Word: port
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...with the blazing of guns but with the quiet ripples of Navy SEALS making their way ashore. Under cover of darkness -- a key ally in the Pentagon's invasion plan -- they would drift apart and stealthily make their way to the country's major airport, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Their mission: to make sure no surprises were in store for the thousands of U.S. combat troops that would follow. "One truck with four flat tires on the runway can cause problems," a military officer says. "So can 2,000 Haitians with loaded rifles...
...airport from ships offshore. If all went as planned, they would quickly seize control and flash the green light for troops from the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions arriving from bases in North Carolina and Kentucky. At the same time, Marines would arrive to reinforce the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince...
...invasion's first hours, Marines would seal the capital's port and perhaps take control of Cap Haitien, a major town on the country's northern coast. Pentagon officials would be nervously watching to see if Haitians threatened Americans there and in the seaside towns of Port Salut and Jeremie. In fact, Pentagon officials say they may seek White House approval for a pre- invasion incursion to evacuate all Americans who want to leave Haiti; they would be picked up at preselected rendezvous points. Such a ploy could have an added bonus: by showing that the Americans are serious...
...senior Pentagon official believes that the U.S. would target only the three top members of the ruling military for ouster: Lieut. General Raoul Cedras, Port-au-Prince police chief Michel Francois, and Philippe Biamby, the army chief of staff. "There's a general consensus here," the Pentagon official says, "that if we cut off the head, the monster will die." Whether the trio would be imprisoned or allowed to flee remains an open question. "We can take the thugs out easily," says Edney. "You never can say with no casualties, but I think we could come very close...
...ready Marines to the waters off the coast of Haiti. The Pentagon revealed that three weeks ago Army Rangers and Navy Seals had conducted practice runs for an invasion of Haiti: staging a mock attack on an isolated airfield at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida and "capturing" a port along the Gulf coast. The exercise, which one military expert described as a "final rehearsal," was similar to maneuvers conducted just before the U.S. invaded Panama in December of 1989 to overthrow Manuel Noriega...