Lee Hamilton: “I want to speak in support of the Dellums-Hamilton amendment. What we are trying to do with this amendment is to move…”

“I want to speak in support of the Dellums-Hamilton amendment. What we are trying to do with this amendment is to move the Haitian policy in a more constructive direction, and the amendment is designed to help create a better policy for Haiti. It is very important I think that the leaders in Haiti, the regime leaders now understand that we are committed to their removal and we support the democratic will of the Haitian people. It is clearly time for them to go. Now what we do here is set out in the amendment drafted by Mr. Dellums and myself a policy toward Haiti. The first statement is that other options have to be exhausted before you turn to military force. Force is a last resort. This amendment urges the administration to seek alternatives to the use of force and urges it to ratchet up the pressure through other means and seek national reconciliation in Haiti. The second point of the amendment is with respect to the refugees. What we are trying to do here is simply establish a fair procedure for dealing with the refugees.”