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Look at the Causes Behind Aiding Haiti

Aired February 23, 2004 - 14:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: As we said, U.S. Marines are en route to Haiti to provide security for the U.S. embassy in the country on the verge of civil war, if not already in it. Here to provide us with some insight on the deepening crisis is our CNN contributor Kelly McCann who has a lot of history in Haiti, including helping train Aristide's protective detail. So we know for certain he's well protected. Right?
KELLY MCCANN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: He was then.

O'BRIEN: All right. Safe enough. Let's leave it at that.

Let's talk about the differences. Ten years ago we were talking a lot about Haiti. At that time, the push was to bring Aristide to power. U.S. helped out quite a bit at that time. Ten years later, sort of the back side of that coin.

Let's talk -- aside from that obvious difference, let's walk through the that was then, this is now scenario.

MCCANN: The biggest thing is will there be an exodus of people ho or will there not. That's the biggest difference. There's likely at least in the short term, likely not to be. And the reason is people wanted to see their president who they had elected into office be on the seat of the power. That would have been Aristide and Cedras basically ousted him.

This is totally different. The people now appear that they want Aristide gone. In fact, they're supporting the rebels. And those rebels are led by former FRAP, paramilitary and FADH military people from Haiti that had them in fear previously...

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Help folks out on all those acronyms there. These are people who in the past have been very bad players in Haiti.

MCCANN: Absolutely. The FRAP were the paramilitaries the FADH were the former military. And they pretty much kept their thumb over the people in a very undesirable way. They were afraid of them.

So now they're embracing them as rebel leaders. Some of them are criminals, some of them are thugs, some of them are previous leaders -- which tells you an awful lot about how they feel about President Aristide at the moment.

O'BRIEN: All right now this next question might get a little bit out of your jurisdiction. But that's of course never stopped me before.

What you're essentially saying is U.S. interests really stop at its shores. In other words, if there aren't people, Haitian immigrants washing up in boats, the U.S. is not going to commit any -- to any sort of program to bring peace in Haiti. Is that accurate?

MCCANN: I've never purported to be a person that talks about country to country strategy. That's not where I'm at. Tactically I can talk to that. And that is basically there is a security concern here.

Haiti is a well known drug transshipment point. Nobody wants to see that get even larger. The rebel leader right, that started in Ganive is a criminal. So if he is the one that suddenly assumes what can be called power in Haiti, what do you think will happen to that drug trade?

Secondly, if there are people that are made to leave Haiti, who is among them, what are their identities? We know there is a Caribbean footprint for terrorism. It could be used as a jump-off spot to the United States.

So if for nothing else, Miles, than security of one of our neighbors, someone who is that close to us, I think we should keep an eye on it. I think the U.S. government will.

O'BRIEN: If not the U.S., who? France has made some noises about potentially helping out. But the bottom line is this is a U.S. sphere of influence. Do you see at this point is really is inevitable that the U.S. is going to have to put some boots on the ground in Haiti?

MCCANN: I think that we've got to do two things. One, we've got to protect people that we have an interest in. That's the U.S. embassy personnel, et cetera. The Marine Corps Fleet Anti-Terrorism and Security team is there, a platoon of them, 50, to do what's called DefEx, defense exercise there. To help defend the embassy in case they need to do that.

Other than that, I think that the situation is bleak. The reason is there are no exportable products that Haiti can bring to bear. There is nothing that any country going in there to help them is going to be paid back in.

So it is truly only humanitarian interest. And in our case, a security interest. That doesn't bode well for the French going in there or the other communities from around the globe linking together to go down there.

Remember there were millions poured into Haiti previously. Look where we are now. So again, that doesn't bode them for them either.

O'BRIEN: Sounds like another call for the global policemen. All right, Kelly McCann, always a pleasure having you drop by. Appreciate your expertise in this one.

MCCANN: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 23, 2004 - 14:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: As we said, U.S. Marines are en route to Haiti to provide security for the U.S. embassy in the country on the verge of civil war, if not already in it. Here to provide us with some insight on the deepening crisis is our CNN contributor Kelly McCann who has a lot of history in Haiti, including helping train Aristide's protective detail. So we know for certain he's well protected. Right?
KELLY MCCANN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: He was then.

O'BRIEN: All right. Safe enough. Let's leave it at that.

Let's talk about the differences. Ten years ago we were talking a lot about Haiti. At that time, the push was to bring Aristide to power. U.S. helped out quite a bit at that time. Ten years later, sort of the back side of that coin.

Let's talk -- aside from that obvious difference, let's walk through the that was then, this is now scenario.

MCCANN: The biggest thing is will there be an exodus of people ho or will there not. That's the biggest difference. There's likely at least in the short term, likely not to be. And the reason is people wanted to see their president who they had elected into office be on the seat of the power. That would have been Aristide and Cedras basically ousted him.

This is totally different. The people now appear that they want Aristide gone. In fact, they're supporting the rebels. And those rebels are led by former FRAP, paramilitary and FADH military people from Haiti that had them in fear previously...

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Help folks out on all those acronyms there. These are people who in the past have been very bad players in Haiti.

MCCANN: Absolutely. The FRAP were the paramilitaries the FADH were the former military. And they pretty much kept their thumb over the people in a very undesirable way. They were afraid of them.

So now they're embracing them as rebel leaders. Some of them are criminals, some of them are thugs, some of them are previous leaders -- which tells you an awful lot about how they feel about President Aristide at the moment.

O'BRIEN: All right now this next question might get a little bit out of your jurisdiction. But that's of course never stopped me before.

What you're essentially saying is U.S. interests really stop at its shores. In other words, if there aren't people, Haitian immigrants washing up in boats, the U.S. is not going to commit any -- to any sort of program to bring peace in Haiti. Is that accurate?

MCCANN: I've never purported to be a person that talks about country to country strategy. That's not where I'm at. Tactically I can talk to that. And that is basically there is a security concern here.

Haiti is a well known drug transshipment point. Nobody wants to see that get even larger. The rebel leader right, that started in Ganive is a criminal. So if he is the one that suddenly assumes what can be called power in Haiti, what do you think will happen to that drug trade?

Secondly, if there are people that are made to leave Haiti, who is among them, what are their identities? We know there is a Caribbean footprint for terrorism. It could be used as a jump-off spot to the United States.

So if for nothing else, Miles, than security of one of our neighbors, someone who is that close to us, I think we should keep an eye on it. I think the U.S. government will.

O'BRIEN: If not the U.S., who? France has made some noises about potentially helping out. But the bottom line is this is a U.S. sphere of influence. Do you see at this point is really is inevitable that the U.S. is going to have to put some boots on the ground in Haiti?

MCCANN: I think that we've got to do two things. One, we've got to protect people that we have an interest in. That's the U.S. embassy personnel, et cetera. The Marine Corps Fleet Anti-Terrorism and Security team is there, a platoon of them, 50, to do what's called DefEx, defense exercise there. To help defend the embassy in case they need to do that.

Other than that, I think that the situation is bleak. The reason is there are no exportable products that Haiti can bring to bear. There is nothing that any country going in there to help them is going to be paid back in.

So it is truly only humanitarian interest. And in our case, a security interest. That doesn't bode well for the French going in there or the other communities from around the globe linking together to go down there.

Remember there were millions poured into Haiti previously. Look where we are now. So again, that doesn't bode them for them either.

O'BRIEN: Sounds like another call for the global policemen. All right, Kelly McCann, always a pleasure having you drop by. Appreciate your expertise in this one.

MCCANN: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com