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Avoiding the Iraq Error in Haiti

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The March 23 editorial “Keeping Haiti Afloat” draws a deceiving parallel between the Iraqi insurgency and Haitian misery.

Planners in Iraq wrongly pursued basic security before attempting civic reconstruction. This lack of immediate, tangible progress fueled the insurgency and alienated moderate Iraqis.

United Nations administrators must not repeat this error in Haiti. Deploying additional troops to disarm gangs and defend the remaining infrastructure will only smooth tensions ahead of elections.

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This reflects the strategy pursued by the United States before Haiti’s 1995 presidential election, which produced a low 31% voter turnout. If the results of this fall’s elections are to improve, U.N. planners must heed the advice of retired Special Forces officer F. Andy Messing Jr., who wrote in an article published by the Los Angeles Times in 1995 that peacekeepers must arrive bearing a “rifle in one hand and [a] shovel in the other.”

Only when planners are ready to help Haitians meet their demands for employment, medical attention and education can Haiti achieve meaningful democracy.

Collin Gallagher

Research Assistant, National

Defense Council Foundation

Alexandria, Va.

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