Use of Force in Haiti

By threatening the use of military force in Haiti (May 4), President Clinton has begun to learn how to deal with unreasonable totalitarian dictators. Raoul Cedras will never concede without a fight, because he knows that too many people want to kill him for his crimes against humanity.

Due to the black market in fuel and arms, total control of the Haitian people through terror, and no trade sanctions on food, the Haitian military has everything it needs to ride out even stepped-up economic sanctions. Military force constitutes the only viable way to oust Cedras, end the humanitarian catastrophe and re-establish the democratically elected government. Without military force, the Haitian military will continue to terrorize the population with public executions, disappearances, kidnapings, tortures, mutilations and rapes.

By leaving Aristide supporters with their faces missing on the streets, Cedras reminds the Haitian people that he has control. Risking navigation of wooden rafts over shark-infested waters and interdiction, political refugees fleeing for U.S. shores remind the United States that Clinton’s policies have failed.

The Bosnia crisis should have taught Clinton that empty threats have no worth. The Haitian crisis will probably teach him that economic sanctions will fail against countries with no economy to speak of. Who knows what will fully teach Clinton to deal with unreasonable totalitarian dictators, if both the history of Neville Chamberlain and the present aftermath of the Governors Island agreement have failed.

J. W. GEHART

Agoura