20357: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald- Editorial-MORE PEACEKEEPERS ARE NEEDED NOW TO ENSURE SA (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, Mar. 14, 2004


Urgent security task in lawless Haiti

OUR OPINION: MORE PEACEKEEPERS ARE NEEDED NOW TO ENSURE SAFETY


The uncertain security situation in Haiti and continued episodes of sporadic
violence argue for an urgent increase in the number of soldiers in the
interim peacekeeping force. The most recent figures provided by the U.S.
Southern Command show 2,550 members of the force, roughly 65 percent from
the U.S. military and the remainder from France, Chile and Canada. This is
not nearly enough for a country of eight million residents beset by gangs of
thieves, criminals and assorted thugs who routed a dispirited, disorganized
and ill-trained local constabulary in the weeks before President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled into exile.

Overwhelming force

CIA Director George Tenet's testimony before Congress last week was
illuminating. He was especially concerned about the prospects of the interim
government's ability to establish order, even with the backing of
international forces. At week's end, the U.S. State Department issued a
travel advisory warning of ''the absence of an effective police force in
many parts of Haiti and the potential for looting, roadblocks manned by
armed gangs and violent crime.'' Clear enough?

Current military doctrine teaches that success depends on the use of
overwhelming force. That was the lesson of the last U.S. intervention in
Haiti 10 years ago, and it remains true. Haiti had an army then, unlike
today, but it offered virtually no resistance as thousands of U.S. troops
poured in quickly and occupied every significant corner of the country. As
Sen. Bob Graham put it: ``One lesson of our past involvements in nation
building is that you need to use maximum, not minimum, military presence at
the outset. The current incremental approach is a proven recipe for
failure.''

Some fear that the Bush administration is using the ''Afghanistan'' model of
occupation while waiting for a larger United Nations force to arrive in the
coming months. Pacifying one or two urban centers but neglecting the rest of
the country is an unwise approach. It hasn't worked in Afghanistan insofar
as bringing security to the nation as a whole, and it won't work in Haiti.
Among other things, it allows the forces of lawlessness to consolidate
control and, thus, present a greater security challenge to the U.N. forces
when they arrive.

Peacekeepers' role

Gen. James Hill, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, rightly has
declared that the interim forces will protect Haitians against violence from
their fellow countrymen. This is a necessary and welcome evolution in the
role of the peacekeepers, but also one that argues for a greater military
presence. If the United Nations cannot move fast enough to augment the
current forces, other countries, including the United States, will have to
do the job.

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