
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 22, 1994                   TAG: 9407220140
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

INVASION BACKING SOUGHT

The United States is asking the United Nations for a resolution backing a possible invasion of Haiti that would leave Washington with sole control over the timing of such military action.

U.N. ambassador Madeleine Albright announced that she wants a resolution that would let the United States and allies use ``all necessary means'' to restore exiled president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. The language would be the kind of resolution that permitted the Bush administration to launch the Persian Gulf War to liberate Kuwait from Iraq.

But the Persian Gulf resolution set a 45-day waiting period before the United States and its allies could attack, and the end of the period became a deadline. Although the proposed Haiti resolution would permit the United States to attack immediately, the effect would be to set no deadline for Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras and other top Haitian military officers to leave for exile.

Administration officials said they want the final decision to rest solely with President Clinton. ``If it's the United States that's going to invade, we want flexibility of saying when,'' said a U.S. official.

The decision to invade, if it comes, will have to be weighed in light of the state of American military preparation, international support, the degree of commitments by other countries to send peacekeeping troops and its political effects in advance of congressional elections. If the United Nations insists on setting a time frame, Washington would prefer a short one, but that should not be read as an ultimatum, a senior U.S. official said. Members of the U.N. Security Council may demand something like a two-week period to ``send the message that the clock is actually ticking,'' added the official, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity.

Albright met Thursday with diplomats from France, Russia, China and Britain to win their support. ``We want to provide the diplomatic groundwork for whatever option we take,'' she said. ``There has been no decision on an invasion and no deadline has been set.''

by CNB