Troops learn `specifics' on intervention

0 Comments | USA TODAY, September, 1994 | by Paul Hoversten; Judy Keen

U.S. troops who were forced to watch in disgust earlier this week as Haitian authorities brutalized pro-U.S. crowds now are getting explicit instructions on when to intervene in cases of human rights abuses.

Adm. Paul Miller, overall operation commander, went to Haiti late Wednesday to clarify for commanders the rules of engagement, which the Pentagon stressed had remained essentially the same.

"They went over the specifics of the policies to make sure they felt comfortable with them, (so) they could articulate it to their soldiers," says Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"But the rules of engagement have not changed. . . . The rules that have been given to soldiers give them the latitude to do the things that need to...