Let’s Hope Junta Was Convinced

President Clinton’s speech explaining why U.S. military forces may soon have to invade Haiti was effective--but only up to a point.

Clinton offered apparently heartfelt arguments to convince the American public that the military clique that controls Haiti is a threat not just to its forlorn people but also to this country. He painted a vivid and grisly picture of the military and police there: After ousting Haiti’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, three years ago, the Cedras regime instituted such crude brutality that thousands of Haitians have fled to the United States as illegal immigrants. Clinton also pointed out that the United States and other nations have tried peaceful means to get Haiti’s illegitimate rulers to leave so Aristide can return.

But the President did not say enough about what will happen after the Haitian junta is gone--especially if it is forced out by U.S. arms. In that case, will this country be faced with a new burden--rebuilding Haiti’s democracy and economy so that a U.S. intervention there will never be necessary again?

That is what worries the many Americans who have no sympathy for dictators but are concerned about the burdens this country will be assuming if it again becomes the policeman of the Caribbean, as it so often tried to be in the early part of this century, with so little success.

They now can only hope Clinton’s speech was more convincing to listeners in Haiti. Let’s hope it prods Haiti’s military dictators to accept a U.S. offer of safe passage out of the country if they abdicate. If the speech does that, it will have been successful indeed.