One More Show Of Force

Before the U.S. could begin to help Haiti rebuild its ravaged democracy last week, it first had to remove a raving demagogue. Not President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who had already resigned on Feb. 29 and flown to asylum in Africa. Now the headache was Guy Philippe, whose rebel army had forced Aristide out--and whose triumphant entry into the capital, Port-au-Prince, lavishly upstaged the simultaneous arrival of hundreds of U.S. Marines. After sweeping the city of Aristide's armed gangs, the baby-faced Philippe, 36, declared himself Haiti's new "commander in chief," despite the fact that Haiti's army was disbanded a decade ago. "The country," he announced, "is in my hands!"

Philippe's motley force numbered only a few hundred soldiers. But when the rebels moved to arrest Aristide's Prime Minister, Yvon Neptune, the Americans had had enough. U.S. armored military vehicles surrounded Neptune's office, and as Philippe supporters massed at the gate, annoyed U.S. officials told them sarcastically, "Sorry, we're closed." Afterward, U.S. military commanders called Philippe in and warned that if he didn't disarm he would "be dealt with the same as anyone who gives us hostile interference out there," says a U.S. official. Philippe publicly agreed, though days later his insurgents were still armed and testing U.S. patience inside the capital and the provinces. Their tin-pot bravado was winning them support on the streets and complicating the U.S. military's efforts to assert authority in Haiti, where more than 100 people have been killed in the political violence.

This is the third time since 1915 that American soldiers have had to clean up a mess in Haiti. The hemisphere's poorest nation doesn't pose the kinds of dangers that U.S. soldiers face in Iraq. But, like Philippe himself, Haiti can be a p.r. nuisance for any U.S. Administration that intervenesa terminally failed state that often inflicts collateral damage on America's image as an exporter of democratic institutions. As more than 2,000 U.S., French and other international peacekeeping troops began policing Port-au-Prince's streets last week, it was hard to forget that Haiti's newest crisis resulted in part from the U.S.'s meager effort when it last intervened there. That was in 1994, when 20,000 U.S. troops restored Aristide to power after his first presidency had been aborted by a brutal military coup three years earlier. Says retired U.S. Army Lieut. General Joseph Kinzer, who headed 6,000 U.N. troops in Haiti in 1995-96: "The U.S. had a year-and-a-half plan for a 10-year operation."

The peacekeeping effort further stretches a taut U.S. military, but not to the breaking point. Pentagon officials are confident they can handle Haiti, but with 120,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and an additional 11,000 on the ground in Afghanistan, the Bush Administration--particularly in an election year--isn't likely to dispatch more than a few thousand to Haiti for much longer than the three months mandated by the U.N. last week. "We stepped up, and we are the lead elements of the interim force," said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who sees an international peacekeeping force of up to 5,000 in Haiti before long. But "obviously, we'd like to see some other country take that lead."