Word: junta
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...junta's friends pose a graver problem. They fear that Aristide's supporters, if not Aristide himself, will seek revenge for abuses and killings committed during the three years since the coup. There is a long tradition of vengeance when power shifts. When Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc") Duvalier fell in 1986, crowds surged through Port-au-Prince seeking out members of the Tontons Macoutes and beating them to death. But Aristide's followers are just as afraid that weapons left in the hands of the military and its gangs of thugs will continue to be trained on them...
...largely the result of his own dithering. Indeed, more than anything else, the current crisis can be traced to the President's capitulation to an unarmed rent-a-mob protesting the arrival of a U.S. warship last October. When the Harlan County turned away from Port-au-Prince, the junta was emboldened to break its promise to depart voluntarily...
Haiti's instability doesn't dent U.S. security. If Clinton were more confident of his leadership, he could offer a straightforward, unadorned justification for intervention, a course that would acknowledge pursuing a sympathy rather than an interest, a preference rather than a need. By building on the junta's brutality, which he mentioned last week, Clinton could have said something like this...
...country peacefully, or else a U.S.-led invasion would commence shortly. But the following day, perhaps to muffle strong congressional criticism, he eased up a bit and announced that former President Jimmy Carter would lead a high-level delegation to Haiti for one last try at getting the junta to step down. The 11th-hour mission, which also includes former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell and Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sam Nunn, left Saturday amid rumors that Haitian strongman Raoul Cedras and his two top aides were at last considering a peaceful departure...
President Clinton lifted all travel and economic sanctions against Haiti to pave the way for democracy's return, and urged other nations to do likewise. He'll nonetheless keep a selective squeeze on Haiti's military junta, their families and about 600 supporters until they make good on their promise to give up power Oct. 15. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York for his second time as president, Clinton also outlined his policy of selective military engagement abroad "when the cause is right." Under the new Haiti policy, commercial flights to Haiti will resume Tuesday and Haitians...