19639: Esser: Too little, too late in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D.Esser torx@joimail.com

The Berkshire Eagle, MA
http://www.berkshireeagle.com

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

Too little, too late in Haiti

The White House has sent the Marines into Haiti -- at least a week
late and after a democratically elected administration had been
chased out of the barn. A president with big plans to introduce
democracy into Iraq, where it is a long shot to take root, did little
to protect democracy in Haiti, where it had begun to take root, and
where a modest show of force may have been enough to keep it rooted.

The Marines will be at the head of a United Nations peacekeeping unit
that will attempt to restore order in the trouble-plagued land
following the resignation and departure for Africa Sunday of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The force has a difficult task
ahead of it, as the rebel groups that had sought the departure of Mr.
Aristide will undoubtedly be emboldened by their success and the
international community's belated response to their rebellion.

Mr. Aristide was not a good president and electoral fraud in the
elections of 2000 fueled the country's anger against him. The White
House sought to punish Mr. Aristide for his transgressions by
withdrawing foreign aid but that succeeded only in helping the rebels
by increasing the already overwhelming poverty in that hapless
nation. The administration is now left to deal with the repercussions
of the overthrow of a president who was, if nothing else,
democratically elected, and who has now been replaced by mob rule.

Washington has done Haiti few favors in recent years. It restored Mr.
Aristide to power in 1994 following his overthrow by the army, but
President Clinton pulled the troops out after only two years, well
before the country had a chance to set up the civic institutions
needed to cement democracy in place. The troops were withdrawn
largely because Mr. Clinton gave in to a Republican Congress that
wanted no part of "nation-building" -- a cause the Republican
Congress has signed on to without reservation today in Iraq.

The United States has a vested interest in quieting Haiti because it
faces the prospect of thousands of Haitian refugees setting out in
boats for Florida if the killing and destruction don't end quickly.
It has lost leverage, however, because of its failure to intervene
following the rebels' rejection of a compromise calling for, among
other things, a new prime minister chosen by the foes of Mr.
Aristide. This means that finding a solution will take longer than it
would have with Mr. Aristide in power, and this time the U.S. and
U.N. must stay the course and not leave prematurely.

They will be watching closely in Iraq, where the White House plans to
install a democratically elected government some time this year. If
America's foes in Iraq learn that an attempt to overthrow the
democratically elected Iraqi government will be met by American
timidity and indecision, as was the case in Haiti, then Iraqi
democracy is doomed from the start.
.