Did Something Actually Go Right? : Clinton’s Haiti policy is looking suspiciously like a winner

Haiti is no Somalia. The U.S. invasion of the Caribbean nation is going much better than expected. There have been no massacres of American troops, no Americans held hostage, no U.S. planes filled with body bags headed home to grieving spouses, children and parents, none of the doom and gloom that had been predicted so ominously. Things still could go sour, but at the moment the policy and its execution must be considered a triumph for the Clinton Administration and the U.S. military.

President Clinton should visit the troops, particularly those suffering from poor morale, to personally thank them for the sacrifices that they--and their loved ones--are making.

While 16,000 American troops keep order, Haiti’s President Jean-Bertrand Aristide continues to make progress--albeit slowly--toward restoring democratic institutions. U.S. troops have helped immensely by putting a stop to the political killings, and Aristide recently appointed a new commander in chief, Bernardin Poisson, who trained in the United States and France.

Of course the worry is whether Poisson can control the soldiers who ousted Aristide, propped up the illicit rule of Gen. Raoul Cedras and killed so many pro-democracy supporters during Aristide’s exile. Can any new commander undo a tradition of brutal military rule that is almost as old as the Haitian republic itself?

Why does Haiti need an Army? There are no boundary disputes and no outside threats to national security. A strong military is the greatest source of instability in Haiti, and indeed throughout the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa.

Aristide got some good advice last week from the former president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sanchez, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to spread peace in Central America. Costa Rica disbanded its army in 1948, and peace has reigned since then.

Aristide must ask himself what will happen when the U.S. soldiers return home. That might happen sooner rather than later if the new Republican majorities in the House and Senate get their way after they take over Congress in January.

U.S. troops are scheduled to leave in March and allow U.N. peacekeepers to finish the job. That deadline was chosen by the Clinton Administration to give Aristide ample time to hold elections, convene an independent Parliament and woo powerful and affluent Haitians to the side of democracy. Every bit of that time is needed. Certainly, no additional time will be granted by Republicans who initially opposed the U.S. rescue mission.

Military force is never pleasant or riskless, but U.S. troops have performed admirably and Haiti, at least so far, is much better off.