PERSPECTIVE ON HAITI : A Peacekeeping Job Half-Done : The U.S. effort is failing because it neglects the nation-building that’s necessary to secure a free, democratic society.

In spite of almost $1 billion, valiant efforts and even lives, America’s peacekeeping effort in Haiti appears to be failing.

The recent killing of an Army Special Forces sergeant illustrates the latent hostility of a segment of the Haitian population that is increasingly frustrated by current events. The collision of sociopolitical, economic and security concerns will generate new problems for U.S. policy. The repatriation of 53,000 Haitians from refugee camps in Guantanamo Bay into an economy that cannot absorb them will add to the anarchy. Jobs are scarce and the disintegration of the remaining infrastructure means that security will be about as effective as it was in Somalia.

Since the withdrawal of U.S. military forces began, crime and corruption have risen and drug trading is resuming, largely because our conventional military units did not conduct the nation-building efforts they were capable of. As in Somalia, our entry reduced turmoil temporarily as security was established. But our military should have engaged in aggressive, proactive civil-affairs measures, as it did in Grenada, Panama and Kuwait. Reconnecting a society to functioning health-care, postal and banking systems is what makes that society work. Judicial and police systems are important, but so are trash collection, producing clean water and functioning telephones and power grids.

Since U.S. Army engineers turned over the Port-au-Prince power system to their Haitian counterparts, electricity generated daily has dropped from 70 megawatts to 30, leaving the capital and surrounding area blacked out for most of the day. To make matters worse, $15 million of U.S.-donated oil for the power plant is running out. Meanwhile, food spoils and workplaces remain shut. “The economy can’t even begin to crawl,” a factory owner said. “It won’t be long before the people storm the palace.”

Military planners should start to understand that “peacekeepers” must always have a rifle in one hand and a shovel in the other hand for this type of mission. Sadly, this approach was neglected by the Pentagon because of short-term monetary and nebulous political reasons generated by a pusillanimous Congress, confused over America’s future role in the post-1989 world. It’s the fault of the military leadership for not implementing the dual strategy of security and nation-building.

The continuing costs of our restoring President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power, in keeping a combined U.N.-U.S. force of 6,000 in Haiti, will be an additional $30 million a month. The emphasis of this force will be to ensure security, not to rebuild an overtaxed infrastructure. That task mainly falls on the disorganized Haitian government.

Parliamentary elections are to take place soon in a society where the primary concern is feeding one’s children and finding clean water. Democracy is irrelevant to those merely trying to survive. One missionary put it best: “A hungry flock doesn’t listen hard.”

The future of Haiti and of peacekeeping should be predicated not just on protecting the helpless, but also on picking them up. Realizing this will save more money and more lives.