THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 7, 1994 TAG: 9407070455
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long : 112 lines
U.S. ships and troops heading for Haiti will find a local defense force ill-equipped to ward off an invasion but with deadly potential to harass U.S. troops, analysts said Wednesday.
``As a military operation, it's not very demanding,'' Dave Isenberg, an analyst at the Center for Defense Information, a Washington think tank, said of a potential U.S. strike at the Caribbean island.
But because the 7,000-member Haitian army also serves as the country's police and firefighting force, displacing it could leave Americans in charge of a lawless land, he and others suggested.
And because Haiti's troops are equipped with a variety of small arms, individuals or small groups could prove to be dangerous foes for occupying U.S. forces long after the country's military leaders are overthrown.
``We're going up against people who've made a living out of being gangsters,'' said Norman Friedman, a columnist and naval analyst for Proceedings, the U.S. Naval Institute magazine. ``We're going to be in for a very long time with a lot of people.''
The Clinton administration says military action against Haiti is not imminent. It is pushing an international economic embargo aimed at neutralizing Haiti's forces by driving a wedge between their top leaders and the rank-and-file, most of them conscripts.
William H. Gray III, the president's chief adviser on Haitian affairs, said this week that the economic sanctions are creating splits in the Haitian military. There are no open signs of that, however.
The administration has appealed to Gen. Raoul Cedras, the commander-in-chief, to relinquish power. It apparently hopes military opposition to the country's elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, would disappear should Cedras leave or be deposed.
That's one possible outcome, Isenberg said. But it's also possible that individual soldiers or groups would be unwilling to risk reprisals at the hands of a restored Aristide government and the civilians the military has trampled on for generations.
Those troops could take their weapons and hole up in cities and towns, striking at occupying U.S. troops with sniper fire and guerrilla raids, continually threatening Aristide, he suggested.
A four-ship Marine amphibious group left Norfolk on Wednesday to pick up 3,000 Marines in North Carolina and then sail to the vicinity of Haiti. Another 650 Marines already are in the area on a training exercise aboard the Wasp, an amphibious assault ship.
The group's announced mission is to protect Americans and other foreign nationals should it be necessary to evacuate them, but it apparently would possess more than enough force to invade Haiti.
Haiti has ``a peanuts navy,'' Friedman said, consisting of a half-dozen or so operational patrol boats and one ship, a 40-year-old former U.S. Navy auxiliary tug called the Henri Christophe.
According to Naval Institute's Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, the Henri Christophe carries two 40 mm guns. The patrol boats are equipped with small machine guns.
Haiti's air force is even less of a threat, with only two combat aircraft and no armed helicopters.
``The U.S. can land anybody it wants there with virtually no casualties,'' Friedman said. ``That's not the problem militarily.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff
LEFT: A family gives the Portland, a dock-landing ship, a send-off
Wednesday at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base.
ASSOCIATED PRESS ABOVE: Wendy Huntley and her daughter Julie, 8,
watch the Trenton, an amphibious transport dock, leave Norfolk Naval
Base. The two ships and two others, the amphibious assault ship
Inchon and the tank-landing ship Spartanburg County, will stop in
Morehead City, N.C., to pick up 2,000 Marines before heading to
Haiti.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Members of the U.S. Coast Guard reach out Monday to rescue Haitians
whose sailboat had sunk off Haiti. Monday night, the army-backed
government accused the Coast Guard of trespassing in Haitian
national waters to pick up the thousands of refugees fleeing poverty
and repression. The Coast Guard maintains it has stayed within
international waters, 12 miles offshore.
Haiti's military
Navy
250 men.
One ship, the Henri Christophe, a former U.S. Navy auxiliary
ocean tug built in 1944. 143 feet long. Carries crew of 40 and two
40 mm guns.
Nine U.S.-built patrol boats (only six believed operational,
others used as parts sources). Each 41 feet long. Each carries crew
of four and is armed with three machine guns.
Army
7,000 men, equipped with a variety of small arms. Acts as a
police force as well as a military force.
Five armored personnel carriers.
A small, unspecified number of artillery pieces and mortars.
20 or fewer anti-tank weapons.
Air Force
150 men
Two combat aircraft
Four transport aircraft
10 training aircraft (Probably small Cessnas or Bonanzas)
No attack helicopters.
Sources: Center for Defense Information, Washington
U.S. Naval Institute, Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, 1993.
Jane's Fighting Ships, 1992-93.
KEYWORDS: HAITI HAITIAN MILITARY by CNB