[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 134 (Thursday, September 22, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 22, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    PRESIDENT CLINTON'S HAITI POLICY

 Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, on Wednesday, September 21, this body 
voted in favor of Senate Resolution 259, a non-binding resolution 
concern President Clinton's decision to send United States forces into 
Haiti. I wish to state my personal opinion of how that resolution 
should and should not be understood.
  I supported Senate Resolution 259 because I wished both to commend 
our troops, who now are in Haiti in a most difficult situation and to 
express my gratitude to the Carter-Nunn-Powell delegation which pulled 
us back from the brink of open conflict. That vote should not be 
thought, in any sense, to demonstrate approval either for the Clinton 
decision to send our forces into Haiti or for the peculiar diplomacy 
which brought about this situation.
  I most certainly commend the work of former President Carter, Senator 
Nunn, and General Powell in forestalling our military invasion of 
Haiti. On the other hand, I firmly believe that the United States has 
absolutely no security or economic interests in Haiti. Consequently, I 
do not believe that we should ever have been contemplating an invasion 
and the activities of these three worthy gentleman should never have 
been called for.
  But President Clinton was determined to expand the lexicon of our 
national security interests. According to the White House, humanitarian 
concerns would now suffice to legitimate U.S. military intervention, 
particularly in our hemisphere. Of course, such criteria could easily 
be used to legitimate an invasion of Guatemala or even Cuba, but the 
White House seems to have little concern for the implications of its 
policies.
  Now we have gone into Haiti in order to halt the human rights abuses 
practices by the nation's military and police forces. Already, the 
inherent weaknesses of this policy are manifest. The three leaders of 
the Haitian military have agreed to resign, but General Cedras, for 
one, has already declared that he will not leave Haiti. The Haitian 
military and police forces, the instruments of repression we went in to 
remove from power are now, according to the head of the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff, responsible for the maintenance of law and order in Haiti. Given 
the fact that these were the responsibilities by held before the 
invasion, we can certainly question the value of that action, even on 
humanitarian grounds.
  Now we disciver--irony of ironies--that the repressive policy/
military machine which we went in to remove from power is, according to 
published reports, going to be put on the U.S. payroll. I find it 
utterly horrendous that one day our President can condemn these 
individuals as the Western Hemisphere's worst human rights abusers and 
then, on the next day, he can place them on the Federal payroll. I 
trust that when the Senate considers the necessary appropriation 
measures, we will put an end to this nonsense.
  I note, once again with some irony, that Senate Resolution 259 
commends the prompt withdrawal of United States forces from Haiti. We 
can commend such a move every day of this session, but it appears that 
it is not going to happen. At this moment, the Clinton administration 
is planning to maintain a United States military presence in Haiti 
through January 1996, when Haiti's next Presidential elections will be 
held. At some stage we will witness a fig leaf transfer of the U.S. 
operation over to the United Nations, but the fact remains that by far 
the largest contribution to the U.N. force will come from the United 
States. In short, we are going to be in Haiti for some time. The 
administration knows it and plans for it, but it does not enjoy the 
support of the American public or the Congress.

                          ____________________