a special message to the more than 20,000 
New Yorkers of Haitian descent and all the other people who are not of 
Haitian descent who cherish democracy:

       The military criminals who overthrew the democratically 
     elected government of President Aristide and have held the 
     seven million people of Haiti as hostages for the past three 
     years have agreed to leave office. Today, Monday, September 
     19, 1993, the United Nations Forces led by the United States 
     have begun the protective military intervention which the 
     Congressional Black Caucus first advocated a year ago. The 
     troops are going in today and President Jean-Bertrand 
     Aristide will be returning within a few weeks. At this point 
     the clock cannot be turned back.
       Last night I spoke with President Clinton and he assured me 
     that the plan of the multinational force would be fully 
     implemented. I thanked President Clinton for his courage and 
     his perseverance. I congratulated him on his victory. I told 
     him that history would applaud this action as one of the 
     greatest moments of his Presidency. I assured him that public 
     opinion will soon catch up with his vision.
       I told President Clinton that I considered what he had done 
     to be comparable to the stance of Abraham Lincoln when he 
     stood alone and signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free 
     the slaves. His support of the highest level of international 
     morality as we go into the New World Order will have the same 
     impact on the course of world history as Abraham Lincoln's 
     action had on the positive course of our American history.
       Our President has taken a great political risk and 
     acted despite an overwhelming barrage of criticism 
     generated by well meaning pacifists, right wing hypocrites 
     and camouflaged racists. To counteract these negative 
     forces we must all now unite behind President Clinton as 
     he completes the implementation of his Haitian policy.
       Haiti is free and the Haitians, under the leadership of 
     President Aristide, will rebuild their country. We now all 
     have a duty to find a way to give our Haitian brothers and 
     sisters as much help as we possibly can. With our united work 
     and our fervent prayers we shall overcome.

  I have an upbeat attitude because I think it is very much in order. I 
think it is very much in order to understand that the clock cannot be 
turned back. There are 14,000 United States military forces that will 
be on the ground in Haiti, and no tricks by the military of Haiti will 
be able to undo what has started.
  Let me take a moment to deal with the image that is being painted of 
General Cedras and his comrades. General Cedras is being portrayed as a 
professional soldier, as a man of great courage, as a man of dignity, 
as a man you can negotiate with. We have been trying to negotiate with 
General Cedras since he took the illegal action of overthrowing the 
President, Aristide, 3 years ago.
  If negotiations were possible, if he was a man of great integrity, 
then we would have concluded this a long time ago without the necessity 
of a single American soldier on Haitian soil.
  General Cedras also led a delegation that went to Governor's Island 
and actually met with President Aristide--he met with the people there. 
They did not actually meet face to face with President Aristide. But 
President Aristide was on one side of Governors Island and they were on 
the other, and they were negotiating through intermediaries. And they 
concluded an agreement which General Cedras signed. President Aristide 
was very reluctant to sign it because he did not believe General Cedras 
would live up to the terms of the agreement. General Cedras signed the 
agreement.
  The United States was a party to the agreement, the United Nations 
was a party to the agreement. If General Cedras is a man of integrity, 
if he is such a great professional, why did he not live up to the 
agreement?
  It was almost a year ago that General Cedras began to violate that 
agreement. The agreement was signed in July 1993. The agreement called 
for General Cedras to leave power in Haiti on October 15, 1993. We are 
back in a situation now where the present agreement calls for General 
Cedras to leave power, to resign as of October 15, 1994.
  So this great man of integrity that we are supposed to believe is 
worthy of being negotiated with, and that he was not the problem but we 
were the problem, this man has taken a whole year to get back to where 
he was a year ago.
  General Cedras was being applauded at the White House when I heard 
the kudos coming from the delegation that went to Haiti and how he 
stands upright and is a man of great dignity, on and on it goes. Ladies 
and gentlemen, let us come to our senses and understand. Adolf Hitler 
was a man who portrayed great physical dignity. He stood up straight. 
Adolf Hitler was considered by many as a genius, an evil genius but a 
genius. Adolf Hitler loved art and culture. Adolf Hitler would not wear 
short pants in public because he thought it was indecent. Yet Adolf 
Hitler was responsible for the murder of millions. Adolf Hitler never 
pulled the switch of the gas chambers where millions of Jews died, but 
Adolf Hitler was the architect for the whole scheme. Adolf Hitler never 
marched in a trench out there in all those nations that the German 
soldiers roamed across and brutalized, but Adolf Hitler was the genius 
that held it all together.

