Bill Nelson: “moment by moment things are unfolding down in the poverty-wracked, AIDS-infected, politically unstable island nation of…”

“moment by moment things are unfolding down in the poverty-wracked, AIDS-infected, politically unstable island nation of Haiti. I have had quite a bit of commentary on this subject since I had sent a letter of February 10 to the President suggesting what should be done. Given the events that have unfolded over the weekend--the fact that Aristide has fled, the fact that the U.S. military is located there as a first wave of an international security force to try to establish order--I want to talk about the future of that island nation. Clearly, it is a nation that has been troubled for stability, political and economic. I think what is in the interests of Haiti, as well as the interests of the United States, is to stabilize that nation. It is a nation that has not been comfortable because of the scores of coups d'etat that have occurred over the 200-year history of that little country. It is a country where we only need to look 10 years back to see that. When Aristide was elected President, a coup went in, removed him from power, and it took the U.S. military to come back in to put him back into power. The problem is that we didn't stay for the long haul. We didn't help Haiti pull itself up by its economic bootstraps.”