[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 136 (Monday, September 26, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                           SITUATION IN HAITI

  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, here we are on the 8th day of the occupation 
of a friendly neighboring country to our south, Haiti, and the word of 
policymakers in Washington in the Clinton administration seems to be 
improvisation. Improvise.
  The Washington Post describes how little communication there has 
actually been to our troops on what the exact rules of engagement 
should be, what should they do while they are standing there in the 
middle of all that violence and potential violence.
  They have got their instructions written on small cards, they have 
been distributed by the commanders down there, and our troops have 
these little cards to consult if something happens about what they 
should do. The problem is that these cards have been changed three 
times so far.
  First we went in there telling our soldiers, don't shoot anyone. Now 
we have gone along to say if you have to referee a situation and things 
are getting out of hand and you have to use force, then you can use 
that, you can use your weapon, but that is your judgment.
  Now we are going on to say that we must inject ourselves into the 
Haitian justice system by prosecuting the thugs who inflict violence.

  What is happening is we are asking our soldiers, who are not trained, 
to be the prosecutor, the judge, and the jury of these many, many 
incidents of violence that are going on in Haiti. Inevitably there are 
going to be more conflicts, more shooting situations, and more damage. 
We are in fact just sliding further and further into the quagmire.
  The presence of our 15,000-plus troops is supposed to create order 
and allow for peace and rebuilding in Haiti, but so far we have seen 
the bitter resentment among Haitians extremes, and that is what is 
prevalent in our country today, has not abated at all.
  We have got extremists on one side, extremists on the other, who want 
to do bodily harm to each other, and, in the middle, we have our U.S. 
troops with somewhat fuzzy understanding of just how they are supposed 
to react to every kind of situation that comes along.
  We even have reports from Haiti over this weekend of a spirit of 
``vengeance,'' and I use that word in quotes, a spirit of vengeance 
sweeping across the island. Despite what the leaders on both sides are 
saying, now it seems that there is a new spirit of getting even.
  A firefight this weekend involving U.S. troops on Saturday night left 
10 Haitians dead and one American wounded, fortunately no fatalities on 
our side. But following the shooting, the Haitian supporters of 
President Aristide, who are very much emboldened by all of this 
activity and the shooting of the hated military and police, they went 
and they looted and ransacked the police stations in the central 
military headquarters in Cap-Haitien.
  This does not bode well for what will happen every time we have to 
exert pressure. I suspect we are going to see a lot more of this 
getting even.
  So when are we going to get our troops out of there? Madeline 
Albright, our ambassador to the United Nations, said yesterday in New 
York it will be at least 4 to 6 months before the United Nations can 
take over our mission in Haiti. Secretary of Defense Perry has said 
U.S. Troops will be in Haiti until early 1995 to ensure fair 
parliamentary elections, and then presumably presidential at the end of 
1995.
  How do you restore democracy in a country that has never really known 
democracy? The last time the United States occupied Haiti, from 1915 to 
1934, 19 years, we finally pulled out in frustration that we could not 
effect lasting change in a Haitian society because we did not 
understand it. A Federal commission studying the failed policy, which 
was called the Forbes Commission, concluded as follows:

       The failure of the occupation to understand the social 
     problems of Haiti, its brusque attempt to plant democracy 
     there by drill and harrow, its determination to set up a 
     middle class, however wise and necessary it may seem to 
     Americans, all these explain why, in part, the high hopes of 
     our good works in this land have not been realized.

  That was after 19 years of effort to stabilize Haiti and bring 
democracy there earlier this century.
  Then, as now, American policy makers failed to understand that the 
fundamental deep-seated problems in Haiti cannot be solved by external 
solutions.
  By this time, the American people and their representatives in 
Congress understand, and we will continue our call for immediate 
withdrawal of our troops. Troops are not the answer to the problem in 
Haiti. We need to go forward, make sure that the embargo is pulled off 
immediately, to make sure that our troops are withdrawn, now, taken out 
of harm's way, that we reduce the polarization in the country, that we 
promote the moderate elements that are there working in the parliament, 
and we begin our time of humanitarian aid and investment with others in 
nationbuilding in a democratic nation that still has its future to 
realize.

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