                              {time}  1920

  He was at the top. Cedras probably has never pulled the trigger at 
night in the dark and murdered a single Haitian. He probably has never 
done that. But he held it all together. He is responsible for all of 
it.
  Yesterday we saw on television, in broad daylight, before the eyes of 
the whole world, in front of the American soldiers, we saw an 
exhibition of what these killers are like. They have so incorporated 
and taken the habit unto themselves that they cannot control themselves 
even in a situation where they are being exposed, television cameras 
trained on them in broad daylight. They unmercifully beat and killed 
Haitians.
  We saw it all. These are the people whose commander in chief is Raoul 
Cedras. General Cedras, Colonel Francois, they may all stand up 
straight, they may all have good bearing as professional soldiers, but 
they are killers, they are murderers, they are war criminals.
  If Hitler had been alive, and we had negotiated with him, I am sure 
we would have found Adolf Hitler charming, but let us not be deceived, 
let us not be ridiculous, and let us not be naive. We are dealing with 
killers, and we must understand that.
  I am not saying that we should violate the agreement Jimmy Carter, 
President Jimmy Carter, and Senator Nunn and Gen. Colin Powell made. 
That agreement must be applauded. That agreement must be applauded 
because that agreement allowed us to enter Haiti with a protective 
military force that can now guarantee that the Government of Haiti that 
was elected will be allowed to function, and for that that piece of 
paper becomes like gold, that agreement that has been discussed a great 
deal, the technicalities of it--you know it is signed by a man that is 
really not the president of Haiti. He is a provisional president of 
Haiti. He has no standing. On the other hand, the other side is signed 
by Jimmy Carter. He is not a government official. You know all of that 
is of little importance when you consider the substance of the 
agreement allowed for the peaceful transition of a very diabolical, 
murderous situation overnight. Overnight, we have hope, overnight the 
clock cannot be turned back, and we know it. That agreement calls for 
amnesty for General Cedras and the other generals, amnesty of a very 
general kind.
  Let the record show that the Governors Island agreement also called 
for amnesty, but it was amnesty limited to the coup. Everybody 
participated in the coup would receive amnesty. Any crimes committed 
after the coup or after the Governors Island agreement were not going 
to be covered by the amnesty. What General Cedras is seeking is a 
general amnesty for everything. President Aristide did what he was told 
to do, or what he agreed to do in the Governors Island agreement. he 
proclaimed amnesty to the point where the--up to the point where the 
constitution allowed it. The amnesty called for in that agreement 
cannot be granted unless the Haitians change their constitution, unless 
the parliament meets. All of that is possible, but, you know, and if 
the Haitian people, their parliament, their elected leaders, want to do 
it, then it should go ahead and do it. But by October 15, whether or 
not the amnesty has been granted or not, General Cedras and his 
murderous generals, General Cedras and his war criminal companions, 
must step down, and we should look at that in this light:
  We must look at it in terms of going forward. I spent almost 2 hours 
with President Aristide and some other Members of Congress discussing 
the future, the immediate future, and I think President Aristide has 
made it quite clear in a statement he made today. He wants to go 
forward. He wants to go forward. He wants to see his government 
reactivated.
  Let us remember. Most do not know, but let me remind you. The 
Governors Island agreement a year ago called for the appointment of a 
prime minister by Aristide and for the appointment of cabinet members 
by Aristide. A year ago, about this same time, those cabinet members 
were in place in Haiti, appointed by Aristide. Robert Malval, the Prime 
Minister, was in place in Haiti a year ago.
  Early in October of last year, along with the Members, some other 
congressional Members, we went to Haiti. We met the cabinet that was in 
place at the time. Mr. Malval, the Finance Minister, they were all in 
place according to the Governors Island agreement. Shortly after, Mr. 
Speaker, we left Haiti. In early October General Cedras announced that 
he would not abide by the Governors Island agreement. The thugs and the 
killers surrounded the offices of the cabinet members, and they drove 
them into hiding.
  So, you had a situation for a whole year now where the government 
that was activated and put in place as a result of a Governors Island 
agreement, has not been allowed to function--at least beyond not being 
allowed to function, they have been threatened with their lives and 
they have had to go into hiding. Forty members of Aristide, of the 
parliament who are Aristide supporters, have been living in Miami 
because they feared going home to Haiti at all. They have not been able 
to go home, and their families in many cases are the families, among 
the families, who have been tortured and beaten. What we saw yesterday 
on television, the torture and the beating before our very eyes, ought 
to be enough to tell us that, if they do this in broad daylight with 
the cameras focused on them, what has been happening at night in Haiti 
for the last 3 years?
  The conservative estimates are that 5,000 people have been murdered. 
That is a very conservative estimate. When you watch the killers at 
work in broad daylight, you know that many more than 5,000 people have 
been murdered over the last 3 years. This is what we are faced with.
  In order to deal with that, Mr. Speaker, there is some simple steps 
that need to be taken, simple, positive steps. Let us activate, 
reactivate, the government of President Aristide on Monday. This Monday 
let us call for all the ministers appointed by President Aristide to 
show up for work at their offices on Monday, and let us guarantee that 
there will be American soldiers there at those offices to protect these 
public officials and guarantee that they may come, they may go, and do 
whatever they wish, without any threat from the killers of yesterday 
who dominated Haiti yesterday. That is the simplest way to move things 
forward.
  Among the people appointed by Aristide was a minister of defense, a 
minister of defense, which means that the minister of defense gives 
orders to whoever is in command of the military. Cedras should be 
taking his orders from the minister of defense, or at least General 
Shelton who is now the commander in chief of the forces in Haiti, 
should be conferring, beginning on Monday to confer, with the minister 
of defense appointed by Aristide as well as General Cedras.
  There is an agreement to cooperate with the Haitian military. The 
definition of cooperation is left for us to interpret. Cooperation does 
not mean that you allow the Haitian police and the Haitian soldiers to 
continue to beat people to death. That is not part of the definition of 
cooperation automatically. You set the terms for how they are going to 
behave because, after all, we are only in the country because those 
people have violated the rights of people, they have thrown out the 
government, they have created a situation which is intolerable in this 
hemisphere.

