Recently, the United States invaded the Caribbean superpower Haiti. Nineteen thousand American lives are at risk on an island which is half the size of New York and it is all in the name of "Restoring Democracy." Since when have Haiti's problems with a dictator been the problem of the United States? Since the illegal immigrants and refugees have been pouring into Florida is when. Haiti's decimated economy is one of the many reasons that Haiti's people have been fleeing the country. The United State's military should not be made into the world's police by intervening militarily into Haiti's internal social problems. The United States should try to help Haiti's by building up the country economically instead of making a mockery of our country's armed forces, the finest in the world.

First, the United States military is the finest in the world and the use of the military is degrading to the brave men and women who are members and ought to be an embarrassment to the people in charge of the military. Haiti poses no threat to the United States in any kind of way. Haiti produces nothing that we as a nation need, except baseballs, but in case you have not heard, the players are on strike. Haiti is a poor, farming country that has some of the poorest living conditions in the Western hemisphere. This fact does not empower the United States to send in the armed forces to act as police and hand out food and supplies to the Haitian people. The United States tried the same thing in Somalia two years ago. The mission called for the military to enter the country, overthrow the dictator, and hand out food and supplies to the people of Somalia. Nineteen months later, the last American soldier left Somalia. The dictator was still in power, Somalians were still starving, and the United States dumped billions of dollars into a bottomless pit, never to see the money again. On top of that, the people of Somalia now hate the United States because they are still in the same situation before the United States, under the command of the United Nations, invaded Somalia in an humanitarian effort. The mission was a total failure and the military came out looking like fools. We are in the same situation here in Haiti. The situation is a little different because Rauol Cedras, the Haitian dictator, was "forced" out of power by the United States, but who says that another dictator will not take control of Haiti? What will the United States do then? The common excuse used by the elected officials in Washington now is people are dying and we as a nation should not stand around and not act on the inhumane conditions in this world. In a fact sheet sent out by the White House, President Clinton's agenda calls for the men and women in the United States to risk their lives because The Haitian people are suffering worsening privation and brutality at the hands of the military. Unless soon halted these abuses could drive large numbers of Haitians to risk the perils of the sea to try to reach our shores. Death is natural. Two hundred million people die every day in the world, but just because some people are dying because of poor living conditions, the United States should intervene to stop prevent their deaths, or at least postpone the deaths a few years. The liberals in Washington must get some kind of a high throwing money into a hole in the name of humanitarian causes. I, personally, do not see the point in acting as the world's sow with all of the other poor piglets sucking the country dry. My tax money can go to much better things than a bottomless pit of foreign aid to countries like Haiti. The military is like a fine tuned machine, much like a Ferrari, it is fine the way it is, do not try to refine it because what you will get is a lot of problems.

Next, the United States needs to encourage the citizens of Haiti to stay in their own country. To do this the United States need to lift many of the economic embargoes imposed on Haiti years ago. The living conditions in Haiti are terrible because many necessities, such as medicine, cannot get into the country. The increased trade with the country will improve their living conditions dramatically and not as many people will want to risk their lives to "swim" to Florida. Some people will say that lifting economic sanctions will help, but not fast enough. The United States armed forces must go to Haiti to act as police and to distribute much needed food and medicine and to attempt to rebuild the country. Too many people are dying too fast to just sit back and let free enterprise and free trade run the show. These are the same people who are against sending economic support to Russia and other Eastern Block nations who are trying Democracy for the first time. The hypocrites are for military intervention in Haiti because the immigration problem directly affects the U.S. whereas Russia does not. Let me remind you, Russia still has thousands of ICBM's (Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles for you aggies) that may be for sale if Russians are going hungry and need medicine. Many people also criticized military intervention in Iraq four years ago during the Gulf War. Kuwait was overtaken by the Iraqis which caused a major power shift in the Middle East. The reason the Gulf War was fought was because of oil. The Middle East is loaded with oil and Iraq threatened the supply of the most important resource in the world. The Gulf War was a very wise decision because the United States preserved oil prices worldwide and preserving the economy of Kuwait. The Middle East is forever in our debt because of our decisive intervention in Kuwait. Haiti poses no direct threat to the United States, but Russia and the former Soviet States still pose a grave threat to the vital interests of the United States. By lifting sanctions on Haiti, they receive the supplies they desperately need, none of our brave, young men and women will die, and we will save billions of dollars in our treasury. In an address to the nation on September 8, 1994, President Clinton said, The American people have already spent $177 million to support them and maintain the economic embargo -- and the taxpayers will have to spend $14 million each month unless we act. The reason General Cedras took control of Haiti is because Aristide is socialist and his policies would hurt Haiti even more than sanctions. With the United States "forcing" Cedras out of power and putting Aristead back in power, we have managed to return to status quo. To get Haiti back on its feet, lifting sanctions is the first of many measures that need to take place to help the second oldest Democracy in the Western hemisphere.

Finally, instead of invading Haiti with the military, we should invade Haiti with business and corporations. The reason Haitians are leaving the country is there are no jobs and they need money to stay alive. Haitians have a per capita income of under $500 per year. In America, the per capita income is around $25,000 per year. Some of America's large corporations ought to expand their industries to Haiti. Industrializing Haiti would do a great deal to help the nation and its citizens. Illegal immigrants would stop fleeing to America because there would be jobs in their own country. American corporations could use the cheap labor and lesser standards to their advantage to make even more profit. Instead of making every part of a car, for instance, at one plant in Detroit, some individual parts can be crafted in Haiti and then exported to America. Of course some tariffs would have to be in place to discourage having the entire car built out of country. America and American jobs come first, but Haiti can get a share of the money that many of these large corporations are making each year. This is really an expansion of NAFTA which was signed earlier this year between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. The North American Free Trade Act has been a huge success to all three countries involved. Mexico has received goods from Canada and the United States at much cheaper costs and American and Canadian industries are making millions more because their markets have been opened up to a whole new group of customers. Free trade can only help, it cannot hurt.

In conclusion, military intervention is not the way to go in resolving Haiti's problems. Only more problems will come our way if we do not completely pull back our forces from Haiti before the end of January, 1995. The money we are spending will get out of control and no long term solution will be found so more problems will have to be solved, which means more money spent. Instead of using the military, use free enterprise and free trade. The only real, long term solution to Haiti's problems will be to rebuild the economy in Haiti and let the Haitians have pride in what they have become and be optimistic towards the future of their children and grandchildren.