Haiti is having political problems again. We've sent in troops again. This time I hope we stay for a while and work to invest in the Haitian people. I know people typically refer to this as Nation Building, and that the term has a certain negative connotation to it now. I don't really care about that though. I think that it makes sense for the US to do what it can to promote stability and to raise up smaller nations that are in turmoil -- even if it does cost us a great deal of resources. This is especially the case for nations in our backyard that are likely to adopt a secular democratic government.
As far as having Aristide no longer the president... I can understand why the rebels have fought for this. As far as I understand it, the Haitian constitution doesn't allow for an elected president to succeed himself. Well, Aristide was President from 1990-1996 and then from 2000 to yesterday -- mainly because so many people boycotted the 2000 Haitian elections because of alleged fraudulence.
Hopefully, with French and US troops in Haiti stability can be regained and trust can be restored in the Haitian democratic system. I think that some resources should be used to have US and French representatives (military and other) stay on in Haiti to ensure that things operate smoothly for a time. Perhaps making the government more open to its citizenry and auditing the voting, ruling, and spending processes will help the Haitian officials regain the trust of the citizens.
It is really hard to have a working democratic government when there is fear for safety and welfare, distrust, and fanaticism. If outsiders can help eliminate these negative things in Haiti the country might have a better chance of getting out of the military coup cycle.
I also want to add that I think that the US should further develop an extensive peace-keeping force. We need to be able to quickly deploy Marines, of course, but what happens after the Marines take command, conquer, and otherwise meet their objectives? The need for day-to-day order comes up. Policing a people based on their own laws and customs when the police force is too weak or too corrupt becomes our interim responsibilty. If we do this well (as in well enough to earn the respect of peoples who must deal with it by showing them respect too) we will be much more efficient at exporting peace, order, and stability, which seems to be one of the US's biggest contributions to the world.
Posted by David at March 1, 2004 01:46 PM