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American Morning

Chaos in Haiti

Aired February 23, 2004 - 08:33   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Haiti, rebel leaders seeking to overthrow president Jean-Bertrand Aristide say they'll control the entire country within two weeks. That prediction comes as government and opposition forces struggle for control of Haiti's second largest state, Cap-Hechien (ph). More than half of Haiti is beyond the control of the Aristide government. Dozens of people have been killed since the uprising began nearly three weeks ago. The rebels say that they're going to respond today to the U.S.-backed peace plan which would keep Aristide as president while sharing some of his power.
In the capital of Port-au-Prince overnight one person reportedly died in a bomb blast at a carnival celebration. It is unclear, though, if it was connected to the insurgency in any way.

Joining us now to discuss the deteriorating situation in Haiti is former Defense Secretary William Cohen. He joins us from our Washington bureau.

Nice to see you, secretary. Thanks for being with us.

WILLIAM COHEN, FMR. DEFENSE SECY.: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Let's first talk about this small international delegation that made their way into Haiti. They left Saturday. The next day, the violence appeared to get significantly worse. Did the delegation's tactics misfire? Should they have done more?

COHEN: I'm not sure they can do more or could do more. Basically laid out a plan whereby president Aristide had agreed to share power. You have a new prime minister, a new governing council as such, in which it would give certainly the rebels an opportunity to at least have some political participation. The United States and those countries who were a part of that delegation are faced with a very difficult dilemma now.

On the one hand, they don't want to validate any sort of military coup that turns into a political victory as such. At the same token, you have President Aristide, who has lost the support of his political oppositions, even coming out against him, having shared power. So you have a conundrum, which is only going to result in the lowering the depths of humanity in Haiti. It is a very, very tortured country with very little economic prosperity in the future, unless some sort of agreement can be reached, one proposed by the delegation that was there just last Saturday.

O'BRIEN: How did he get to reaching that agreement? I mean, right now you see the population is clearly terrorized. The opposition showing absolutely no sign of backing down from its position.

COHEN: I think what has to happen is the political opposition, which does not share the -- certainly the rebels' tactic right now, has to come to the understanding that the only hope for Haiti is to have this kind of sharing of power in the interim. The problem has been generated by the fact that there were fraudulent allegations, or allegations about fraudulent practices back during the elections in 2000, which resulted in millions of dollars of economic aid being withheld from Haiti. So more poverty, more misery, more dissent, again, at those lower depths, and so now we have a situation in which the political opposition is refusing to support this proposal by the delegation that was there on Saturday.

But I think they have to come to the recognition that without that kind of proposal, all we can see is more chaos, more anarchy, more bloodshed and no future for the people of Haiti.

O'BRIEN: What about a military solution? I mean,should there be some role for the U.S. or some role for France as well, with a military solution, i.e., sending troops into Haiti?

COHEN: Well, I believe that France and others have indicated that they would be prepared to put forces on the ground should there be an agreement. But to use that force to go in to create stability is something they have yet to come to grips with. Whether they will in terms of the violence continuing to spread with a failed state in the -- as a real prospect what all of that might entail for the people of Haiti. I think they may come to re-evaluate that. Right now, they are saying if there's an agreement, we'll put troops in in an order to stabilize the situation. Without that, they have yet to make such a commitment.

O'BRIEN: California Congressman Chris Cox said on CNN the other day, yesterday I believe, a comment that he basically placed a lot of the blame squarely in the Clinton administration's lap. He said that Aristide is a brutal thug, and that Clinton's move to return him to power back in 1994 was a big mistake. What's your response to that?

COHEN: Well, Aristide was, in fact, elected Democratically. And we've seen this country with 200 years of history in Haiti. I think there's been 30 military coups. So it's a country that has not known a great deal of stability for many, many years. President Aristide did at least offer the prospect of trying to establish a Democratic form of government. There have been allegations again of fraudulent practices, which have resulted in a lack of economic support, as well as political support of President Aristide, but the United States cannot put itself in a position now of lending support to the rebel groups, whatever their legitimacy of their claims.

O'BRIEN: Former Defense Secretary William Cohen, joining us this morning. Secretary Cohen, thanks for your time.

