by David Bowermaster; Brian Duffy; Bruce B. Auster
On the boulevard that runs along the harbor in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's northern port city, Lt. Don Han's Marine platoon watched helplessly as Haitian police officers pushed three young men into the barbed wire protecting the Americans' perimeter. "We feel it is morally wrong for us to just sit here while civilians are getting beaten up," said Han.
Deciding whether, when and how to step into such skirmishes is the most vexing problem facing the U.S. troops deployed in Haiti. But the marines and troops of the Army's 10th Mountain Division find themselves in the middle of more than just Haitian crowd violence -- their predicament is at the heart of Washington's Haiti policy.
The Pentagon, for now, is content to talk about cooperating with Jean-Bertrand Aristide's worst enemies, including the Haitian Army's head, Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, and Police Chief Lt. Col. Michel Francois. But senior Pentagon officials in Haiti insist they will not tolerate human-rights abuses against Haitian citizens by the country's military and police forces. "It is our position," says Col. Michael Sullivan, commander of U.S. military police in Haiti, "that such behavior is not acceptable." Sullivan says his MPs have the authority to intervene with deadly force in any instance in which Haitian authorities are threatening the country's citizens.
Open confrontation with the Haitian police and Army is something that the Pentagon would desperately like to avoid; memories remain fresh of bloody clashes in Somalia when U.S. troops undertook police actions there.
Changing the rules. Each U.S. soldier and marine is issued a wallet-size "carry card" that is classified secret and lists the rules of engagement. U.S. troops can "engage" any armed person with deadly force if an American is threatened; the rules also permit troops to respond to serious criminal acts, such as homicide or rape, as they see fit, even if that includes using deadly force. The Clinton administration has now interpreted those rules more broadly to allow troops to stop "grave abuses" against innocent Haitians. U.S. military police are being told to respond in gradual steps if they observe abuses by Haitian police: First, try to stop the action by persuasion; second, try to get senior Haitian officers to control their subordinates; third, report violators to the Haitian police leadership and to U.S. authorities; fourth, tell Haitian commanders to discipline violators, including removing them from duty.
The Pentagon hopes to avoid the need for such actions by bringing the Haitian forces into line early. To do so, it plans to find out who the soldiers are and to keep an eye on them. Haitian Army officers will be asked to muster their troops. Those who show up will be photographed, given identification cards and paid a nominal salary -- even $3 a day is a substantial sum in Haiti -- to perform their jobs. Only those who register will be paid. To get guns out of the hands of civilians, the Americans will offer to buy the weapons.
Nearly 1,000 U.S. military police will begin patrols in Haiti this week, most of them in the capital. The MPs will establish themselves at fewer than a dozen police precincts and patrol the same areas the Haitian police visit. But they will refrain from following the Haitian police into the slums of Cite Soleil and Carrefour, where some of the worst abuses occur, and they will patrol in vehicles, not on foot. A U.S. Justice Department agency will establish a police academy to rebuild the Haitian force.
Despite these steps, Haiti's military and police are unlikely to readily abandon the habits of intimidation. "Violence is the easy way," says Marine Lt. Shane Tomko, one of two liaison officers communicating with Haitian commanders in Cap-Haitien. "There have been people getting beaten all over. We have to teach them it's not acceptable."
