Patience and Faith Pay Off for Carter

Former President Jimmy Carter was ushered into early retirement by the American voters because they saw him as ineffective at home and weak abroad, but he has shown again this weekend that he retains two surpassing virtues: a preternatural patience and an unshakable faith in his fellow man.

The talks led by Carter to arrange for three Haitian junta leaders to leave power dragged on for many hours beyond their informal deadline of early afternoon Sunday, at least in part because of the former president’s unwillingness to take “no” for an answer.

In this instance, Carter had an even more persuasive hole card--the launching of invasion troops. The breakthrough in negotiations came after the Haitian military chief, Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, and his fellow junta members were informed that American paratroopers were airborne and on the way to their drop zones.

Carter’s doggedness in pursuing a bloodless conclusion to the Haitian standoff came as no surprise to those who have endured previous negotiations with him. Several recalled the marathon Camp David talks that created the breakthrough peace accord between Israel and Egypt in 1978 as an example of Carter’s endurance in the face of apparently insurmountable odds.

His fellow U.S. negotiators in Haiti--retired Gen. Colin L. Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Georgia Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn, chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee--brought other skills to the lengthy talks in Port-au-Prince.

Powell is a man of imposing accomplishment, rising from the son of Jamaican immigrants of African descent in the South Bronx to the nation’s highest military office. Cedras and his cohorts could not fail to get Powell’s blunt warning: that the American military was prepared to violently depose them very soon unless they stepped down peacefully.

And Nunn, while cautious in the extreme in public, is known as a difficult foe in private negotiations. He enters talks with his bottom line firmly fixed before him and seldom leaves without achieving it. President Clinton saw that side of Nunn, to his embarrassment, in his losing battle with him over gays in the military.

But it was Carter’s imperturbability in the face of Cedras’ demands that kept the talks alive Sunday long after the Haitian leaders were supposed to have accepted exile or the U.S. attack irreversibly under way.

“We are seeing again President Carter’s single-mindedness and persistence, as he demonstrated at Camp David,” said William B. Quandt, who handled Middle East issues on the National Security Council during the Carter Administration. “What came through there and elsewhere is that he is someone who believes there are solutions to problems, and men and women of goodwill can find solutions if they work hard at it.

“That’s an article of faith with him. He also has an aversion to the use of force; he would always rather find other ways to solve problems. That hasn’t changed.”

Camp David dragged on for 13 days before Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat announced their historic accord ending three decades of war. There were numerous occasions during the tense discussions when the game looked lost and the participants were ready to pack up and go home.

But Carter essentially kept them under house arrest at the Maryland presidential retreat, insisting that they keep talking.

Months later, when the deal was on the verge of unraveling, Carter undertook a series of visits to Jerusalem and Cairo to put the agreement back on track, refusing to return to Washington until he had nailed down the final details.

Again in June, Carter refused to accept defeat in talks with North Korean President Kim Il Sung over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapon program. Although many in the Clinton Administration contend that Carter exceeded his negotiating instructions from Washington and was duped by the late North Korean leader, his tenacity and desire to find a solution eventually found a face-saving formula that at least temporarily defused the crisis.

As for Powell, a longtime aide and confidant of the general’s said Sunday that the nation’s former top soldier carried with him not only decades of military service but years of diplomatic experience, gained during his tenure as military aide to former Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, as national security adviser in the Ronald Reagan Administration and as chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

“He met with countless heads of state, presidents and prime ministers as well as defense and foreign ministers. He has incredible experience at this level,” the Powell associate said.

“More importantly, he brings credibility, a most important commodity when you’re dealing with stakes this high. He knows the strength and will and commitment of the (U.S.) force and he can speak to it with authority,” the source said.

He also noted that Powell’s ethnic background added an important element. Cedras must have found it easier to talk to another man of Caribbean-African descent rather than face a roomful of white men from Washington, the Powell aide said.

Nunn, President Clinton’s third emissary to the Haitian leaders, avoids histrionics in negotiations, whether with congressional adversaries or presidents of either party, said a senior Senate official who has watched him operate for many years.

Nunn’s emphasis is always on the outcome, not on the process, and he makes a fetish of knowing his brief in intimate detail, the Senate official said.

“If there are 40 points, he will know every one of them and will know at any given minute exactly where they are on each and every one,” added the official. “He knows the bottom line and understands how to get there--or how to get up and walk away.”

The official pointed to Nunn’s success in numerous negotiations with Republican and Democratic presidents, on issues ranging from gays in the military to the interpretation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Nunn used his knowledge of the fine points of the problem and his unswerving dedication to reaching his bottom line to ultimately prevail.