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Scene moves Bill Clinton to tears

U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti Bill Clinton was stunned by the devastation. The former president remained hopeful that Haiti can recover and vowed to fight for more aid.

By JACQUELINE CHARLES

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- As the United States moved to take over Haitian government-run aid distribution centers Monday, a teary-eyed former President Bill Clinton saw first-hand the destructive scars of Haiti's biggest natural disaster.

Clinton flew into this battered Caribbean capital shortly after 1 p.m., arriving bearing medical supplies. He later met with Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and President René Préval before leaving. Préval spent much of the day meeting with international donors in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

During a visit to Haiti's largest public hospital, Clinton was clearly moved by the scores of injured disaster victims sleeping in the yard. Just days ago, doctors had to use vodka to perform surgeries because they had no alcohol.

As he stepped into the bare-bones building, the man designated as the U.N. special envoy for Haiti was greeted by the smell of formaldehyde and the agony of old men, and toddlers screaming in pain.

`MAMMOTH'

The scene: partially-naked men and women with broken limbs, children with bruised faces and surgeons performing surgery in an open room.

``Seeing all of these people . . . sleeping on the street, seeing the largest hospital in the country having all of those people waiting to be cared for, it gives you an idea of the mammoth nature of the human loss, the physical and financial damage, and the continuing possibility of further loss and healing depending on whether we can respond quickly enough and well enough,'' Clinton told The Miami Herald in an interview.

He was joined here by his daughter Chelsea. The two also brought with them two bags stuffed with teddy bears.

Clinton's visit came one day before the one-week anniversary of the earthquake. On Saturday, his wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited.

During her visit, she told Préval that the U.S. was proposing a joint operating task force to help his overwhelmed government move millions of dollars of aid coming into Haiti.

That task force began showing signs of life Monday as the U.S. military took over a distribution center at the Petionville country club.

More . . . including a video clip.

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