A few years later, another troubled man with a...

Posted at 11:32, 2010-Mar-7

A few years later, another troubled man with a pistol vaulted the White House fence before he was wounded and apprehended by officers of the Uniformed Division of the Secret ServiceThe White House was a magnet for more than ambitious politicians The crisis in Haiti came to a head in SeptemberGeneral Cedras and his thugs had intensified their reign of terror, executing orphaned children, raping young girls, killing priests, mutilating people and leaving body parts in the open to terrify others, and slashing the faces of mothers with machetes while their children watchedBy this time, I had been working for a peaceful solution for two years, and I was fed upMore than a year earlier, Cedras had signed an agreement to give up power, but when the time came to leave, he simply refused to go It was time to throw him out, but public opinion and congressional sentiment were strongly against itThough the Congressional Black Caucus, Senator Tom Harkin, and Senator Chris Dodd supported me, the Republicans were solidly opposed, and most Democrats, including George Mitchell, thought I was just taking them out onto another precipice without public support or new prada replica handbags congressional authorizationThere was even division within the administrationAl Gore, Warren Christopher, Bill Gray, Tony Lake, and Sandy Berger were for itBill Perry and the Pentagon were not, but they had been working on an invasion plan in case I ordered them to proceed I thought we had to go forwardInnocent people were being slaughtered in our own backyard, and we were already spending a small fortune taking care of Haitian refugeesThe United Nations was unanimous in supporting the ouster of Cedras On September 16, in a last-minute attempt to avoid an invasion, I sent President Carter, Colin Powell, and Sam Nunn to Haiti to try to persuade General Cedras and his supporters in the military and parliament to peacefully accept Aristides return and Cedrass departure from the countryFor different reasons, they all disagreed with my determination to use force to restore AristideThough the Carter Center had monitored Aristides overwhelming election victory, President Carter had developed a relationship with Cedras and was skeptical of Aristides commitment to democracyNunn was opposed to Aristides return until parliamentary elections were held, because he didnt gucci laptop bags trust Aristide to protect minority rights without an established countervailing force in parliamentPowell thought only the military and the police could govern Haiti, and that they would never work with Aristide As subsequent events would prove, there was some merit to their argumentsHaiti was deeply divided economically and politically and had no previous experience with democracy, no significant middle class, and little of the institutional capacity required to operate a modern stateEven if Aristide was returned without a hitch, he might not succeedStill, he had been elected overwhelmingly, and Cedras and his crew were killing innocent peopleWe could at least stop that Despite their reservations, the distinguished trio pledged to faithfully communicate my policyThey wanted to avoid a violent American entry, which could make matters even worseNunn spoke to members of Haitis parliament; Powell told the Haitian military leaders in graphic terms what would happen if the United States invaded; and Carter worked on Cedras The next day I went to the Pentagon to review the invasion plan with General Shalikashvili and the Joint Chiefs, and, by teleconference, cartier pasha crono with Admiral Paul David Miller, the commander of the overall operation, and Lieutenant General Hugh Shelton, commander of the Eighteenth Airborne Corps, who would lead our troops onto the islandThe invasion plan called for a unified operation involving all branches of the militaryTwo aircraft carriers were in the waters off Haiti, one transporting Special Operations forces and the other carrying soldiers from the Tenth Mountain DivisionAir force planes were set to provide necessary air supportThe marines were assigned to occupy Cap Haitien, Haitis second-largest cityPlanes carrying Eighty-second Airborne Division paratroopers would fly out of North Carolina and drop them over the island at the outset of the assaultNavy SEALs would go in early and scan designated areasThey had already done a test run that morning, coming out of the water and onto land without incidentMost troops and equipment were to enter Haiti in an operation called RoRo, for roll on, roll off; troops and vehicles would roll onto landing vessels for the trip to Haiti, then roll off on the Haitian shorelineWhen the mission was accomplished, the process would be reversedforces, we had classic louis vuitton bags support from twenty-five other countries that had joined the UN coalition As the deadline for our attack approached, President Carter called me pleading for more time to persuade Cedras to leaveCarter desperately wanted to avoid a forced invasionHaiti had no military capability; it would be like shooting fish in a barrelI agreed to give him three more hours, but made it clear that any agreement he made with the general could not include another delay in the handover to AristideCedras couldnt have more time to murder children, rape young girls, and slash womens facesWe had already spent $200 million taking care of the Haitians who had left their countryI wanted them to be able to go home In Port-au-Prince, as the three-hour deadline ran out, an angry mob gathered outside the building where the Americans were still talkingEvery time I talked with Carter, Cedras had proposed a different deal, but they all gave him some wiggle room to hang around and delay Aristides returnWith the danger outside and the deadline for invasion at hand, Carter, Powell, and Nunn kept trying to persuade Cedras, to no availCarter pleaded for more timeI agreed to another delay, until gucci ladies watches 5