[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 139 (Thursday, September 29, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     HOW DO YOU SPELL R-E-L-I-E-F?

                                 ______


                        HON. ANDREW JACOBS, JR.

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 29, 1994

  Mr. JACOBS. Mr. Speaker, our most distinguished former colleague, 
Walter Fauntroy, has written an excellent letter to President Clinton. 
The letter represents Mr. Fauntroy's usual insight and eloquence.


                                    New Bethel Baptist Church,

                               Washington, DC, September 19, 1994.
     Hon. William J. Clinton,
     The White House, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President: I simply cannot tell you how proud I am 
     of your leadership over the past seven days in rescuing the 
     Haitian people and the American people from what would have 
     been a disastrous situation for all, had we been forced to 
     shoot our way into that tortured nation.
       The strategy which you devised in the eleventh hour was 
     simply superb. I say that not just because it included the 
     first two of an eight point plan that I have earnestly tried 
     to get staffers for both you and President Bush to adopt 
     since first this crisis developed three years ago, but also 
     because it really opens the door now for a sharp break in 
     Haiti with its brutal past.


                     HOW DO YOU SPELL R-E-L-I-E-F?

       My first reaction to your success was one of relief. A very 
     ugly, violent and painful situation would have ensued had we 
     launched an invasion. Not only would thousands of anti and 
     pro Aristide supporters been killed by one another and by our 
     forces in the initial period of chaos accompanying an 
     invasion, but it is likely that many of our young men and 
     women would have died as well. There remained the real 
     possibility that shooting our way in would have initiated a 
     war of attrition like that waged against the U.S. occupation 
     from 1915 to 1934, and the one waged against Napoleon's army 
     in the Nineteenth Century. That would have required not only 
     that we remain at least as long as we did after our 1915 
     invasion, but it would also have impeded the enormous task of 
     recovery for an economy that has been devastated by both the 
     embargo and two decades of decline.
       I am relieved as well that the embargo has been lifted. I 
     have always been opposed to the embargo because it devastated 
     an already pitiful economy, punished the poor whom we wanted 
     to help, empowered and enriched the worst elements in Haiti, 
     drove out U.S. industries and tens of thousands of scarce 
     jobs, and destroyed years of work that we had invested in 
     reforestation and soil conservation programs.
       I'm also pleased that at long last the rest of the formula 
     for resolution of this crisis that I have advocated from the 
     outset, is getting serious consideration. You may recall from 
     several previous letters I have sent you on this subject 
     that, drawing upon my fifteen years as chair of a Bi-partisan 
     Task Force on Haiti in the Congress, I have been pushing an 
     eight point plan, two key features of which had been rejected 
     by both the Bush Administration and your advisors up until 
     last week. The first was my insistence that you appoint a 
     negotiation and medication team composed of experienced 
     people who were knowledgeable of the history and political 
     culture of Haiti, and who I thought could win a negotiated 
     and peaceful settlement. I had been pushing President Carter 
     and General Powell for such a role for months. As late as 
     July of this year, I talked to Colin about offering himself 
     for such a role. In Senator Sam Nunn, chairman of the Armed 
     Services Committee, we got the absolutely perfect complement 
     to President Carter and General Powell.
       As you see from an enclosed press release that I issued in 
     July of this year, my second appeal was that you make it 
     clear to President Aristide that his posture must be one of 
     reconciliation of all elements of Haitian society, and stern 
     opposition to any form of retribution on the part of his 
     supporters. When in your address to the nation on Thursday 
     night you announced such a position for President Aristide, 
     my spirits were lifted. When I learned later that the Carter 
     delegation was talking ``amnesty'' for the coup leaders, I 
     breathed a sigh of relief, for I knew we were on our way. 
     Those two things were the only reasons the Governor's Island 
     Accord of July, 1993 was not in fact implemented. What Carter 
     and company were able to accomplish, quite frankly, was the 
     implementation of the Governor's Island Accord, free of 
     signals by Aristide that he would neither allow amnesty nor 
     restrain his supporters from deadly acts of retribution when 
     the U.S. returned him to power.
       In short, what began with your speech on Thursday night and 
     ended with the Carter team visit with the Haitian leaders was 
     a skillful and effective negotiation that saved the day; and 
     for that, the American people and the people of Haiti are 
     forever in your debt.


                         WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

       While we averted an invasion that would have killed a lot 
     of people and made the job of reconciliation and recovery 
     enormously more difficult, that was really the easy part 
     compared to what now must be done. I am comforted that our 
     military has in place the civil affairs and legal units that 
     can manage adherence to the dictates of the Haitian 
     Constitution by all parties in Haiti, including the Aristide 
     government. I am pleased the we have the Military Police 
     units going in to establish a sense of order in the day-
     to-day on-the-street situation in Haiti. I can't wait to 
     see the dimensions of the program for economic recovery in 
     Haiti that is to be put in place by the United States and 
     other donor nations to undergird the democracy that we are 
     now committed to put in place. I think it will take every 
     cent of the hundreds of millions of dollars that we have 
     saved by not having to go through with an invasion.
       May I be so bold, Bill, as to suggest to you what its going 
     to cost now after the enormous damage done by our failure to 
     follow the eight point program I outlined some nearly three 
     years ago after I had had an opportunity to study the 
     situation. In my view, there are at least five initiatives 
     that must now be taken to give the democratic process any 
     change of taking root in Haiti:
       At least a $10 million program to get the Port Au Prince 
     Port up to competitive standards in the region, $5 million 
     for the actual physical improvements, and another $5 million 
     for technical assistance.
       At least $5 million for the provision of the electrical 
     power necessary in the short term to begin the economic 
     recovery process. Only 10% of the population of Haiti has 
     access to electricity now, for example. Haiti desperately 
     needs an energy strategy to replace wood fuels with viable 
     alternatives. Initially I would strongly suggest that we 
     deploy some of our largest warships off the coast of Haiti 
     for purposes of providing power to key cities and regions of 
     the country.
       We are going to have to commit at least $8 to $10 million 
     in a short term effort to revitalize the Export Manufacturing 
     sector that has be decimated by the embargo. Employment in 
     the export sector dropped from 46,410 workers to less than 
     15,000 today. We've got to find ways to quickly bring back 
     the firms that left for greener pastures in places like Costa 
     Rica, Honduras and the Dominican Republic as a result of the 
     embargo.
       A meaningful rural public works program is going to cost at 
     least $20 to $30 million if there is to be any hope of 
     stability and subsistence in those regions of Haiti where the 
     wretchedly poor live. Roads, bridges, wells, latrines, 
     houses, schools and health centers need to be provided as 
     matters of highest priority in Haiti's rural communities.
       Finally, agricultural production for both export and 
     domestic consumption needs a $10 to $15 million shot in the 
     arm. Only 28% of Haiti's land is now cultivatable to begin 
     with, and 65% of the work force and 46% of the land is 
     farmed--much of it in ways that exacerbate the extremely 
     serious environmental degradation that occurs in Haiti. We've 
     got to concentrate on established crops that have the 
     greatest export potential to assure fast capital infusion 
     into Haiti. I'm talking about the production of mangos, 
     limes, coffee, papayas and rice, for example.
       Please take note as well, Bill, of items three through 
     eight of my earlier recommendations.
       If I can be of any help to you in defending publicly your 
     noble and sagacious actions in resolving this crisis in a 
     manner that facilitates reconciliation, the building of 
     democratic institutions, tolerance, and economic recovery, 
     please feel free to call upon me.
           Sincerely,
                                               Walter E. Fauntroy,
     Member of Congress, 1971-1991.

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