[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 135 (Thursday, September 26, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H11234]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE MESS IN HAITI

  (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago, President Clinton sent our 
troops into Haiti, spending over $2 billion there, and now calls Haiti 
a foreign policy success.
  Three weeks ago, the President rushed 46 armed Federal agents to 
Haiti to protect President Preval and to purge members of Preval's own 
United States-trained palace guard who may have killed two opposition 
leaders.
  If President Clinton's agents fail, he may have to salvage this 
success story by sending our troops back into Haiti.
  Mr. Speaker, the Congress and the American people are entitled to 
know just what has gone wrong in Haiti and why.
  Regrettably, the President has invoked executive privilege to 
withhold key documents from our International Relations Committee's 
oversight review.
  This is a blatant abuse of power hiding a foreign policy failure. 
Neither President Reagan--in Iran-Contra--nor President Bush--in 
Iraqgate--ever used executive privilege to keep the Congress in the 
dark.
  Our committee will be holding a hearing tomorrow morning to get to 
the bottom of the mess in Haiti.

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