Advancing relentlessly toward confrontation in Haiti, a determined President Clinton Thursday night plans to argue the case for military invasion to Americans unconvinced that restoring democracy is worth the price.
"There is no point in going any further with the present policy," Clinton declared Wednesday, displaying gruesome photographs of dead and disfigured victims of Haiti's military regime. "The time is at hand. They need to leave, and they're going to leave, one way or the other.""I assure you that every avenue has been exhausted," Madeleine Albright, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Thursday. Asked about public opinion against an invasion, Albright told CBS: "It may not be popular, the president has said that, but he is the leader, he is the commander in chief, and . . . he believes that this is the right thing to do."
In a meeting with a group of reporters, Clinton did not rule out setting a deadline by which Haiti's leaders must leave, promising "more to say" on that Thursday night. And he said if an invasion did occur, the operation could be over in a matter of months.
Clinton was expected to authorize a call-up of certain reserve forces to help with a Haiti operation, a senior Pentagon official said Thursday.
About 1,700 specialists are needed in such areas as logistics, security and transportation, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
While the Pentagon is hoping that enough volunteer reservists will come forward, the move would allow those reservists to be called up for several months of duty, the official said.
Clinton held out the possibility of Haiti's military leaders leaving voluntarily, and the administration was prepared to give them safe passage.
But in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's army-installed president, Emile Jonassaint, stood his ground. "We will maintain the chosen direction," he told a news conference Wednesday night at the national palace.
With U.S. warships steaming toward Haiti, Pentagon officials said major portions of a potential invasion force would be in place as early as this weekend, but important preparations still were under way.
"It looks like early next week to me," one senior military officer said of a possible invasion date.
A senior administration official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said setting an invasion deadline was unlikely. There was some concern that a deadline might touch off a final wave of army persecution in Haiti.
Thursday night's 7 p.m. MDT address to the nation, to be carried live by all the major television networks, is a belated attempt by Clinton to build support for a plan he acknowledged faces opposition from the public and within Congress.
"I know the whole thing is unpopular, but I believe it is the right thing," he said in the interview with The Associated Press and other news agencies. "I hope I can persuade the American people that I am right."
Polls show an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose an invasion, and Republican House and Senate leaders wrote Clinton that congressional approval might not be constitutionally required before an invasion but would "greatly strengthen your policy."
Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., said Clinton faces an impossible task in trying to change Americans' opposition.
"I don't think he can make his case," Dole said.
"The president's arguments for invading Haiti hover, as the Washington Post said, somewhere between exceedingly thin and preposterous," Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said.
"I call on President Clinton to say to the ships at sea, to say to the people that are in motion, `the Constitution is clear: if we are going to invade a sovereign nation in a cold, calculated, deliberate fashion, under the Constitution we must get congressional authority, just as we did prior to the invasion of Iraq,' " Bennett said.
Rep. Karen Shepherd, D-Utah, called on Clinton to consult with Congress on Haiti.
"The Constitution and the War Powers Act both make it clear that the Congress is responsible for authorizing the use of force," Shepherd said.
Even the Congressional Black Caucus, which led calls for greater U.S. involvement in restoring the democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power, was deeply divided.
Clinton sought to dispel the idea that the United States would get bogged down post-invasion, stressing that the mission would quickly be turned over to the United Nations.
The president also promised to do "everything we can under all circumstances always to minimize any risk to American lives."
But he seemed to discount the possibility of any last-minute diplomatic initiatives to avert an invasion, saying the administration had "literally exhausted every available alternative."
"There is nothing to meet about, unless they are leaving," he said of Haiti's military rulers.
Nonetheless, Clinton still held out the possibility, however slim, that Haiti's military would voluntarily relinquish power and allow the return of Aristide, who was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.
"They still can leave," he said. "They do not have to push this to a confrontation."
White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said the administration was willing to help Haiti's military rulers obtain flights out of Haiti and with other logistics related to their departure for a third country if they agreed to go.
Asked why Army Lt. Gen Raoul Cedras and his cohorts would be allowed free passage despite their alleged crimes, Clinton stressed that Aristide supported allowing them to leave and added that "the most important thing we can do is to quickly create a spirit of reconciliation."
Clinton gave four reasons for invading Haiti: halting brutal human rights abuses, avoiding a massive influx of refugees, defending democracy in the Caribbean and maintaining the credibility of the United States and United Nations "once we say we're going to do something."
Meanwhile, the Pentagon's invasion preparations continued apace.
The two aircraft carriers transporting soldiers for the opening thrust of any invasion will take several days to reach waters around Haiti, Pentagon officials said.
The command ship USS Mount Whitney was to leave Norfolk, Va., Thursday.
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Additional Information
U.S. forces head toward Haiti
U.S. forces mobilized for possible use in "Operation Support Democracy": the likely invasion of Haiti
8,300 Navy personnel As of Wednesday
1,800 Marines
Army personnel includes elements of 10th Mountain Div. (Fort Drum), 18th Airborne Corp. and 1st Combat Support Command (Fort Bragg).
1 Wasp Class:
amphibious assault ship
USS Wasp (LHD 1)
1 Spruance Class destroyer
USS Comte De Grasse (DD-974)
1 Austin Class:
amphibious transport dock
USS Nashville (LPD 13)
1 Wichita Class: oiler
USS Savannah (AOR 4)
2 Cyclone Class: coastal patrol craft
(Not proportional to other ships depicted)
USS Hurricane (PC-3)
USS Monsoon (PC-4)
3 Oliver Hazard Perry Class: guided missile frigates
USS Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG-7)
USS Clifton Sprague (FFG-16)
USS Aubrey Fitch (FFG-34)
Deployed for presumed use in invasion
1 Nimitz Class: aircraft carrier
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69)
1 Kitty Hawk and John F. Kennedy Class: aircraft carrier
USS America (CV 66)
1 Blue Ridge Class:
amphibious command ship
USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20)
1 Ticonderoga Class: guided missile cruiser
USS Vicksburg (CG 69)