Clinton Tells Americans ‘We Must Act’ Now to Help Haiti : Speech: President insists he has exhausted all other options for restoring Caribbean nation’s deposed leader. He warns regime: ‘Your time is up. Leave now or we will force you from power.’

With military preparations pointing to an imminent U.S. invasion of Haiti, President Clinton delivered a blunt message to the Caribbean nation’s military leaders Thursday night: “Your time is up. Leave now or we will force you from power.”

“We have exhausted diplomacy,” the President said. “Now the United States must protect its interests: to stop the brutal atrocities that threaten tens of thousands of Haitians, to secure our borders and preserve stability in our hemisphere and to promote democracy and uphold the reliability of our commitment around the world.”

Clinton, tacitly harking back to his own days as an anti-Vietnam War activist, insisted that he was moving toward the use of military force only after exhausting all other avenues for restoring Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the only freely elected president in Haiti’s history, to the office he lost in a Sept. 30, 1991, coup.

“I know that the United States cannot and should not be the world’s policeman,” Clinton said. “But we have a responsibility to respond when inhumanity offends our values. And we have a particular interest in stopping brutality when it occurs so close to our shores.”

Clinton’s nationally televised speech from the White House marked his first full-scale effort to lay out the case for U.S. intervention. He sought both to frighten Haiti’s defiant dictators into giving up without a fight and--failing that--to persuade a skeptical American public that restoring democracy to the impoverished island nation is worth its cost in blood and treasure.

H faced an uphill task with both audiences.

In Port-au-Prince, Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, interviewed by CBS-TV immediately after Clinton’s address, declared, “I will fight with my people and I am prepared to die.”

In an earlier interview with the network, he had said that a U.S. invasion would lead to civil war and a “massacre.” He predicted “loss of life on both sides and also civilian casualties.”

In the United States, meanwhile, public opinion polls and scattered anti-invasion demonstrations continued to underline just how far Clinton has to go to make his case on the home front. An ABC News poll released Monday found that 73% of Americans oppose a U.S. invasion of Haiti, and 60% say that the country’s vital interests are not at stake. Other polls have produced similar results. And on Capitol Hill, anti-invasion sentiment was growing in both the Senate and House.

Shortly before Clinton’s speech, Defense Secretary William J. Perry announced that about 1,600 military reservists will be called up for possible service in Haiti, a step that is almost unavoidable under the Pentagon’s present system of organizing its forces but one that surely will make the operation even more controversial.

Reserve call-ups disrupt the lives of the individuals involved and can affect their families, employers and communities. Under the Pentagon’s present manpower system, however, many support functions for active-duty combat forces--including medical treatment, transportation and military policing--have been assigned to reserve units.

“I hope the invasion will not be necessary,” Perry said, echoing the President’s argument. “I hope that simply the preparation for this invasion will focus the thinking of the military regime there on what the clear alternatives are.”

But he added: “As each day goes by and our preparations increase and our ships start moving toward Haiti, I think it becomes harder and harder for them to doubt our resolve.”

From Clinton’s standpoint, the only avenue to a clear victory is for Cedras and his two chief aides, Brig. Gen. Philippe Biamby and Lt. Col. Michel-Joseph Francois, to step down in the face of overwhelming American power. Such an outcome could restore Aristide to power without jeopardizing American lives.

Clinton Administration officials said the President is considering the dispatch of an emissary, possibly Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), to make a final appeal to Cedras to step down. Richardson visited Port-au-Prince earlier this year and Cedras has invited him to return.

In building his case for U.S. military action, Clinton relied heavily on charges of gross human rights violations by Cedras and his supporters.

“Cedras and his armed thugs have conducted a reign of terror,” Clinton said. “Executing children. Raping women. Killing priests. As the dictators have grown more desperate, the atrocities have grown ever more brutal.”

In addition, the President said that restoration of Aristide--a winner with two-thirds of the vote in the only internationally recognized free and fair election ever to take place in Haiti--is the only way to prevent a flood of Haitian refugees from trying to reach the United States or other countries in the hemisphere.

“As long as Cedras rules, Haitians will continue to seek sanctuary in our nation,” Clinton said. “Three hundred thousand more Haitians--5% of their entire population--are in hiding. If we do not act, they will be the next wave of refugees at our door.”

If the Haitian dictators stand fast and Clinton orders the invasion, a quick military victory seems assured because Haiti’s ragtag army of about 7,000 men would be hopelessly overmatched against the allied force of at least 20,000 well-armed troops. But if there are substantial American casualties or embarrassing accidents caused by the fog of war, the operation could seem to be a defeat for the Administration, even if all military objectives are ultimately met.

At the Pentagon, Perry conceded that some American losses are all but inevitable.

“I do not want to take at all lightly the possibilities of casualties in a forced entry,” the defense secretary said.

And it did not take long for the operation to produce an embarrassing mishap. A Navy patrol boat, the Monsoon, went aground on what the Navy said was an uncharted sandbar about two miles off the coast of Haiti; its crew was working Thursday night to free the vessel with the rising tide.

As Clinton spoke, military preparations for an invasion continued.

The force, including Special Forces and members of the Army’s airborne corps from Ft. Bragg, N.C., is slated to carry out an initial strike against the island nation. In addition, 1,800 Marines and 2,000 light infantry Army soldiers are in place to handle post-attack duties such as peacekeeping efforts as the Aristide government is returned to Port-au-Prince.

On Thursday, the Mount Whitney, which will be the command and control ship for an invasion, left Norfolk, Va., on its way to Haitian waters. Sources said it could take up to 72 hours to arrive in the region but that military commanders can direct operations even if the ship is still en route.

Dennis Boxx, a Defense Department spokesman, said that a fleet of more than 20 ships will be in place in the region to facilitate an invasion. They will include two aircraft carriers, a destroyer, several frigates and 14 cargo ships carrying heavy equipment to breach the Haitian seaport.

Clinton’s decision to activate 1,600 reservists was dictated by shrinking military budgets following the Vietnam War that caused the Pentagon to shift to the reserves many noncombat military units such as lawyers, engineers and administrators who are trained to assist in re-establishment of civilian government after combat.

Because the use of reserves generates so much resistance, the Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon administrations shunned their use in Vietnam to avoid further inflaming opposition to that conflict. But reservists were used in the Persian Gulf War against Iraq.

“The call-up does not include general-purpose combat troops,” Perry said. “It includes reservists in specialties of tactical airlift, port operations, military police, medical support and civil affairs.”

Although the initial activation is only for three months, it seems certain that some reservists will be needed for far longer than that.

Times staff writer Richard A. Serrano contributed to this report.