20321: (Hermantin) Miami-Herald-U.S. choice in Haiti: Rebuild now, or later(fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sat, Mar. 13, 2004

VERBATIM


U.S. choice in Haiti: Rebuild now, or later


Below are excerpts Sen. Bob Graham's testimony to the Foreign Relations
Committee on Wednesday.

What should be our role as a good neighbor to 8 million people living in one
of the poorest and, currently, most violent countries on Earth?

The road ahead will not be easy, nor is the outcome assured. That is why it
is imperative that the United States takes a strong and constructive role in
rebuilding Haiti. To do this right is our responsibility and is in our
national-security interest. If we shy away from our responsibilities or fail
to maintain our commitment long enough, we will find ourselves back again in
Haiti in 2014, just where we are today, 10 years after our last half-hearted
effort to bring democracy there -- forced to start rebuilding from scratch.
. . .

I call on the administration and Congress to take immediate action to
fulfill our responsibilities and to act in our national interests to
stabilize the situation in Haiti and to begin to build a stable democratic
state. . . .

Nation building

Finally, there is one lesson that we must take from our experiences in the
past decade or so, not just from Haiti but from Somalia, Kosovo, Bosnia,
Afghanistan, Iraq -- and now from Haiti again.

Some have denied that the United States should have any interest in ''nation
building'' or ''nation sustaining'' efforts, but I would describe that as
being a supreme state of denial. It is inescapable that the United States,
as the sole superpower in the world, is going to have a responsibility --
once a dictator has been deposed or another action taken -- to lead the
international community in helping countries such as Haiti get back on their
feet and move forward.

In each instance over the past 10 or 11 years, we find ourselves virtually
reinventing the wheel once the military phase ends and the occupation and
rebuilding phase begins. We largely task the Department of Defense with
managing the reconstruction, when that is not their assigned or chosen
mission. And sad to say, while the military phase is usually a glowing
success in which all Americans can rightfully take pride, the rebuilding
phase proves to be much less successful.

But we should emulate the military's ability to recruit, train, plan and
exercise skilled personnel to develop an international capacity for
restoring order and forging a new future for occupied countries. That
capacity must include several key elements:

• An international police-reserve force with diverse linguistic and cultural
skills that can be called in to restore and maintain order.

• Humanitarian aid coordinators with plans to pull together both public
sector and non-governmental organizations to address urgent needs for food,
medicine and shelter.

• Teams of civil engineers to lead the rebuilding of shattered water, sewer
and telecommunications systems and other essential infrastructure.

• Legal and political experts to help write new constitutions, draft new
laws, establish justice systems and implement other democratic reforms.

• Such a capacity should reside within the United Nations, but the United
States must be the leader in assuring that it is a real and meaningful
capacity -- or we will find ourselves repeatedly asking taxpayers to bear
the greatest burden, as we have in Iraq.

And we need to see such an effort launched soon in Haiti. Or, I fear that we
will find ourselves going back in with a military force in another 10 years.

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