THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 3, 1994 TAG: 9410030058
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
All 1,800 U.S. Marines in Haiti will begin to withdraw from the Caribbean country starting today, a Pentagon spokesman said Sunday.
The Marines handed over their responsibilities for the Haitian port of Cap-Haitien to soldiers of the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division on Sunday afternoon, said the spokesman, Army Lt. Col. Roger Kaplan.
Meanwhile, Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch, referring to the Marine withdrawal, said on CNN that the military operation in Haiti was ``so successful . . . it's possible to draw down . . . U.S. troop strength.''
There were nearly 21,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines in Haiti as of Sunday, military officials said.
The Marine turnover was in accordance with the practice of matching the capabilities of particular forces to the requirements of the mission, Kaplan said. The Marines were among the first U.S. forces ashore in Haiti two weeks ago.
``The Marines will begin to withdraw from Haiti starting tomorrow (today),'' Kaplan said. ``The goal is to remove all 1,800 Marines from Haiti along with selected units from other commands.''
Meanwhile, Deutch defended the military's efforts to curb Haitian violence.
``There has been less violence in Port-au-Prince than there would be on a routine day, had U.S. troops not been there,'' Deutch said.
He said American soldiers are still under orders to intervene to prevent violence, but only if they have sufficient force to do so while protecting themselves.
``We've made it quite clear in our mission that we are not going to provide police functions and U.S. troops are not going to get involved in civilian violence if it risks those troops,'' Deutch said. by CNB