European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 10, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday August 10, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Pago 13 Clinton to blame for stirring Messy haitian pot a . Viv a Ringli Mnist to i _ to _,.,i,i a a. Tft., no. I it a a to to Lone attempt by a columnist to avoid the subject of Haiti finally ends in capitulation. It can t be avoided and accordingly one strips to the vast and trudges Down to the infrastructure of our foreign policy. The Basic propositions. 1. When Woodrow Wilson set out to make the world Safe for democracy he was on a visionary High. The world he helped to create gave birth to nazism and communism. Democracy is worse than a laugh in Africa it is a gruesome death cackle. Democracy in latin Ameri Ca is about 8v4 weeks old and May yet not quite make it As recent developments in Vene Zuela and Mexico sadly confirm. 2. The inces Sant invocation of Grenada by those who wish us to move militarily against Haiti is grossly misapplied. There was a dominant reason for going into Grenada namely to arrest what was More and More transparently a soviet at tempt to acquire working political control of the strategic Island Gateway to the Caribbean. Was there sufficient reason to go into Panama in 1989? no there was not unless the commander in chief visualized a latent threat to the Panama canal. To the question did president Bush convincingly depict a threat to the canal the answer is accordingly critics of William f. Buckley Cruzic r Duvalier ruled Haiti and ate at least As burmese against to against alg yells about democracy. Clinton jew Nally our venture into Panama Are justified in " innocent civilians for breakfast As his Ria Algeria in a democratic election voted located a country Small enough o swell his condemning it. But in Panama our object current incarnation general Cedras the for Muslim fundamentalists. The army biceps in indignation. The Muscles col. �. Nao i ,.,. It Vui Wui , � a Oroo Rosed when he sent sea scouts into the Strong Arm dictator. Took Over exit democracy. Lbs asked the organization of enter the u.k.? of no. If Cedras had lapse t Sharbor of port a Prince where they wer Etive was comparatively modest. It was to oust one dictator not to introduce or re Ven la Askea m Urga Nizato 01 Camci Ain us �. u T.�introduce, democracy into Panama. Pana a states to give an opinion of our planted a red of Fig in Haiti and proclaimed i politely told by a few Haiti stiffs to get maniacs Don t much go in for democracy. Ration in the dominican Republic the a democratic socialist Republic devoted out of town. Clinton found that 3. The glaringly relevant precedent for overwhelming majority of latin american to socialist realism and an end to Monopo ing the current mess is 1965. That was the year nations signalled their approval. It was by oligopoly the United nations would that president Johnson sent the marines go id hemispheric action but it reflected have Frozen in inaction to Santo Domingo. They landed in the not a hygienic concern for democracy 5. These fundamental observations Lea Eastern half of Hispaniola shared by the rather a fear of another communist sat to a single conclusion the one reason dominican Republic and Haiti because i site shaped like Cuba and waging terror Haiti occupies National attention in t the there was the threat of a Ca troite Putsch j St wars against its neighbors wretchedness and cruelty of life there and a Prospect of another important Cas the approval of military action by the these Are evil banalities we coexist with Salty in the world War we were fighting Security Council of the United nations because we do not have the International against the soviet Union. Against Haiti is contemptible stuff. Muscle onl8T supposes. We landed in Santo Domingo and what significant Steps has these we Are swamped with the haitian after a while left utterly ignoring the West purity Council taken against the serbs or question because Bill Clinton add it j Ern half of Hispaniola where papa Doc for that matter against the chinese. The. The National question with his screams and what then mobilized was t so much the . Military As the Black caucus so that on a typical night of i neighing on to we get such As rep. Major Owens of Newyork denouncing As racist sen. Richard Lugar s statement that Many americans Donot believe an incursion into Haiti Worth one drop of american Clinton has really made a most awfulness of things. C Universal press Syndicate Boorda s scuttling of Arthur a shabby affair we cannot afford to confine army appointments to persons who have excited no hostile comments in their careers said Winston Churchill at the beginning of world War ii. But when it comes to his senior com Manders in a potential War zone president Clinton Evi Dently has precisely the opposite priorities. He has permitted adm. Mike Boorda his chief of naval operations to countermand his nomination of adm. Stanley r. Arthur to be commander of the Pacific come one of the most important . Combat com 01 As a highly decorated Vietnam War Veteran and As the combat commander of the 7th Fleet during the Gulf War Arthur was by All accounts the perfect Man for the Job. What then were the hostile comments that Cost him that position. It v As detailed by Eric Schmitt m the new York times they were fourfold he upheld the decision of lower ranking officers to fail lieutenant Rebecca Han sen in helicopter Pilot school. V. He recommended. That lieutenant Paula Coughlim who was sexually harassed at the Tail Hook association convention repay the unearned part of her $18,000 aviation Bonus to avoid what he said was a bad precedent i. In his investigation of the cause of a fire aboard the Carrier Ranger in 1983, he held Jwo seamen responsible for setting the fire instead of holding More senior officers accountable for failure of some senators objected that Admiral a thur was overweight and not suitable for command although the Senate had confirmed his appointment As 7th Fleet commander and vice chief of naval operations when he was the same the coup de Grace in this Sleazy affair was delivered appropriately enough by one of the Senate s prime Sleazy ids Republican sen. David Durenberger of Minnesota himself under investigation for questionable financial dealings. When Durenberger put a hold ton a thur s nomination to display a hitherto Well concealed lofty ethical Standard in defense of Hansen both the Senate armed services committee and the whole de sense department establishment caved in. As the Virginia Pilot editorialized Admiral Boorda who made it Plain when he took the no s Job last month that he would toe the feminist line was unwilling to stand up and fight for Admiral Arthur and kicked him Over the to add insult to injury Boorda with Arthur s blood still fresh on his hands went personally to beg and cajole Hansen even of Fering her a Job on his staff an offer she contemptuously re fused. Then there was Clinton himself in whose name a thur s nomination had been sent to the Senate for Confirma Tion. One would think that he of All people would be sensitive to false charges of sex Ual impropriety. Yet he allowed Arthur to be hanged from the Yardar on precisely such false charges with out a single word in his defense. " what to make of this whole shabby affair Asma Rine combat Veteran and former Secretary of the Navy Harry g. Summers James Webb put it in the july 10, 1994, new York times the casual Way in which the administration has dealt with command replacement for a theater where War could be imminent indicates either naivete or arrogance when it comes to the importance of Strong military leadership. And it is a grim Omen for the future of the military when competent warriors arc sent Home by political writing in the pages of the july 1994 naval Institute proceedings capt. Robert Phillips a Navy Chap lain blames the Tail Hook affair the naval Academy s recent cheating scandal and by implication the Arthur affair on what he Calls the Lemming it is Manifest in the willingness of otherwise decent individuals to Rush As a group off the Cliff of High standards onto the rocks of Dishonour the Best Way to spot counterfeit Money is by a total _ familiarity with genuine currency Phillips says. Naval leadership that exemplifies the genuine currency of integrity offers pause to potential lemmings who Are ready to Rush after counterfeit payoffs promised by unethical the latest example of this Rush to counterfeit payoffs was the sacrifice of an innocent officer in a vain at tempt to placate the gods of political correctness. It shows Only too clearly that within the Navy the Lem Ming effect is still alive and Well. And As with Tail Hook and the naval Aca Deray cheating scandal the United states is still the los Angeles times
