Editorials
Thursday, November 14, 1996
Questions on
U.S. intervention in Haiti
TWO years ago President Clinton ordered 23,000 troops into Haiti to depose the military regime that had ousted the elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. At first the effort to restore democratic rule seemed to go smoothly. The U.S.-led multinational force was replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force in March 1995. But there have been disturbing developments that prompt doubts about the success of the program.
In the latest incident, a mob burned down a police station to protest the police slaying of an innocent bystander during an arrest. A courthouse was also burned and 12 Haitian and U.N. police officers were trapped until rescued by reinforcements.
Haiti's rookie police force has been widely criticized for lack of discipline. About 60 officers have been suspended nationwide for misconduct.
There have also been several killings of opponents of Aristide, who still seems to exert power although he stepped down as president early this year under U.S. pressure in favor of a close ally, Rene Preval. Members of Aristide's palace security unit were implicated in some of the killings. In September the Clinton administration rushed 22 bodyguards from the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security to Port-au-Prince to guard President Preval, later reinforced by 22 other U.S. civilian guards in addition to 70 Canadian soldiers.
Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Committee on International Relations, charged that the administration has been aware since early 1995 that death squads were operating under the direction of top aides to Aristide. The White House invoked executive privilege to deny a request for documents on the subject. Gilman called for an investigation "into the possible existence of a conspiracy to withhold this information from Congress."
Despite the Clinton administration's claims of success for its intervention in Haiti, the island is described by John Sweeney, a Heritage Foundation analyst, as "a cauldron of barely contained violence."
The government, controlled by Aristide's party, has shut out most of Haiti's genuine democrats, Sweeney reports. There are no property rights and the judicial system does not function. U.S. troops may be sent back in.
A last-minute decision by Haiti's military rulers against resistance averted American casualties when the troops landed two years ago, but the record since leaves many disturbing questions unanswered. The Republican Congress should continue to press the Clinton administration for those answers.
Kona coffee caper
TO true coffee lovers, one bean definitely is not just like another. So the indictment in California of a major processor of Kona coffee on federal charges of money laundering and wire fraud in connection with his alleged passing off of cheaper grades of coffee as Kona may come as a bit of a shock when the word percolates down.
With Kona production severely limited, we hope the coffee being grown on Kauai will benefit from the publicity.
Auto insurance
HAWAII motorists, who pay some of the highest rates in the nation for auto insurance, are due for a little relief. But more reductions are needed to make insurance affordable. Because the rates are so high, many drive without insurance, although that is illegal.
There will be strong pressure on the legislators to produce on this issue in the next session. But they should beware of moving in the wrong direction. Abolishing the no-fault system, as the governor and others have proposed, would be a major mistake that would benefit only the trial lawyers. Strengthening no-fault by raising the threshold for lawsuits high enough to eliminate all but the most serious cases is the right way to go.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor