Region's Commander Says Instability Threatens Safety of U.S. Troops on Island

                  By Douglas Farah
                  Washington Post Foreign Service
 
                  The commander of U.S. troops in Latin America has recommended that
                  the United States end its five-year military presence in Haiti, arguing that
                  American forces have not been able to create stability in the volatile nation
                  and are now at risk.

                  Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, commander of the U.S. Southern Command,
                  made the comments in testimony to a closed session of the defense
                  subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 25,
                  according to a copy of the testimony obtained by The Washington Post.
                  Wilhelm's recommendation, made as part of an overview of Pentagon
                  programs across Latin America and the Caribbean, marked the first time
                  that a senior U.S. military officer has called for ending the Haiti mission.

                  Wilhelm's bleak assessment of the political and security situation in Haiti
                  and his advice that the United States "terminate" its permanent presence
                  there in favor of periodic visits by U.S. troops come as the Clinton
                  administration's Haiti policy faces increasing criticism in Congress.

                  In that regard, his comments mark a significant challenge to a policy that
                  administration officials have cited as a model for the use of U.S. military
                  forces to help resolve instability and ethnic conflict in the post-Cold War
                  world. In September 1994, the Clinton administration deployed 20,000
                  troops to Haiti to restore the democratically elected government of
                  Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The American troops, who occupied the country
                  peacefully, then participated in peacekeeping efforts and helped oversee
                  the disbanding of the Haitian military and security forces blamed for
                  political killings, torture and illegal detentions.

                  Although the Clinton administration has often hailed the Haiti mission as a
                  foreign policy success, political bickering in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian
                  capital, has paralyzed the government of Aristide's successor, Rene Preval,
                  for most of the past two years. A rash of political assassinations in recent
                  weeks has highlighted the impoverished nation's inability to overcome the
                  traditional polarization and fragmentation of Haitian politics.

                  Last month Preval dissolved parliament and began ruling by decree. His
                  government is seeking to negotiate a timetable with the opposition for
                  holding new parliamentary elections. In Washington, some Republicans,
                  long leery of the initial occupation, decried the move as a step toward
                  dictatorship.

                  Wilhelm's testimony is particularly relevant as Congress debates whether to
                  send some 4,000 U.S. troops on a peacekeeping mission to the embattled
                  Serbian province of Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians are seeking
                  independence.

                  Thursday the House narrowly approved the Clinton administration's plan to
                  send troops to Kosovo, but only after a bitter debate. During the debate,
                  several House members criticized the administration for past troop
                  deployments, in part because the missions have lacked clear strategies for
                  withdrawal. Others questioned whether such deployments ultimately solve
                  the difficult, festering problems that led to the unrest in the first place.

                  Both issues are relevant to the Haitian case, and Wilhelm raised them,
                  arguing that a permanent presence in Haiti was no longer useful.

                  While most of the U.S. troops withdrew after a year, some 500 soldiers --
                  mostly Army reservists rotating through on short-term assignments --
                  remain in Haiti. For the most part they are performing humanitarian tasks
                  such as building schools, repairing roads and providing medical and dental
                  care. But U.S. officials said a growing amount of resources are being spent
                  on protecting the troops from potential aggression rather than on programs.

                  "As our continuous military presence moves into its fifth year we see little
                  progress toward creation of a permanently stable internal security
                  environment," Wilhelm testified. "In fact, with the recent expiration of
                  parliament and the imposition of rule by presidential decree we have seen
                  something of a backsliding."

                  Wilhelm, who characterized the American troop presence in Haiti as
                  "benevolent," said the mission cost about $20 million last year.

                  "However, at this point, I am more concerned about force protection than
                  cash outlays," Wilhelm testified. "The unrest generated by political
                  instability requires us to constantly reassess the safety and security
                  environment in which our troops are living and working. I have
                  recommended that we terminate our permanent military presence in Haiti
                  and conduct routine periodic engagement activities. In the interim we will
                  continue to make force protection 'job one' for our deployed forces, we
                  will not let down our guard."

                  Administration officials said they were aware of Wilhelm's comments, but
                  said U.S. policy was to remain engaged in Haiti as long as necessary.
                  Officials at the State Department and National Security Council declined to
                  comment on the record about Wilhelm's testimony.

                  "We have, for some time, engaged in mutually beneficial training exercises,"
                  one official said. "We believe they are a useful, important component of
                  our commitment to Haitian democracy. Over time, we expect the number
                  of projects will decrease and eventually we will leave."