Are There Lessons To Be Learned From Haiti?

There is a growing chorus of criticism about our American handling of the situation in Iraq, coming mostly, of course, from Democrats, but also from the same liberal voices that opposed war in Iraq in the first place. You will hear about the things that are NOT going well; you will hear charges about how much it will cost; you will hear charges that the United States is an aggressor that is now occupying Iraq. And you will hear that this is the first time in American history that we have taken control of a nation and attempted to impose our type government... meaning Democracy ... upon that nation. And it is this last thing that makes me ask: whose history book are these people reading?

Or should I ask: how short is our memory? It was less than 10 years ago that the United States sent 20,000 troops into Haiti to depose a corrupt government and establish democracy in that nation. I do not find any record of the military cost, but it was immense. We put our military troops to work building bridges, and schools, and hospitals and other humanitarian things. The United States set up a five year program that envisioned people voting in democratic elections; and in which the average woman in Haiti would have only four children; and an economy where every Haitian had a job because rich American tourists would swarm all over the place. The five-year plan was funded at about $2.2-billion. I'm not sure what all happened in Haiti, but there was a great debate in the United States about whether the government there should be based on a welfare state model or a free democratic model. And five years after we sent our troops in, the Clinton administration asked for another five-year plan because unemployment in Haiti was at 70 percent, and there was a health problem called AIDS.

It makes one wonder: is there something to be learned from our history in Haiti that could be applied to our present challenge in Iraq?

This is Gordon Sawyer, from a window on historic Green Street.