THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 23, 1994 TAG: 9409230036
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
British novelist Graham Greene called his book on Jean-Claude ``Papa Doc'' Duvalier's Haiti The Comedians. It's too bad Greene is no longer alive. If he were still around to chronicle the unfolding U.S. occupation of Haiti, he would find plenty of material for a sequel.
Gen. Raoul Cedras, who just a little more than a week ago President Clinton was denouncing as a murderer, torturer and rapist for whom almost no punishment would be too severe, has told Dan Rather in a relaxed interview that he not only intends to stay in Haiti after he (supposedly) gives up power on Oct. 15, he might even run for president next year. And why not? Former President Jimmy Cater has described Cedras as a man of ``honor'' and has invited the general to come visit him in Atlanta sometime.
Pleased as everyone is by the avoidance of an invasion, the bizarre goings-on of the past week, as recounted in the newspapers, do not inspire confidence in the Clinton administration's handling of events in Haiti.
While former President Carter was desperately negotiating with Cedras in Port-au-Prince, for instance, Secretary of State Warren Christopher and his deputy, Strobe Talbott, went to see the new Robert Redford movie, ``Quiz Show.'' The former president has described the Clinton policy toward Haiti as ``shameful.''
And all this was followed by the bizarre spectacle on Tuesday of U.S. troops standing by and watching a pro-Aristide crowd being beaten and clubbed by Haitian troops and police, resulting in the death of one man. Although the administration says it is does not want U.S. troops to police Haiti, intervention by U.S. forces in civil disturbances would be possible if a commander ``make(s) the judgment that we have the capability and there would not be a threat to safety.'' How would you like to be the Army officer who has to use his own best judgment in a riot on a Haitian back street?
Then there's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Shalikashvili's plans for a ``weapons buyback.'' What price does one offer, however? Set it too low and no weapons will be turned in; set it too high and smugglers will begin importing weapons just to sell them to you. Attempt to confiscate weapons and they will be buried in the back yard, awaiting the moment when they can be used, as was the case in Somalia.
The United States has dealt itself into this game and now has no alternative but to play its hand as well as can be. It is to be hoped that everything turns out all right in the end, with as little bloodshed as possible. Right now, however, truth is looking stranger than fiction. by CNB