U.S. weighs providing copters for Haitian elections

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is considering an urgent United Nations request for 10 U.S. helicopters to provide crucial logistical support during Haiti's upcoming presidential and congressional elections, U.S. and U.N. officials say.
The top U.N. envoy in Haiti, Juan Gabriel Valdes, also has asked Washington to contribute an additional $16 million to help finance the vote, seen as critical to Haiti's chances of breaking its cycle of political violence, poverty and chaos.
Valdes made both requests during a Dec. 1-2 visit to Washington. International donors so far have provided $75 million for the elections, of which $31 million was supplied by Washington, according to a State Department official.
Nearly 2,000 U.S. troops were deployed to Haiti after an armed rebellion forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to resign and leave the country in February 2004. They left a few months later and were replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force that now totals nearly 8,000.
Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld quashed talk of sending back some U.S. troops as the U.N. blue helmet force, known as MINUSTAH, ran into severe problems trying to pacify gang-controlled slums.
But Valdes' request for helicopters is different because the aircraft would be used only for logistical support, said a State Department official. He said the final decision on the choppers would be made by the Pentagon.