THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 16, 1994 TAG: 9409160722
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RITA BEAMISH, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Battling congressional and public opposition, President Clinton is pledging a limited and specific U.S. military invasion to end Haiti's ``nightmare of bloodshed.'' Defense Secretary William Perry said today the invasion could be over ``in a matter of hours.''
Perry, interviewed on NBC, said the U.S. strike would be overwhelming and fast. ``The military aspect of this would be over in a matter of hours, at most a day or two,'' he said, adding that U.S. soldiers would stay longer ``restoring order and establishing security on the island.''
As two Norfolk-based aircraft carriers moved to join 20 warships off Haiti's shores, the country's military ruler, Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, and his colleagues were putting out feelers for a way out of their dilemma, according to former Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga. Seaga told The Associated Press Thursday night that he was contacted Tuesday by a well-placed Haitian intermediary close to Cedras.
The intermediary said the junta leaders were offering to step down and allow the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's deposed president, ``if there was an agreement not to proceed with the invasion'' and a pledge of no retribution against some 600 people associated with the Haitian regime, Seaga said.
He passed the proposal to U.S. Embassy charge d'affaires Lacy Wright in Kingston for relay to Washington, but said he had no reply following a series of conversations to clarify different points.
State Department spokesman Mike McCurry would not confirm or deny Seaga's account of the offer. But he said the military leaders would have to leave Haiti unconditionally.
In his address, Clinton forcefully portrayed Haiti as a critical U.S. interest, worthy of risking American lives in an invasion. But he promised the American mission would be short-lived.
``The vast majority of our troops will come home in months, not years,'' he said.
An ABC poll after Clinton's speech indicated that he had won over some support, with 60 percent opposed to an invasion, compared with 73 percent four days earlier. ILLUSTRATION: President Clinton: ``We have exhausted diplomacy.''
Dictator Cedras is ``prepared to fight with my people.''
ASSOCIATED PRESS, STAFF
A Haitian girl, above, tries to peer over a wall as a crowd gathers
to look at the body of a 16-year-old boy, in the background, found
shot to death in a Port-au-Prince slum Thursday. President Clinton
cited such atrocities as one reason for a U.S. invasion. At left,
tugboats push the amphibious command ship Mount Whitney from the
pier at Norfolk Naval Base, on its way to Haiti.
KEYWORDS: HAITI by CNB