19343: (Chamberlain) U.S. considers sending warships, Marines to Haiti (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Will Dunham

     WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The United States is considering
sending three warships with about 2,000 U.S. Marines, headed by the
helicopter carrier USS Saipan, to rebellion-torn Haiti as the Pentagon
weighs options to address the crisis, defense officials said on Friday.
     The officials said no deployment orders had been issued to send the
Amphibious Ready Group led by the Saipan to Haiti from Norfolk, Virginia,
but called that one of the options being considered.
     "They are at a state of readiness that allows them to be able to
deploy, if called upon, within a matter of days," said Navy Lt. Jim Hoeft,
a spokesman for the Fleet Forces Command, referring to the Saipan group.
     If ordered to sail, it would take about two days for those ships to
reach the impoverished Caribbean nation where President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide faces an armed revolt, one official said.
     The Saipan is an amphibious assault ship that carries helicopters and
AV-8B Harrier attack jets. The other two ships are the dock-landing ship
USS Oak Hill and the amphibious transport dock USS Trenton, the officials
said.
     "If the president (George W. Bush) decides to take action, the Navy
needs to be ready," said another Navy official, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
     This official said the U.S. military could do nothing, or other
options included sending the three ships without large numbers of Marines
merely for maritime interdiction or to support U.S. Coast Guard ships
trying to prevent a mass exodus of Haitians to the United States, or
sending the ships and about 2,000 Marines.
     The Miami-based U.S. Southern Command last week sent a four-member
security assessment team to examine the safety of the U.S. Embassy in
Haiti.
     On Monday, Southern Command sent about 50 Marines to Haiti to protect
the embassy in the capital Port-au-Prince.
     The rebels edged closer to the Haitian capital on Friday while
supporters of Aristide mounted defenses.
     During the Clinton administration, the United States sent 20,000
troops to Haiti in 1994 to restore Aristide to power after a coup.
     Defense Department officials have not been enthusiastic about a
military mission in Haiti. The U.S. military is stretched thin by
operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, although officials said that
would not prevent them from being able to mount a robust Haiti operation if
necessary.
     The Bush administration came under pressure from some congressional
Democrats to take military action.
     Democratic Sens. Bob Graham of Florida, Christopher Dodd of
Connecticut and Tom Harkin of Iowa urged the administration to dispatch a
security force to Haiti this weekend.
     "U.S. leadership means deploying a security force -- preferably
multilaterally -- before it is too late. That means within the next 24 to
48 hours," Dodd said.
     A Florida Republican, Rep. Mark Foley, urged the United Nations to
"take immediate action to stop the bloodshed in Haiti" by sending an
international force to halt the violence.
     "If the U.N. does not act now, a mass exodus from Haiti will result in
serious repercussions on Florida's shores," Foley said.
     The Pentagon last summer sent a similar three-ship group with about
2,000 Marines to the coast of Liberia amid political turmoil there. But
pariah leader Charles Taylor flew into exile in Nigeria in August and most
of the U.S. troops never set foot on land.