Porter Goss: “Mr. Chairman, I rise in favor of the Goss amendment on Haiti. As we debate this issue today, I would like to call my…”

“Mr. Chairman, I rise in favor of the Goss amendment on Haiti. As we debate this issue today, I would like to call my colleagues' attention to one overwhelming fact that each and every one of us must acknowledge. This fundamental truth must form the foundation of all United States policy toward Haiti in the days and weeks to come. I am referring to the fact that the American people will not assume responsibility for events in Haiti. I have the utmost respect for my colleagues in this body who feel passionately about the violence and political repression in Haiti. And I have great sympathy for the dilemmas confronted by the administration as it tries to do the right thing. But if we believe for 1 minute that the American people will support military action in Haiti and the prolonged occupation that will follow, we are kidding ourselves. If we believe for 1 minute that economic sanctions alone will force the Haitian generals from power without such military action, we are deceiving ourselves. And if we have learned one lesson from our tragic experience in Somalia, it is that turning a humanitarian problem into a military one is a prescription for disaster. Tougher economic sanctions will only further impoverish Haiti's most vulnerable poor.”