THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 17, 1994 TAG: 9409170335
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb on Friday stood firm in his support of a U.S.-led invasion of Haiti, even as his two challengers beat the drum against military intervention.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. John W. Warner - campaigning with independent J. Marshall Coleman in Norfolk - held out the possibility that President Clinton may broker a diplomatic solution.
``I think, candidly, they (administration officials) have taken some very prudent steps in the last several days unrelated to the use of military forces,'' said Warner, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. ``It very well may be that those steps will bear fruit in the final hours.''
Warner declined to provide details, saying they were ``too classified.''
Robb was accosted outside a grocery store in Richmond by a Democratic supporter who pressed him to back down on Haiti.
The woman praised Robb for his 1991 vote for military action in the Persian Gulf war but said that the situation in Haiti is different because there are no clear U.S. interests at stake.
Robb, a former Marine, said that President Clinton has no choice but to back up his threat to dislodge Haiti's military-backed dictatorship if it refuses to turn over power to the nation's democratically elected president, who is now in exile.
``We're in a position now,'' Robb told the woman, ``that if we don't act after having said we would act, our credibility nationally and internationally would be destroyed.''
Republican Oliver L. North rejected the military option, saying it is nothing more than a cynical attempt by Clinton to boost his sagging popularity.
``His poll numbers aren't worth one drop of American blood,'' North said.
North also noted that Robb's support of an invasion in Haiti is the latest example of his willingness to walk in lockstep with Clinton.
``Chuck Robb may be Bill Clinton's lapdog, but it is disgraceful that he should take it so far,'' North said. ``Bill Clinton may not know the consequences of this action . . . but Chuck Robb has seen combat like I have and he ought to know better.''
Coleman, a former Republican attorney general who is running with Warner's blessing as an alternative to North, said Clinton has failed to make the case that Haiti poses a national security threat.
``Unfortunately,'' Coleman said, ``we cannot impose democracy in every country in the world. We should not risk American lives every time a government behaves badly.''
KEYWORDS: U.S SENATE RACE CANDIDATE HAITI by CNB