European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 19, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday october 19, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 15 Harry g. Summers called to the White House to attend a special background briefing on the situation in Haiti by four senior administration officials i addressed their primary concern about the debate then going on in the House and Senate Over whether a a Date certain ought to be established for the withdrawal of . Troops from Haiti. It would not have been the first time that Congress imposed a deadline on Clinton administration foreign. Adventures. Just last year sen. Robert c. Byrd d-w.va., head of. The powerful Senate appropriations committee forced the administration to set just such a Date certain for withdrawing forces from Somalia. That experience was evidence of the dangers of imposing an inflexible withdrawal Date. As was the Case with somalian strongman Mohamed Farrah aided All your adversary has to do is wait you out and then go. A a a a Back to his depredations once you leave. A a a a a a. A a a. A. But i reminded the White House panel no matter How the vote went in the Congress a and As it turned out no congressional Date certain was imposed a there was an even More critical Date certain looming Over the haitian operation. Although no one could name the Day there will come a time when the american people will insist that their sons and daughters be withdrawn. That Day is Likely to come sooner rather than later. The reason is the very simple Cost Benefit equation often quoted Here Karl Yon Clausewitz 160-year-old warning that a since War is not a matter of senseless passion but is controlled by its political object the value of this object must determine the sacrifices to be made for it both in magnitude and in  and As he went on to say in words that were validated As recently As last year in Mogadishu a once the expenditure of Effort exceeds the value of the political object the object must be renounced a what is the political object in Haiti As the new York times Michael Gordon pointed out in a most perceptive oct. 6, 1994, article a in explaining their Haiti policy Clinton administration officials have done Little to instill a sense of National sacrifice. They have not stressed that. The Price is Worth paying to remove a despotic government and Send a signal of american determination around the  a instead the administration has stressed it has a limited goal a a a breathing space., to help Haiti become a democracy. A if you Are going to use Force you have to persuade the nation that it is important said Zalma Khal izad a former head of the Pentagon a office of policy planning _ because the a a value Side of the Clausewitz Ian equation has not been established there has been an inordinate concentration on the a a Cost Side particularly on . Casualties. Arid that in itself creates a major risk. A if you communicate that you Are afraid of casualties it is almost a certain Way of inviting them a Johns Hopkins professor Eliot Cohen told Gordon. A your opponents will very quickly figure out that is our most important  a _ that happened to the United states in Korea. Waning Public support for the War in 1953 forced . Military commander Gen. Maxwell d. Taylor to abandon first did Baldy and then pork chop Hill to the enemy because of the . Political sensitivity to Battlefield casualties. And it happened again in Vietnam when the 1969 Battle for hamburger Hill proved so bloody that . Commander Gen. Creighton w. Abrams was ordered to cease tactical offensive operations. And it happened yet again in Mogadishu when 18 . Ranger casualties proved to exceed the value of that operation As perceived by the american people. The Clinton administration is thus impaled on the horns of a dilemma. To avoid having a Date cer Tain imposed by the american people it can either in crease the value of that operation or continue the risky policy of avoiding casualties. But building Public support for risking . Lives to keep Jean Bart Rand Aristide in Power will not be easy. As an article in the oct. 24 new Republic notes while his people were starving to death Aristide was spending millions on flacks to pump up his Public image in the United states including $422,680 to one firm for the period february november 1993 alone $500,000 to another and $55,000 a month to former congressman Michael Barnes who testified on Aristide s behalf before the House armed services committee on oct. 7 1994. Joint chiefs of staff chairman Gen. John a Shalikashvil said that the United states is unlikely to hand Over its Mission to . Peacekeepers until after haitian legislative elections scheduled for december. But As with All military operations that Date certain depends upon what Clausewitz called a circumstances and the course of  and circumstances in Haiti Are becoming riskier by the Day. C Losa Igol Stimes a a again . Does t go far enough in Gulf Saddam Hussein stands a pretty Good Chance of carrying it off again. Once again he has created a military crisis and been forced by american Power to Back off. A and yes once again he could end up with a Deai that allows him to remain in total control at Home grow in prestige abroad As a Leader of islam and rebuild for a new attack against the United states and its mideastern allies. Nice president Clinton  arrived at the same decision Point president Bush reached after he led the Allied coalition to a stunning military Victory Over Saddam. Would he push on toward ending Saddam and his tyranny Bush decided not to do that because it would have meant carrying on the War awhile longer. There a not much Point batting that one around anymore. The fact that american forces had to return to the Battleground they won settles that argument. But Saddam faced again by american forces withdrew the additional divisions he sent to the kuwaiti Border. So Clinton does not have to face a de. Vision on whether to keep a War going. What he does have to do is use his own demonstration of american military and willpower to shrink Saddam a control of Iraq. Defense Secretary William Perry suggested one such Way an exclusion zone that would forbid iraqi troops troop movements or heavy weapons in Kuwait a Border Region. Another would be to order Sadnin to cease his constant use of iraqi troops against iraqi shiite dissidents in the South end his military blockade of the iraqi kurd in the North and pull Back from kurdish run territory. But what is going on a the United states has moved away from the Perry idea and similar suggestions to Cut Down Saddam a control. Instead it proposes that Saddam be told not to Send Back to the kuwaiti Border those 20,000 new troops he already is pulling out. He would be free to use them to go on killing other enemies like iraqi kurd and shiites. And he would still keep 35,000 troops in the kuwaiti area not one fewer than he started with when he began his show of Defiance of the United states and United nations. Are iraqis to believe this is a terrible defeat for Saddam Only one thing will be left to punish . Rosenthal Saddam a the Oil  the embargo stands Between him and the billions of dollars he wants to rebuild his military Power. France China and Russia will fight to lift the Oil embargo so they can go through with the already typed up deals with Iraq. They will get iraqi Oil Iraq will get Western Cash and russian and chinese weapons. The Middle East will get More War and american troops another Chance someday to face the dictator who was supposed to have been buried almost four years ago. France Russia and China say the embargo should be lifted because Saddam supposedly agreed to permanent monitoring of his programs for weapons of mass destruction. Does anybody believe he will do that once the embargo ends he still has scud missiles chemical munitions his entire biological weapons programs a and is digging new deep underground shelters and tunnels to produce and store the weapons of mass destruction he is not supposed to make anymore. The information is from James Wool sey director of the Cia. The United states now insists it will not agree to lift the embargo until Saddam changes his behaviour. That says Madeleine Albright . Delegate to the United nations includes stopping the repression of his own people. Since he could not do that and still stay alive it is a Fine policy a or at least part of one. But it would have meant a lot to iraqi rebels and shortened Saddam s hold on Power if his latest threat had also been met with immediate Steps to reduce his control Over them and their country. The sensible Way to do that in addition to embargo is to slice away at his authority Over iraqis territory and his ability to use his armed forces As essential tools of government and terror. An exclusion zone or three would slice Well. Western diplomats sometimes pull Long faces and say that might Lead to the breakup of Iraq. Well Well. Does containment of Iraq now suddenly mean guarantee of Saddam a own territorial control of the millions of iraqis who have fled to the mountains and the swamps to escape him where is it written. C now Porss times a the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government