Benjamin Gilman: “2 years ago, President Clinton sent our troops into Haiti, spending over $2 billion there, and now calls Haiti a foreign…”

“2 years ago, President Clinton sent our troops into Haiti, spending over $2 billion there, and now calls Haiti a foreign policy success. Three weeks ago, the President rushed 46 armed Federal agents to Haiti to protect President Preval and to purge members of Preval's own United States-trained palace guard who may have killed two opposition leaders. If President Clinton's agents fail, he may have to salvage this success story by sending our troops back into Haiti. Mr. Speaker, the Congress and the American people are entitled to know just what has gone wrong in Haiti and why. Regrettably, the President has invoked executive privilege to withhold key documents from our International Relations Committee's oversight review. This is a blatant abuse of power hiding a foreign policy failure. Neither President Reagan--in Iran-Contra--nor President Bush--in Iraqgate--ever used executive privilege to keep the Congress in the dark. Our committee will be holding a hearing tomorrow morning to get to the bottom of the mess in Haiti.”