[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 111 (Thursday, July 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H8538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              WHY THE NEED FOR THREAT ASSESSMENT IN HAITI?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I too would like to associate with the 
extraordinary outpouring of tributes to Ham Fish by so many of our 
colleagues. They bring back many happy memories of a wonderful man, and 
I join in the sympathies sent to Mary Ann and the family.
  Mr. Speaker, yesterday when we began hearing from some of our 
acquaintances down in Haiti regarding a sudden and apparently secret 
surprise increase in American troop presence, we were not sure what was 
going on. Despite the high level of interest in Haiti, of many offices 
on the Hill here, no one in the administration appears to have taken 
the time to notify anybody of this new deployment. Frankly, this kind 
of uncertainty falls far short of adequate when we are talking about 
committing more American troops anywhere, especially in Haiti, 
especially today.
  Because we took the time to ask around, we now think we have 
confirmation that indeed a force from the 82d Airborne has arrived in 
Haiti. Billed as an extension of Operation Fairwinds, which is an 
operation there, 200 members strong, civil engineering mission that has 
been in Haiti. Apparently company size or so, about that many troops 
have been sent on a mission of reconnaissance and threat assessment.
  Mr. Speaker, this brings up a number of questions, questions that 
certainly are going to be of interest to the taxpayers of this country 
who have already seen the Clinton administration spend something like 
$3 billion in Haiti.
  One of the first questions that has got to be answered is, how much 
is this latest operation going to cost and is this just the beginning 
of something that is going to go on and be something larger? Then I 
have got to ask, why does a good will operation like Operation 
Fairwinds, which is supposed to be an engineering operation, require 
reconnaissance and threat assessment with company size strength and 
additional soldiers of the 82d Airborne who are there in humvees, and 
machine guns and battle dress, I am told.
  These are the crack troops that we send to deal with hot spots. I am 
curious why we are sending these troops to this place that the Clinton 
administration keeps telling us is a success story in their foreign 
policy annals. What prompted this deployment? Is it a tacit admission 
on the part of the administration that things are not going as well as 
we are told in Haiti? Does this new deployment arise from concerns 
brought on by a Haitian court's decision on the Guy Malary murder trial 
earlier this week?

  Should we infer that there are credible threats against Americans and 
American interests in Haiti which regrettably we have had reported? Or 
perhaps this is an extraction force set up to implement an evacuation 
plan. What does reconnaissance or threat assessment mean in this sense 
by the 82d Airborne? I think it is very important that we have answers 
to this.
  I know there are some that have already suggested that this force is 
being sent to determine what kind of firepower it is going to take to 
keep law and order in Haiti at least through November. I do not know. 
That is certainly cynical, but I do not know whether that is a question 
that needs to be asked. Will there be a follow-on mission? That is 
something we all would like to know.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentleman from New York 
[Mr. Gilman], chairman of the Committee on International Relations.
  Mr. GILMAN. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I think the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss] raises some very serious questions.
  As I understand it, none of the committees have been briefed on this 
operation, at least to my knowledge. I know our Committee on 
International Relations has not been briefed. I know the Permanent 
Select Committee on Intelligence, the committee of the gentleman from 
Florida [Mr. Goss], has not been briefed.
  We are very curious just why we are sending this crack division of 
military people, the 82d, into Haiti at this time allegedly to protect 
a road-building operation. There are some very serious questions we 
would like answered, and our committee intends to seek out those 
answers in the very prompt, early days of next week.
  Mr. GOSS. Reclaiming my time, I thank the distinguished chairman for 
being part of this. It is this kind of thing that makes it very hard to 
work cooperatively with the administration because we have had so many 
assurances they are going to keep us apprised of events. This is a 
significant event.
  You do not send the 82d Airborne someplace quietly and not expect to 
have somebody ask some questions. Are we putting troops back in harm's 
way? So rather than have the spin doctors down at the White House spin 
yet another story, I want to know what is going on, Mr. Speaker, and I 
hope the administration is listening, is going to take the trouble to 
brief the Hill.
  Mr. GILMAN. I want to thank the gentleman for raising the issue to 
the floor, and I hope we can get some early answers to these questions.

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