  So, let the prime minister go to his office on Monday, let the 
finance minister go to her office, let the education minister go to her 
office. Those who doubt the sincerity of this agreement would have all 
the evidence in the world. If they note on Monday that the government 
of President Aristide has gone to work, the functioning of Haitian 
society goes forward, and I say that also because there are people who 
are saying, ``We'll be in Haiti forever.''
  We will not be in Haiti forever. Haiti is not like Somalia. Somalia 
was in anarchy. Somalia consisted of a group of warlords warring with 
each other who had no sense of nationhood. In fact, the saddest sight I 
have ever seen with respect to Somalia was the photograph, the 
television video, which showed the seat of government in Somalia, the 
assembly house, with its murals still on the wall, totally demolished 
except for a few walls still standing. In the fighting process they had 
physically destroyed their government with arms, explosives, et cetera, 
and the only thing standing was a few walls with paintings still on 
them. It was a very tragic sight.

                              {time}  1930

  Government, civility, order, had all vanished from Somalia. We could 
not restore that if we stayed there 100 years. They will have to do it 
their own way. It may take them 10 or 20 years, but nobody from the 
outside can restore that.
  Haiti is not Somalia. Haiti is not Somalia. Haiti has gone through a 
process. I was looking at the times on the floor I have spoken about 
Haiti that go back to the 101st Congress. On January 4, 1989, I was 
talking about the problems in Haiti. The Haitians wrote a Constitution. 
They said they would never be able to write a Constitution. They wrote 
a Constitution. The Haitians went out in large numbers and voted for 
that Constitution. The Haitians had an election. They went out in large 
numbers for what they thought would be a free and fair election, and 
the army, this same army of criminals, shot people down at the polls. 
They moved them down at the polls, and yet they came back less then a 
year later for another election.
  The Haitians are determined to build a nation, and they have the 
structure with which to do it. The Haitians have large numbers of very 
sophisticated, well-educated people to work with. In Haiti they have a 
large number of people who are very well trained, and outside of Haiti, 
in the United States, in Canada, in France, they have large numbers of 
Haitians who live in the diaspora, who are ready to go home and 
participate in the rebuilding of Haiti.
  Haiti is not Somalia. The United States will not have to stay there 
very long. The military forces certainly can be out by Christmas, in my 
opinion. The United Nations forces, which are going to help with the 
institutional building and help set the stage for the proper use, the 
best use, of economic aid, all those people may be around much longer. 
But there is no need for a military occupation of Haiti for a very long 
time. The Haitians can take care of themselves.
  I want to close by saying the statements made previously about 
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide must be challenged. They are 
inaccurate. They are outright lies. Many of the lies were formulated 
by, and I am not accusing my colleague of lying, I am saying that the 
lies that he repeated were lies that were formulated by members of the 
CIA. That came from the CIA, so we assumed it was true.
  But the CIA has a special problem with President Aristide. The CIA 
was responsible for guaranteeing the election of President Aristide's 
opponent. The CIA spent a large amount of money on a man named Mark 
Bezan, who was supposed to be chosen as president of Haiti. Mark Bezan 
only got 20 percent of the vote. Aristide got 70 percent of the vote. 
The CIA was greatly embarrassed. They have hated Aristide since then. 
The false statements and outright lies have gained momentum, and people 
keep repeating them as if they have some basis in fact.

