CRISIS IN THE CARIBBEAN : New Respect for Cedras Concerns Leaders in Congress

Less than a week ago, President Clinton described Haitian military leader Raoul Cedras as the head of a band of “armed thugs” responsible for murder, rape and other atrocities. Now, the U.S. government is treating Cedras with the deference due an allied commander.

The sudden rehabilitation of Cedras, as a direct consequence of the deal that headed off a planned American invasion of Haiti, raises serious questions about the ultimate direction of U.S. policy toward the impoverished Caribbean nation and undercuts Clinton’s own impassioned rhetoric.

Lawmakers from both parties voiced concern Tuesday over the developments.

In a speech to the nation Thursday, Clinton detailed gruesome atrocities by the Haitian armed forces. “Let me be clear,” the President said, “(Lt.) Gen. Cedras and his accomplices alone are responsible for this suffering and terrible human tragedy.”

But when former President Jimmy Carter led a team of negotiators in brokering an agreement in which Cedras agreed to resign his post by Oct. 15 and permit 15,000 U.S. troops to land in Haiti without a fight, the U.S. attitude changed completely. Opening a White House news conference Monday, Clinton dropped all references to atrocities and even stopped referring to Cedras as a dictator.

Rep. Dave McCurdy (D-Okla.) said the reversal in the Clinton Administration’s attitude “demonstrates the weakness” of Clinton’s claim that an invasion of Haiti was justified by national security interests. But he added, “This is not the first time we’ve seen the demonizing of an opponent or a dictator only to end up having to deal with him.”

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) observed: “The President has immensely complicated the situation by the way he’s proceeding here. Going on nationwide television and condemning Cedras as a thug and then saying that our generals are working with him and his police in a cooperative way . . . is confusing, to say the least.”

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who supported Clinton’s original plan to invade Haiti, also expressed doubts about the outcome of Carter’s diplomacy.

“I want Cedras and company to get out, and do it soon,” Dodd said. “If this crowd stays around, it’s going to be very difficult to restore a civilian government”

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who called upon Clinton to speed up Aristide’s return so “we can begin dealing with the duly elected government of Haiti,” added, “We shouldn’t be dealing exclusively with Cedras and the military, as it now appears we are.”

U.S. military leaders have begun meeting regularly with Cedras to discuss the maintenance of law and order--by the same police and military that Clinton had accused of a “terrifying pattern” of abuse.

Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conceded that the suddenly respectful treatment of Cedras was a potential source of embarrassment for the U.S. government if Cedras later reneges on his agreement to step down. But Shalikashvili said it was better to run that risk than to use military force to dislodge the Haitian dictator.

“For him to have been gone today, we most probably would have taken casualties, they certainly would have taken casualties,” Shalikashvili said Tuesday. “And if we do it right and if we try not to create friction but, rather, try to maintain that cooperative spirit, I think that’s one of our better guarantees to keep casualties low.”

But other U.S. officials say the deal with Cedras upsets all of the Administration’s plans for restoring democracy to Haiti. One official said the Administration had intended to “cleanse” the Haitian military by cutting its 7,000-member strength in half and cashiering soldiers guilty of human rights abuses. But the Carter-Cedras deal makes that difficult.

“If we had gone in with force, we would have been in a position to dictate matters,” the official said. “Now you have Jimmy Carter in the equation, and he has agreed to certain things.”