By the time U.S. troops arrived, the woman was already on fire, set ablaze in the street by neighbors who were sure she was a witch. As the body smoldered, the soldiers cordoned off gawkers.
It was hours before the Haitian police arrived. By then, U.S. infantrymen had doused the charred remains with a fire extinguisher.
“We certainly weren’t trained for this,” said a soldier from Chicago as he watched the grisly scene last week. “Welcome to the new Army.”
This is peacekeeping, a role U.S. soldiers have played in Haiti for almost 15 months. Trained for war, they have directed traffic, paved roads, built bridges, investigated homicides and provided amateur counseling to residents. Trained as sharpshooters, their only shots have come from automatic cameras that capture souvenir photos for the family back home.
A Bosnia peace treaty signed Thursday in Paris will trigger the deployment of 20,000 U.S. troops in the former Yugoslavia as part of the contingent of 60,000 NATO peacekeepers. American soldiers in Haiti say that to get a hint of what U.S. troops will face in Bosnia, one has only to look to the streets of Haiti.
“It’s like muzzling a pit bull,” said Sgt. Edmund Oswalt, a trained sniper who is uncomfortable with the new world order. “Our instinct is still to fight, but our hands are tied.”
It is difficult to compare Bosnia and Haiti, military experts say. Besides climate and geographical differences, Bosnia has been in the throes of civil war, putting U.S. soldiers in greater jeopardy there.
In Haiti, U.S. troops operate under the umbrella of the United Nations. In Bosnia, they will be part of NATO forces. In Haiti, the biggest threat comes from thugs, gangs and unruly crowds. In Bosnia, the danger comes from armed militias full of ethnic hatred. In Haiti, U.S. troops concentrate on disarming civilians. In Bosnia, the soldiers will be sweeping for land mines.
In some ways, however, the military’s role in Bosnia will be similar to the situation in Haiti, where soldiers are more social workers than warriors.
“Here we are peacekeeping. There we will be peace maintaining,” said Sgt. Mike Vukman, a reservist from California. “But the bottom line is still the same. We’re there not to fight but (we’re there) for peace.”
The U.S.-led military effort in Haiti is seen by the Pentagon as a case study in how its forces can be successfully deployed in the re-building of troubled nations.
“Without our involvement in Haiti, it’s unlikely our troops would be going to Bosnia,” said a senior U.S. official in Port-au-Prince. “There’s no way the administration could sell the American people and Congress on Bosnia if something had gone wrong in Haiti.”
More than 20,000 troops were sent to Haiti in September 1994, roughly the same number as the U.S. contingent going to Bosnia. Today, fewer than 2,200 remain, making up nearly half the 6,000-plus UN force.
In the eyes of the Clinton administration, Operation Uphold Democracy has suceeded. There has been one U.S. casualty, a solider shot to death in a clash at a highway checkpoint in January. The brutal military regime was dismantled, and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ushered back from exile.
Sunday’s presidential election to choose Aristide’s successor will be a key step toward stability, diplomats say.
But the military mission has not been without critics. Haitian officials say U.S. forces have not done enough to disarm anti-government thugs. Some Haitians resent the U.S. presence, calling the troops an “occupation force.” The international effort has failed to revive Haiti’s economy.,
By conservative estimates, the U.S. military mission has cost more than $600 million, prompting critics to wonder if the price was too high.
Still, after difficulties and military embarrassments in Somalia in 1993, U.S. officials are relieved that the failures have not been repeated in Haiti. And lessons learned in Haiti will go a long way toward helping the deployment in Bosnia.
“The biggest threat is boredom and complacency,” said Spec. Mark Runyon, 22, of Florence, Ala. “You have to discipline yourself to keep your mind sharp because the situation can change at any moment.”
One day last week, Runyon sat in the back of an Army Humvee with his squad from Ft. Campbell, Ky., as it meandered through Port-au-Prince on streets clogged with traffic and vendors.
Hawkers were shooed away as they tried to sell wooden souvenirs to the soldiers. Children shouted at the slowly passing vehicle, which took more than an hour to travel three miles. The sole aim of the patrol: Show a presence.
“When we come on the scene, everything quiets down,” said Oswalt, 28, of Sanbornville, N.H. “When we leave, that’s when trouble happens.”
Training a new Haitian police force has gone slowly; about 5,000 are expected to be deployed by early February.
Ultimately, the effects of peacekeeping efforts could be short-lived, Oswalt said.
“I think when we leave, everything is going to go to hell again,” Oswalt said. “And I think the same thing will happen in Bosnia. I can see us being right back here in Haiti in five years.”
It is unclear when U.S. troops will leave. The UN mission is supposed to wind down after Feb. 7, when a new Haitian president is to be sworn in. Some nations already have begun withdrawing their troops.
But several Western diplomats and Haitian sources said the Clinton administration is pressing the Haitian government to allow a small international force to remain at least through the summer.
The calming influence of U.S. troops was apparent last week after the hostile crowd torched the suspected witch.
According to several people in the crowd, neighbors thought the woman had taken the spirit from a young boy who had died of a fever. When she was found performing a satanic ceremony in her home, she was dragged out, beaten, doused with kerosene and set on fire.
Horrified U.S. soldiers arrived to find the woman in flames.
The soldiers seem immune to the violence.
“We’re here to stabilize the situation for the Haitian police,” said U.S. Army Lt. Butch Smith. “This has become routine for us.”
