71.   Defense Secretary William Perry earlier Friday acknowledged back-channel discussions with Haitian military leader Lieutenant General Raoul Cedras but declined to go into details.

72.   Earlier in the briefing, US President Bill Clinton praised the Haitian military leaders for their cooperation with US troops.

73.   The ties were restored late Tuesday by Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide in one of his last acts before Rene Preval was sworn in as president on Wednesday.

74.   The United States aims to rout the Haitian military leaders and restore democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power.

75.   They arrived in Port-au-Prince Saturday and immediately met with the Haitian leaders.

76.   Thousands of US troops landed in Haiti in September without opposition after Haitian military leaders backed down when faced with an imminent invasion.

77.   US authorities decided against extraditing a former Haitian paramilitary leader because they feared the case was too explosive to be handled by Port-au-Prince, the State Department said Monday.

78.   US forces landed unopposed on Haiti Monday, following a tense weekend standoff with Haitian military leaders.

79.   US troops entered Haiti Monday, meeting no armed resistance as part of a last-minute weekend deal worked out with Haitian military leaders.

80.   US Embassy spokesman Stanley Schrager said the United States was willing to meet separately with the Haitian leaders.