[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 61 (Monday, April 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H4033-H4034]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         A THIRST FOR VENGEANCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, this weekend Presidents Clinton and Aristide 
celebrated the very welcome end of the United States mission in Haiti 
in a very beautiful ceremony with warm congratulations, white doves and 
all. It was a wonderful photo opportunity and a good moment, 
especially, a good time to thank our troops who did an excellent job. 
Again, one more time, our uniform forces have earned the respect and 
gratitude of the American people, each and every one of us. I hope, 
frankly, that those folks who are down in Haiti on that long mission 
are now scheduled for some R&R they certainly earned it.
  Mr. Speaker, I cannot help contrasting this with the harsh images of 
Madam Bertin, mother of four, organizer of a democratic opposition 
movement, savagely slaughtered in her car just before President 
Clinton's visit in what was clearly a political assassination, and a 
very brutal one, a murder our Pentagon has said is unquestionably 
linked to high level
 Aristide officials. Just one event, it stands out as a representation 
of things that are still in the making in Haiti regrettably: The 
vengeance that abides in some members of Haitian society and the still 
dangerous mission we have asked the thousands of American troops we 
still have there as part of the U.N. mission. I understand we have 
scheduled to have 2,500 American troops staying there until February of 
next year, possibly even some talk of them staying beyond that. In the 
meantime we still have more than 2,500 there as they withdraw and we 
assess the situation.

  Mr. Speaker, Samuel Berger, our deputy national security adviser, 
maintains the real problem in Haiti these days is crime and it is, ``at 
a level probably less than most cities around the world and in the 
United States.'' I am not sure that is a satisfactory standard and I am 
not sure that is a satisfactory explanation, because we are not talking 
about simple crime. What we are talking about seems to be a very 
deliberate campaign of vengeance against the non-Lavalas members of the 
Haitian political class at a time when they are gearing up for 
parliamentary elections and Presidential elections and it is a campaign 
that is being waged by the Lavalas apparently with hired assassins, 
vigilante squads, and possibly even commandos operating under a shadow 
government of Rene Preval.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a very serious business. People are getting 
killed and it is very anti-democratic business and we have just 
sacrificed a lot of taxpayers' money putting our armed services in 
harm's way to try to nourish democracy in that country.
  In today's Washington Post, Robert Novak outlined some particularly 
disturbing items. We were told there is a hit list now of 30 people, 2 
of whom have already been assassinated. We also know there is a second 
list, which seems to overlap the first, of people who are not permitted 
to leave Haiti. In other words, there are people in Haiti bent on 
vengeance who are going to run a canned backyard hunt. They are not 
going to let him get away, they are going to run him down and kill him.
  In fact, the roughest seas may lay ahead as the wave of election 
cycles, the June to December period, arrive. On the eve of the 
President's visit, Human Rights Watch issued a report that points to 
the risks: ``Political tensions are increasing and far from having 
brought stability, the U.S. led force can point only to a fragile 
security that impending parliamentary and presidential elections may 
rupture.'' Indeed, that is the fear.
  Mr. Speaker, the new U.N. mission commander, who is U.S. General 
Kinzer, has already said he will be unable to answer the call for 
security for candidates and polling booths because, as he noted, ``I 
don't have enough soldiers to do that.''
  What is the mission of the United Nations force in Haiti today? Good 
question. Generally it is to maintain order. Do they have the 
resources? Another good question we know that plan to spread fewer 
troops and less equipment 
[[Page H4034]] than the U.S. operation had in permanent deployments 
around the countryside.
  We know that their rules of engagement will be more restrictive, 
including the facts that the troops are no longer authorized to use all 
necessary means. We know little more than that. I have asked the 
administration what the rules of engagement will be and I am eagerly 
awaiting a response, but if recent events are any indication, we do 
know one thing: The mission for our troops in Haiti is not going to get 
any easier or any safer.
  Mr. Speaker, I understand that General Kinzer has now available a 
SWAT team to go out and do some things that go well beyond what is a 
traditional U.N. peacekeeping effort. A second thing we are going to 
need, besides an explanation of what troops are there and where they 
are to go and what the rules of engagement are as a report from the 
White House, we are going to need an explanation of just exactly what 
are the national security interests for the United States in Haiti 
today to justify spending $2.5 billion over these some 2 years of 
trying to nourish democracy there and just exactly what justified 
putting over 20,000 assault combat troops in a friendly neighboring 
country. It has no designs of invasion on the United States of America.
  Mr. Speaker, these are important questions that need answers from the 
White House and they need them now that we have had a successful 
conclusion of this in Haiti.


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