19427: (Hermantin) Palm Beach Post-Graham volunteers to go to Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Graham volunteers to go to Haiti

By Scott McCabe, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 27, 2004



Sen. Bob Graham would be willing to go to Haiti as a special envoy to seek a
political solution to the violence there.

His spokesman in Washington, Paul Anderson, said Thursday that the Florida
senator, who has been critical of the Bush administration's Haitian policy,
would accept an assignment to help broker a solution to the crisis.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Thursday asked President
Bush to name Graham a special envoy to Haiti, where opposition forces are
threatening to overtake the capital and oust President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.

In a speech to the Senate Tuesday, Graham called the Bush administration's
response to the unrest "impotent and retarded." He warned that Haiti faces a
dual crisis: the potential overthrow of a democratic government and a
humanitarian disaster that could spark a massive exodus that would affect
Florida and nearby Caribbean countries.

A condensed version of his speech ran on the The Washington Post opinion
page Thursday.

"He knows the situation in Haiti extremely well and knows the cost that
widespread violence will cause not only in Haiti but on our shores," Kerry
said of his Senate colleague, who abandoned his own Democratic presidential
bid in October and has since expressed interest in the No. 2 spot on the
ticket.

The Florida senator plans to endorse Kerry for president in the next week.

Graham, 67, called this week for a police force -- either U.S. or
multinational -- to restore order in the Caribbean country.

Bush said the United States is encouraging the international community to
provide a security presence in Haiti. He also said the Coast Guard would
turn back Haitian refugees approaching American shores.

scott_mccabe@pbpost.com

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