Key Senators Urge Caution on Haiti : Caribbean: Mitchell, Nunn lead calls to give economic and political sanctions more time. Administration says no military action is imminent.

Powerful Democratic senators warned the Clinton Administration on Thursday against an invasion of Haiti to topple the military regime there, drawing new assurances from officials that no military action is imminent.

At the same time, the Senate on Thursday rejected a Republican effort to restrain the President from ordering military action in Haiti. Although the Democrats defeated the GOP proposal, many of Clinton’s allies made it clear that they harbor deep doubts about using force to resolve the crisis.

Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) and Armed Services Chairman Sam Nunn (D-Ga.)--whose backing Clinton would want for any military action--both urged the Administration to give economic and political sanctions more time to work.

“It’s premature for (an invasion) now,” Mitchell said late Wednesday after meeting with Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Defense Secretary William J. Perry and White House National Security Adviser Anthony Lake. “The sanctions have only been in place for a few weeks. I think they ought to be given more time to see if they can, without military intervention, do the job.”

“We’ve got to think through very carefully what the purpose of an invasion would be,” Nunn said Thursday. He said he would support military action to protect U.S. citizens but argued that restoring democracy to Haiti “is not an urgent priority” and does not justify an invasion.

Administration officials said that, despite military exercises simulating an invasion--designed, in part, to make Haiti’s military leaders worry about one--Clinton is not moving toward an early decision on intervention.

“At this point, the option we’re pursuing is the sanctions option. We believe that’s the best way to put pressure on the de facto government and the military,” White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said. “We’re committed to that course of action but, again, the President has not taken the military option off the table.”

A senior State Department official said Christopher, Lake and Perry delivered a similar message to congressional leaders Wednesday--but added that Clinton might order rapid military action if needed to protect U.S. citizens. He noted that there have been no serious threats against Americans in Haiti.

The GOP measure to restrain Clinton was offered by Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.). It would have set up a special committee to study American options in Haiti and report within 45 days. The Senate defeated the challenge to Clinton’s handling of the issue, 57 to 42.

But the outcome was not so much an endorsement of Clinton’s policy as a reflection of the Senate’s reluctance to impose limits on a President’s authority to deploy troops.

Many Democrats who voted to support the Administration also criticized its policy as shifting and vague and expressed conflicting desires to restrain the President without encouraging Haiti’s military rulers to cling to power.

“It’s important for the Haitian military to understand that invasion is an option. . . . It must be on the table . . . to have a credible policy,” said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But he added that, like most of his colleagues, he “would not support an invasion tomorrow.”

Kerry said Clinton has failed to “explain the stakes and the goals” of his policy and needs to do “more to convince the American people that we’re on a clear path” before committing U.S. forces.

A senior Democratic aide observed: “What these guys are really afraid of is that Clinton may decide to invade Haiti in August, when everybody’s out of town campaigning. Without popular support for an invasion, no Democrat running for reelection wants to be caught in the position of having to defend it this close to November.”

Nunn said that rather than invading Haiti, he wants Clinton to “re-target” the American economic sanctions to spare the island’s poor. Otherwise, he warned, the trade embargo will encourage “the exodus to continue . . , which is totally counterproductive to our purpose.”

Dole argued that a “45-day delay should not bother the Administration” unless it has already decided to invade. He noted that the United States invaded Haiti in 1915 and remained as an occupying power for 19 years. “We ought to spend some time learning lessons from that intervention before beginning a new one,” Dole said.

But Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said the proposal’s only effect would be to “take all the diplomatic pressure off of Haiti’s military rulers.” Dole’s measure--an amendment to the $13.7-billion foreign aid appropriations bill--”takes the keys out of the car for a couple of months,” he said.

Meanwhile, Madeleine Albright, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said a dozen countries in the Western Hemisphere are prepared to commit troops to a multinational force that would help keep order in Haiti and retrain its army after the military regime steps down.

“The United States is prepared to participate in this force and to lead it, but we invite the participation of other states and expect to receive it,” she said.

Other officials said 15 countries have agreed to participate: the United States, Canada, France, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, Belize, Panama, El Salvador and Honduras.

They said the force is expected to have about 12,000 troops, of whom roughly 4,000 would be from the United States, 4,000 from Canada and France, and 4,000 from the Latin American and Caribbean nations.

On another front, State Department spokesman Mike McCurry said the Coast Guard picked up 178 Haitians at sea Wednesday, the lowest figure since June 20.

McCurry said the U.S. government is unsure why the number of refugees fleeing by sea has declined sharply from earlier this month.

But he noted two possible factors: rough seas and an increase in the number of Haitians who, following U.S. advice, are applying for refugee status inside their country.

“Apparently, the word is getting through in Haiti that, if you take to the high seas . . . you are not likely to make (it) to the (U.S.),” he said.

Wednesday’s figure brought the number of Haitians picked up since June 15 to 20,350.