United States Foreign Policy Haiti

The Clinton Administration, using its most strident rhetoric so far, said Wednesday it will use the multinational military unit it is assembling to restore exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in Haiti either to keep order after a peaceful transition or to defeat and depose the island's dictatorial government.

Clinton Administration officials on Sunday appealed for time for U.S. troops to establish order in impoverished Haiti and rejected suggestions that the United States must alter or shorten its military mission in the Caribbean nation in the wake of the weekend violence and chaos that broke out in Haiti's second-largest city. Administration officials said that, from the outset of the Haiti mission, they had anticipated the very kind of incident that occurred in Cap Haitien, where U.S.

In his uphill struggle to win public backing for a U.S. invasion of Haiti, President Clinton on Thursday night offered the nation four reasons to support military action: to protect Haitians' human rights, to restore their democracy, to prevent a flood of refugees--and to preserve the United States' own credibility. Three of those four arguments add up to a distinctly untraditional, post-Cold War rationale for U.S. military action.

Relieved that U.S. forces were able to enter Haiti without bloodshed Monday, the House overwhelmingly endorsed the agreement negotiated by former President Jimmy Carter for the removal of Haiti's military leaders. But the Clinton Administration faced an embarrassing confrontation with Congress as angry lawmakers demanded a deadline for the troops' withdrawal.

Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, warning against any hasty decision to invade Haiti, proposed Friday that a bipartisan panel be formed to develop a new policy toward the nation. "It's high time for cooler heads to prevail on U.S. policy toward Haiti," Dole (R-Kan.) said in a Senate floor speech. "The Administration appears to be lurching toward the use of military force in Haiti without thoroughly considering the consequences of such action and the history of U.S. involvement in Haiti."

Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) charged Tuesday that the Bush Administration's decision to return refugees to troubled Haiti "clearly contravenes U.S. and international law and is a violation of every standard of human decency." Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on international operations, offered his criticism as he announced a joint hearing today in which senior State Department officials will be asked to explain and defend the controversial policy.

It can't march, its uniforms don't match, its band doesn't play in tune, its leaders are at each other's throats and its commander is so splay-footed he appears to walk in three directions at once. But if the Haitian army doesn't seem very military, it can steal, terrorize--and above all it can kill.

President Clinton plans to abolish a controversial immigration rule that prohibits HIV-infected persons from entering the country, the White House said Thursday, but Administration officials added that quick action is unlikely. George Stephanopoulos, the President's communications director, said that he could not give a date for eliminating the rule, which has caused an international furor, because the government is in the midst of a general review of its Haiti policy.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher denied Friday that the United States and its allies have abandoned their attempt to restore ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in Haiti, but he acknowledged that efforts so far have proven ineffective and may have to be completely redirected. "It certainly is not going to be easy," Christopher said. "The (Haitian) military has shown itself to be a formidable obstacle and rather wily, with a high degree of self-preservation."

With more than 1,200 small boats reported ready to put to sea from Haiti, President-elect Bill Clinton and his foreign policy team sought to cobble together a policy Tuesday that would persuade Haitians to stay home instead of trying to reach the United States. "Obviously, it's something we have to do relatively soon," communications director George Stephanopoulos said at a briefing. He added that Clinton almost certainly would make an announcement before he takes office.