ABSTRACT
The armed forces were especially stung by the 'Vietnam syndrome' and tended to resist the use of military force to carry out American objectives abroad. Since the end of the Gulf War, the American military has been involved in several peacekeeping and humanitarian missions, including one in the African nation of Somalia and another in the mostly black Caribbean nation of Haiti. American interests seemed clearer with regard to Haiti, with whom relations had been rocky since the island's enslaved residents overthrew their masters in 1794. Haiti's first democratically elected leader, a Catholic priest named Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ousted by a military junta in October 1991. In September 1994, after persistent pressure by the African American community to reinstate Aristide, 3,000 American troops landed in Haiti and the military agreed to step aside. Six months later, with Aristide back in power, the Americans turned the operation over to UN forces.
