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President Barack Obama and the U.S. moved to
take charge in earthquake-ravaged Haiti on Thursday, dispatching
thousands of troops along with tons of aid to try to keep order as
well as rescue the suffering in a country dysfunctional in the best
of times.


      Tested with the first large-scale humanitarian disaster of his
presidency, Obama ordered a relief effort of historic proportions
despite the deep strains it was sure to put on both the U.S. budget
and on military forces who are already fighting two wars. He
pledged an initial $100 million - with the likelihood of more
later.


      "The United States is providing a lot of the glue that is
keeping people communicating and working together as we try to
assert authority, reinstate the government and begin to do what
governments have to do to rebuild," Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton said on Fox News Channel.


      Aware of the deep political cost George W. Bush paid for an
ineffective response to Hurricane Katrina, the White House has
labored to show Obama has been intensely engaged since immediately
after the 7.0-magnitude quake late Tuesday afternoon. Details of
evening Situation Room meetings, phone calls with world leaders and
canceled events were being released almost hourly.


      Obama announced that "the first waves" of the American
response were in place Thursday, with two search-and-rescue teams
on the ground, Coast Guard cutters in port, the U.S. Southern
Command in control of the airport and airlifts bringing in urgently
needed supplies and ferrying out the injured.


      But the chief emphasis out of Washington was the huge amount of
U.S. help that was still on the way - some half-dozen ships and
5,500 troops making their way across the Caribbean.


      Officials noted the difficulty of getting resources in as fast
as they would like because of needed preparation time and then the
barriers of damaged communications, roads, airport and port. Obama
himself warned it would take hours "and in many cases days" to
get the full U.S. contingent to Haiti.


      "None of this will seem quick enough if you have a loved one
who's trapped, if you're sleeping on the streets, if you can't feed
your children," Obama said at the White House, his second
appearance on the topic in as many days. "So today, you must know
that help is arriving. Much, much more help is on the way."

      The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration halted all civilian
flights to Haiti, while flights in the air before the ban spent
hours circling the main airport awaiting permission to land. The
Haitian government said there was no more room on ramps for planes
to unload their cargo, and some planes on the ground at Toussaint
L'Ouverture International Airport didn't have enough fuel to leave.

      The role of heading the relief effort and managing the crisis
quickly fell to the United States, for lack - in the short term, at
least - of any other capable entity.

      The government of Haitian President Rene Preval was severely
disabled, with the president's own residences damaged and the
Parliament building collapsed along with other ministries and
departments. In one sign of difficult conditions and dearth of
official Haitian activity, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said
Obama had tried twice, unsuccessfully, to get through to Preval.

      The large United Nations mission in Haiti, some 9,000-strong,
was still operating, with about 3,000 peacekeepers patrolling the
still-calm streets of Port-au-Prince, the country's capital,
population center and heart of earthquake damage. But the U.N.'s
abilities to respond aggressively to possible problems were hobbled
as well. Its headquarters building was destroyed, and dozens of its
personnel, including some leaders, were dead or missing - leaving
it in need of rescue help itself.

      Defense Secretary Robert Gates told commanders via
videoconference during the president's Wednesday night Situation
Room meeting that the military has "no higher priority right now"
than the relief efforts. Those efforts include providing security,
Gibbs said.

      However, there was sensitivity in Washington to any impression
the U.S. was taking over Haiti, a country that has seen dramatic
American interventions before, not always to good effect, and is
suspicious of involvement by its much larger and wealthier northern
neighbor.

      So Gibbs, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley and others
emphasized that the U.S. was responding only as requested by the
Haitian government, with the U.S. ambassador to Haiti, Kenneth
Merten, in regular contact with Preval.

      A senior administration official said Obama had directed U.S.
officials to "work with and through" the Haitian government "to
the greatest extent possible." The official spoke on condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss private
meetings.

      "We have no intention of supplanting the leadership of Haiti,"
said Cheryl Mills, Clinton's chief of staff who is coordinating the
efforts at the State Department.

      One factor in the delicate U.S. approach is a desire to not
undermine Preval and recent efforts to bring more stable governance
to Haiti after decades of dictatorship and disaster have left it
the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation.

      Still, officials from Obama on down promised the U.S. would be
around to help long-term. Looking toward the long road of recovery
and rebuilding, Obama tapped his two immediate predecessors, Bush
and Bill Clinton, to help - following Bush's model of enlisting
Clinton and his own father, George H.W. Bush, to shepherd the U.S.
response after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

      Officials said that a primary goal now - beyond immediate relief
- is to restore the U.N. peacekeeping command to full strength in
Haiti. For though Obama wants to effectively handle the crisis,
there is no upside to what could become, in effect, protracted U.S.
control of the impoverished country.

      Crowley confirmed the death of one American, career diplomat
Victoria DeLong, a cultural affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy who
was killed when her home collapsed. He said three other Americans
were known to be missing and the embassy had made contact with
nearly 1,000 U.S. citizens in Haiti, a fraction of the estimated
45,000 there.

      By next Monday, as many as 5,500 U.S. infantry soldiers and
Marines will be on the ground or on ships offshore, said Defense
Department spokesman Bryan Whitman. Those include the first
soldiers, from the 82nd Airborne Division, some of whom were due to
arrive Thursday, and about 2,200 Marines.


      The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was expected Friday, and a
hospital ship with 12 operating rooms, the USNS Comfort, was to get
to Haiti by a week later.

      Obama also asked individual Americans to donate to relief
agencies. And first lady Michelle Obama was taping a public service
announcement on behalf of the Red Cross.
      ---


      Associated Press writers Jennifer Loven Anne Flaherty, Pauline Jelinek, Matthew
Lee and Julie Pace contributed to this report.

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Disasters

President Barack Obama and the U.S. moved to
take charge in earthquake-ravaged Haiti on Thursday, dispatching
thousands of troops along with tons of aid to try to keep order as
well as rescue the suffering in a country dysfunctional in the best
of times.


Earthquake survivors wave to a helicopter

U.S. takes charge in Haiti - with troops, rescue aid

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