THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 28, 1994 TAG: 9409280425
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Congressional moves to establish a deadline for U.S. troop withdrawal from Haiti would set an ``extremely bad precedent'' for U.S. military policy, Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch told Congress on Tuesday.
Despite such administration protests, the House Foreign Affairs Committee planned to meet Wednesday to draw up legislation for ending the Haiti operation.
The committee was considering a date near March 1 for ending the U.S. operation, sources said. The Pentagon has said it probably will be the beginning of next year before a smaller U.N. mission, with some American troops, can replace the 13,000 U.S. troops now in Haiti.
Deutch and other officials testifying before the committee Tuesday repeated the administration argument against a ``date certain.'' Deutch stressed that a pullout deadline would tie troops to an arbitrary calendar date rather than the situation on the ground.
He said such a date would discourage other countries from participating and ``set an extremely bad precedent for the United States. . . that goes far beyond Haiti.''
Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., said it was ``nuts'' to legislate a deadline. ``I can't believe a large number of our colleagues would want to turn tail and pull out tomorrow.''
But many lawmakers are angry about President Clinton's refusal to seek congressional approval before committing troops to Haiti.
Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, said he opposed setting a date and Republican Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., said, if a date were set, the deadline most likely would be contained in a non-binding resolution. The Senate Armed Services Committee planned to meet Wednesday for a briefing. Sen. John Warner of Virginia said he was deeply concerned about doing anything that would jeopardize the troops.
KEYWORDS: HAITI by CNB