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 - 08:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Haiti, rebel leaders seeking to overthrow president Jean-Bertrand Aristide say they'll control the entire country within two weeks. That prediction comes as government and opposition forces struggle for control of Haiti's second largest state, Cap-Hechien (ph). More than half of Haiti is beyond the control of the Aristide government. Dozens of people have been killed since the uprising began nearly three weeks ago. The rebels say that they're going to respond today to the U.S.-backed peace plan which would keep Aristide as president while sharing some of his power.
In the capital of Port-au-Prince overnight one person reportedly died in a bomb blast at a carnival celebration. It is unclear, though, if it was connected to the insurgency in any way.

Joining us now to discuss the deteriorating situation in Haiti is former Defense Secretary William Cohen. He joins us from our Washington bureau.

Nice to see you, secretary. Thanks for being with us.

WILLIAM COHEN, FMR. DEFENSE SECY.: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Let's first talk about this small international delegation that made their way into Haiti. They left Saturday. The next day, the violence appeared to get significantly worse. Did the delegation's tactics misfire? Should they have done more?

COHEN: I'm not sure they can do more or could do more. Basically laid out a plan whereby president Aristide had agreed to share power. You have a new prime minister, a new governing council as such, in which it would give certainly the rebels an opportunity to at least have some political participation. The United States and those countries who were a part of that delegation are faced with a very difficult dilemma now.

On the one hand, they don't want to validate any sort of military coup that turns into a political victory as such. At the same token, you have President Aristide, who has lost the support of his political oppositions, even coming out against him, having shared power. So you have a conundrum, which is only going to result in the lowering the depths of humanity in Haiti. It is a very, very tortured country with very little economic prosperity in the future, unless some sort of agreement can be reached, one proposed by the delegation that was there just last Saturday.

O'BRIEN: How did he get to reaching that agreement? I mean, right now you see the population is clearly terrorized. The opposition showing absolutely no sign of backing down from its position.

COHEN: I think what has to happen is the political opposition, which does not share the -- certainly the rebels' tactic right now, has to come to the understanding that the only hope for Haiti is to have this kind of sharing of power in the interim. The problem has been generated by the fact that there were fraudulent allegations, or allegations about fraudulent practices back during the elections in 2000, which resulted in millions of dollars of economic aid being withheld from Haiti. So more poverty, more misery, more dissent, again, at those lower depths, and so now we have a situation in which the political opposition is refusing to support this proposal by the delegation that was there on Saturday.

But I think they have to come to the recognition that without that kind of proposal, all we can see is more chaos, more anarchy, more bloodshed and no future for the people of Haiti.

O'BRIEN: What about a military solution? I mean,should there be some role for the U.S. or some role for France as well, with a military solution, i.e., sending troops into Haiti?

COHEN: Well, I believe that France and others have indicated that they would be prepared to put forces on the ground should there be an agreement. But to use that force to go in to create stability is something they have yet to come to grips with. Whether they will in terms of the violence continuing to spread with a failed state in the -- as a real prospect what all of that might entail for the people of Haiti. I think they may come to re-evaluate that. Right now, they are saying if there's an agreement, we'll put troops in in an order to stabilize the situation. Without that, they have yet to make such a commitment.

O'BRIEN: California Congressman Chris Cox said on CNN the other day, yesterday I believe, a comment that he basically placed a lot of the blame squarely in the Clinton administration's lap. He said that Aristide is a brutal thug, and that Clinton's move to return him to power back in 1994 was a big mistake. What's your response to that?

COHEN: Well, Aristide was, in fact, elected Democratically. And we've seen this country with 200 years of history in Haiti. I think there's been 30 military coups. So it's a country that has not known a great deal of stability for many, many years. President Aristide did at least offer the prospect of trying to establish a Democratic form of government. There have been allegations again of fraudulent practices, which have resulted in a lack of economic support, as well as political support of President Aristide, but the United States cannot put itself in a position now of lending support to the rebel groups, whatever their legitimacy of their claims.

O'BRIEN: Former Defense Secretary William Cohen, joining us this morning. Secretary Cohen, thanks for your time.

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