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WASHINGTON, May 3 (IPS) – A U.S. military court will next week seek to determine whether an army captain behaved improperly in his bid to stop human rights abuses in Haiti. But though the military court will focus on the soldier's conduct, the case draws attention to the larger question of the U.S. Army's responsibility under international law and just why the Pentagon did not respond immediately to reports that Haitian prison inmates faced inhumane conditions.

Some critics say the goals of the U.S. mission in Haiti between last Sept. 15 and Mar. 31 took such dramatic turns it is not surprising members of the army command may have confused the objectives. For Capt. Lawrence Rockwood, however, there was no confusion.

The 36-year-old counter-intelligence officer, a practicing Tibetan Buddhist who often cites the Dalai Lama, maintains that the U.S. Army should have taken "positive action in support of human rights." Instead, Rockwood told a Congressional hearing today, his superiors had been "criminally negligent."

The fact that Rockwood presumed to disregard orders and leave his base last Sept. 30 to conduct his own inspection of the main Port-au-Prince prison led to his court-martial. "I had information that people were being tortured and executed and bodies were being taken to the dump," he said.

When President Bill Clinton announced at the start of the mission last Sept. 15 that the primary objective of the so-called "Operation Uphold Democracy" was to "prevent the brutal atrocities against Haitians," Rockwood took him seriously. "Bearing in mind my military oath as a soldier, I took the words of my Commander-in-Chief at face value," Rockwood told the House of Representatives International Relations subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

When his attempts to bring the conditions to the attention of his superiors failed, however, Rockwood crept out of his military base alone and got a ride to the prison, ignoring orders that soldiers should travel in pairs or in convoys.

Rockwood's critics argue that the "guidance" of the president of the United States should never have superseded the orders of his immediate superiors. "Discipline and obedience to orders, conveyed through a well-defined chain of command are factors which distinguish a military force from an armed mob," retired Col. Richard Black told today's Congressional hearing.

Rockwoood recalls his visits to concentration camps in Germany with his father. He told the Congressional subcommittee that his superiors were "not only derelict, but criminally negligent" in failing to respond to the prison conditions. "The charges I am facing appear petty next to the life-threatening human rights violations that continued in the Port-au-Prince National Penitentiary for two-and-a-half months after my attempted intervention," he said. He insists, however, there was nothing petty in the charges he made in an official complaint Sept. 30. "The actions I took in the circumstances were appropriate and legitimate."

Some U.S. human rights organizations defend Rockwood. The Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights says the soldier's actions were justifiable and that, unlike his superiors, he showed common-sense, morality and decency. What mystifies the Lawyers' Committee is why the Pentagon did not respond at once to Rockwood's charges. "We find it difficult to understand why the army's issue is why Capt. Rockwood refused to stay at his base, rather than why the army command couldn't bestir itself to do anything," said the Committee's Rob Weiner, who is based in New York. Rockwood also received support at today's hearing, from some Congressmen who objected to the U.S. intervention in Haiti.

Dan Burton, chairman of the International Relations subcommittee also faults the Pentagon. "I hope if this hearing doesn't do anything else, it would at least alert the Pentagon…to make one of their top priorities when they take control of a military situation, to go into the hospitals, to go into the prisons, to make sure the conditions are livable as quickly as possible," said Burton.

Weiner suggests the United States may even have broken some international rules during its mission in Haiti. He argues that Washington clearly said in advance that it would apply the Geneva Conventions, which covers the treatment of prisoners. He argues that the United States had wide control in Haiti and had in fact entered into a cooperation agreement with Haitian authorities to help keep peace. "Under human rights law, in peacetime and wartime, the United States has an obligation to ensure respect for all persons subject to its jurisdiction," he said.

The United States was also acting under the authority of the United Nations which endorsed the U.S.-led intervention to secure a stable environment. "If prisoners were starving to death inside the prison, this is not qualitatively different from violence on the streets," said Weiner.

Representative Burton visited Haiti in February, five months after Rockwood's complaints. He called conditions there "sub-human" even after a cleanup. "I had to have a handkerchief over my mouth to be able to breathe," he said. Burton noted that as many as 500 prisoners remained in one cell and many had hepatitis and other diseases.

The Pentagon itself has launched an inquiry into Rockwood's allegations that Maj. Gen. David Meade, Commander of the 10th Mountain Division, and his staff failed to address the allegations of human rights violations. Origin: //

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[c] 1994, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)

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