20220: (Chamberlain) Pentagon expands duties of U.S. Marines (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Will Dunham

     WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines in Haiti, in an
expansion of their mission, plan to hunt down caches of illegal firearms as
part of efforts to disarm militants and prevent violence, a senior U.S.
commander said on Wednesday.
     Army Gen. James Hill, who oversees the Haiti operation as head of
Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, told a Pentagon briefing that Marines
now will confiscate weapons from any Haitian they encounter in the capital
Port-au-Prince "unless he has a valid permit by Haitian law and is in the
process of conducting some valid security job -- anybody."
     "In addition to that, as we develop intelligence and can find weapons
caches, we are going to go after those," Hill said. "This is to do two
things. First, it's a force-protection issue for my forces. And, secondly,
it is to help develop a more secure and stable environment inside Haiti,"
Hill said.
     Hill said the 1,600 U.S. Marines leading a multinational stability
force in the impoverished Caribbean nation had new written instructions
ensuring they "had the ability to go and intervene (in) Haitian-on-Haitian
violence."
     Hill said the Marines were not "going to stand there and watch one
Haitian kill another Haitian without trying to intervene in that."
     "We will simply not tolerate acts of violence against our
multinational forces or innocent Haitians," Hill said.
     Chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said preventing looting
still was not part of the mission in which the Marines lead a force that
also includes about 500 French, 330 Chilean and 50 Canadian personnel.
Another 400 Canadians were expected soon, Hill said.
     President George W. Bush sent the Marines to Haiti after President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide went into exile on Feb. 29 amid a month-long armed
rebellion and international pressure.
     The Pentagon previously had described the mission of the Marines as
securing key sites to bring stability and pave the way for a United Nations
force in about 90 days.
     "You've got to take guns off the street if you have the ability to do
it -- and we do," Hill said.
     "Haiti has been a nation of violence for many, many, many, many years.
And there are a lot of guns -- everything from rusted M-1s (rifles) to
top-of-the-line Uzis and other automatic weapons. That's all out there,"
Hill said.
     The U.S. military announced on Tuesday that the Marines would join
with Haitian police in disarming Haitians illegally carrying weapons. Hill
said, "The Haitian National Police will remain the lead in the disarmament
process."
     Hill said that "there are many illegally armed gangs and groups" in
Haiti. Hill said Marines are instructed to disarm gangs who support
Aristide as well as the rebels who took up arms against him.
     "We are in negotiations with some of those groups trying to get them
to voluntarily lay down their arms, along with the Haitian authorities who
are working that with us," Hill said.
     Marines shot and killed one of the suspected Aristide supporters who
sprayed gunfire into a crowd on Sunday outside the National Palace. The
Marines say they have killed three other Haitians who had opened fire on
them since.