  They called Aristide mentally imbalanced. They gave the name of a 
doctor and gave the name of a hospital that treated him. Because we had 
the details and were able to check them out, we were able to determine 
that no such doctor or hospital existed in Canada. The one aspect of 
the CIA's analysis of the character and history of Aristide that was 
known and could be checked out proved to be false, false information 
distributed by the CIA.
  Jean-Bertrand Aristide is to Haiti what George Washington was to this 
Nation. They are quite fortunate to have him. Jean-Bertrand Aristide 
can oversee the rebuilding of the Nation of Haiti. He is a man who is a 
priest, he is a poet, he is a writer, he is a Biblical scholar. He 
spent 2 years studying Biblical archaeology in Israel. So Hebrew is one 
of the six languages that he speaks.
  It is very fortunate that Haiti has Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide 
has not a single dishonest bone in his body. Nobody can accuse him ever 
of corruption, of wasting the resources of his people. They are quite 
fortunate Aristide is a great man. I place him on the same level as I 
do Nelson Mandela.
  I want to conclude by congratulating President Aristide on the 
remarks he made today at the Pentagon, and I would like to read his 
statement into the Record.
  President Aristide said today at the Pentagon:
       In these past three days, something has happened in Haiti, 
     Operation: Uphold Democracy was peacefully deployed. 
     President Clinton, this is the result of the decision that 
     you made, this is the result of your leadership. Thank you, 
     and the people of the United States, for your commitment to 
     lead a multinational effort in carrying out the will of the 
     United Nations to help restore democracy to Haiti. It is 
     certain that every action that stops the flow of even a 
     single drop of blood, is a step towards lasting peace which 
     we envision. I extend my thanks to President Carter, General 
     Powell and Senator Nunn.
       General Shalikashvili, when U.S. men and women arrived in 
     Haiti on Monday, they encountered a nation of people ready to 
     embrace peace. To you, your commander in the field, General 
     Shelton, and the thousands of American soldiers both in Haiti 
     and on their way to Haiti, on behalf of my nation, my many 
     thanks for joining in this endeavor for peace. Your wives, 
     husbands, parents, family and friends may take comfort in 
     knowing that your presence is a contribution to the justice 
     and democracy that we seek, principles that run deep in the 
     tradition of the United States.
       We who stood side by side with you in the battle of 
     Savannah, Georgia to fight for the independence of the United 
     States, are happy that today you stand side by side with us 
     to uphold democracy in Haiti.
       The light of peace must shine throughout Haiti. The world 
     must see this light shine in Haiti day and night for every 
     single citizen. Nothing must block this light of peace--
     neither violence nor vengeance, guns nor provocation, 
     impunity nor retaliation. Peace must flourish in Haiti. The 
     success of this mission is directly tied to the process of 
     disarmament. As I said on February 7, 1991, the day of my 
     inauguration, not another drop of blood must flow in Haiti: 
     no to violence, no to vengeance, yes to reconciliation, yes 
     to justice.
       People of Haiti, continue to uphold democracy. Be vigilant 
     and guard against provocation. While we move towards 
     dialogue, mutual respect, enjoyment of civil liberties, and 
     political stability, we call on all senators, deputies, 
     members of Administrative Councils, Municipal Councils, 
     Departmental Councils, mayors, and other elected officials to 
     resume their offices. A peaceful environment is indispensable 
     for these duly elected officials and the political parties to 
     function. To help foster this environment, I have created a 
     transition team headed by our Minister of Defense General 
     Beliotte. They will assess conditions in Haiti and recommend 
     the next steps to be taken to insure the quick restoration of 
     constitutional order.
       Here in Washington I will continue to meet and work with 
     the National Security Advisor Mr. Anthony Lake, Special 
     Advisor on Haiti Reverend Bill Gray and you General 
     Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Staff, to 
     outline the steps that we will take to guarantee the 
     restoration of democracy which will bring peace to all, 
     reconciliation among all, respect and justice for every 
     single citizen in Haiti.
       In less than 24 days I will join you in Haiti. There we 
     will continue working as peacemakers, peacekeepers and 
     peacelovers.
       Thank you.

                          ____________________