Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 15, 1994 TAG: 9407150079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Elite Army paratroopers who probably would lead an invasion of Haiti stepped up night training exercises at Fort Bragg, N.C. The administration announced that 15 countries had signaled a willingness to join a multinational force that would maintain order and retrain Haiti's security forces after the current military regime leaves.
The exiled Haitian president, the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, also issued a statement on Thursday calling for ``swift and definitive'' action by the international community to oust Haiti's leaders.
In making known recent military exercises but insisting no invasion is imminent, the administration seemed to be pressing the Haitian military leaders to leave and also trying to silence critics in Congress who say that the White House is moving precipitately to use force.
A day after the administration's senior foreign policy advisers briefed congressional leaders on Haiti policy, Sen. Sam Nunn, the Georgia Democrat who is an influential voice on military matters, warned the White House to consider any invasion plans ``very carefully,'' and said Haiti is not a ``vital'' American interest.
At the same time, the Senate on Thursday rejected, by a vote of 57-42, a proposal by the Senate Republican leader, Bob Dole, to head off military action by creating a bipartisan commission to study the Haitian crisis, which opponents said would tie President Clinton's hands for months.
The administration's actions were seen by many in Washington as a final effort to persuade Haiti's military leaders to leave voluntarily so the United States would not have to send troops, a step Clinton has said he wants to avoid but will not rule out.
The White House continued to insist that it would still rely on strict economic sanctions to drive out Haiti's military leaders. But even as it maintained that position, some 2,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, which would be in the vanguard of an American military action, held one of the largest rehearsals of an air assault that the unit has had in two years, Army officials said.
The paratroopers are practicing jumping from C-141 and C-130 transport, and securing landing zones for troops and equipment that would be flown in later - the same task the troops would undertake in an invasion of Haiti.
Military officials in Washington and at Fort Bragg, N.C., where the 82nd is based, described the two-night exercise as routine training that had been scheduled for two months.
``Honest to goodness, this isn't related to Haiti or any specific scenario,'' said Maj. Jim Hinnant, a spokesman for the 82nd.
But one Pentagon-based general said that field commanders are now using long-scheduled exercises ``to focus on things we need to get down if we invade Haiti.''
In addition, Marines staged a mock evacuation for the second day on Great Inagua Island, in the Bahamas, about 80 miles northwest of Haiti. They are part of a force of 2,860 Marines posted on Navy ships near Haiti.
``We don't want to comment on the direct purpose of any training that would be going on,'' the Pentagon spokesman, Kathleen deLaski, said. ``Some of the things you see going on are related to training that could be used to execute a military option.''
by CNB