THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 16, 1994 TAG: 9409160531
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
Here are answers to some of the most compelling questions raised by the impending invasion of Haiti:
Q. How did the United States get involved in this?
A. It all began in September 1991, when Haiti's president, an activist Roman Catholic priest named Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was thrown out of office by rebellious generals and wealthy civilians. That was only nine months after Haiti's first-ever free elections. Aristide flew to Washington, and the brutal regime of Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras quickly turned Haiti's clock back to a time reminiscent of Papa Doc Duvalier's bloody reign as ``president for life.''
Both the Bush and Clinton administrations voiced their disapproval, but Clinton took action only after pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus, Haitians in the United States and individuals such as TransAfrica activist and hunger striker Randall Robinson. Seizing on a partial embargo urged by President Bush, Clinton gradually tightened the economic noose until Haiti began to starve. Throughout, he has repeatedly demanded that Cedras step aside for Aristide.
Cedras has refused, calling each of Clinton's bluffs. After almost two years of high-level diplomacy, brainstorming and bluster, Clinton now finds himself facing two bad choices - a military assault or an embarrassing capitulation to the illegitimate head of one of the world's smallest, poorest countries.
Q. What about the embargo? Or Clinton's offer to buy out the top Haitians and let them move to the Riviera or somewhere? Why didn't any of that work?
A. The embargo has had a crippling effect on average Haitians, but not on the military brass, and average Haitians don't get very far by complaining. As far as the buy-out offer goes, the standard American assumption that money fixes everything apparently didn't apply to a cadre of power-oriented military people who already have laid claim to a whole country.
Q. Why should the United States care so much about what goes on in yet another Third World dictatorship?
A. The administration says that the Cedras regime is illegal and murderous; that to let it stand sends a discouraging message to other democratic movements in the Americas; that a harsh Haitian regime guarantees an ongoing Haitian refugee problem for the United States; and that to back down now would injure U.S. credibility. Haiti poses no national security threat to the United States, beyond the pressure of boat people landing on the Florida coast. The administration's interest in Haiti appears to be essentially humanitarian - and, of course, political.
Q. Does anyone truly think an invasion is a good idea?
A. They're hard to find. More than 70 percent of Americans polled say they don't approve. Veterans organizations have been lining up against risking American lives in Haiti. Most of Congress shares that view, including many among the 40-member Black Caucus that has pressed Clinton for action. The Pentagon has been highly reluctant, though obedient, during the buildup. And Clinton, in fact, is not so crazy about the idea, though he finds it his only remaining option.
Q. Can't the U.S. military walk all over Cedras and his army?
A. No question. The Haitian army is said to number about 7,000 ill-equipped, ill-trained men. It has some light tanks and armored vehicles and a few dozen mortars, howitzers and anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. Its air force has a few dozen light planes and helicopters, and its navy has some patrol boats, an armed tug and a presidential yacht. There is no guarantee that any of the rundown and rusty equipment actually would work in battle, though, and no certainty that many Haitian soldiers actually would fight.
Q. How would the United States stage an invasion?
A. True to the Pentagon doctrine of ``overwhelming force,'' the American complement could run to 20,000 - roughly the same number Napoleon sent on his fever-plagued expedition there in 1802. This week, the Norfolk-based aircraft carriers America and Eisenhower began steaming to Haiti loaded with more than 100 helicopters, 4,000 Army troops, Rangers and special operations commandos.
Almost a dozen other American warships have been in or en route to Haitian waters in recent days, loaded with 1,800 Marines, as well as a dozen military cargo ships in various stages of ``activation.''
The aircraft carriers will allow U.S. troops to land simultaneously in different areas of the country, in the capital of Port-au-Prince as well as Cap Haitien in the north. The invasion most likely would begin under cover of night. Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne, who left Tuesday for the America, would drop in from heavy transport planes to secure the commercial and military airfields in Port-au-Prince. Marines, Special Forces and Army Rangers would simultaneously take the national palace, the Haitian Army's headquarters and barracks downtown and the heavy weapons complex in the hills of Petionville outside the city.
The invasion will be commanded from the Norfolk-based amphibious command ship Mount Whitney, a command and control ship with sophisticated communications equipment, and most likely be directed by Lt. Gen. Henry H. Shelton, commander of the Army's 18th Airborne.
Q. How long would it take?
A. Maybe a few hours, a few days at most.
Q. Might there be a lot of casualties among the American soldiers?
A. As Defense Secretary William Perry says, ``If any significant percentage chose to resist, there could be some casualties.'' In Somalia last year, what began as a humanitarian mission to feed starving people turned into a bitter factional warfare, and more than 45 U.S. soldiers died. In Panama, 23 died. In the Grenada operation of 1983, 19 died. And in the Persian Gulf war of 1991, 146 died.
Q. How long might U.S. forces stay?
A. It was 19 years the last time. But this time the administration wants to turn the country over to an international security force of about 6,000 it is now assembling. The United Nations' intent would be to withdraw that force by 1996. The problem would not be establishing a democracy but preserving it. Haiti has never known freedom.
Q. How much will all this cost?
A. Who knows? Pentagon officials say the price will be ``significant,'' which under these circumstances means tens of millions of dollars at minimum, hundreds of millions before very long.
KEYWORDS: HAITI by CNB