U.S. HAS NO PROOF HAITI MILITARY SMUGGLES DRUGS By Andrew Downie PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, June 11 (Reuter) - U.S. drug enforcement and military officials here said Saturday Washington did not appear to have enough evidence to indict Haiti's military leaders on drug charges. President Clinton cited drug smuggling as one reason he did not rule out using force to restore Haiti's democratically elected government. President Bush ordered U.S. armed forces to invade Panama in December 1989, in part, to execute a warrant against Manuel Noriega, who was wanted on narcotics trafficking charges. But, while there is circumstantial evidence - expensive cars, lavish lifestyles - that Haitian military personnel are involved in drug trafficking, U.S. officials said there was no hard evidence to suggest it was systemic. "The difficulty has always been the evidence to indict these guys," said a U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity. Sources close to the Haitian military admit some members of the powerful force are involved with representatives from the mainly Colombian cartels but they strenously deny the problem is an institutional one. "It starts at the bottom, even captains and majors," said one source close to the military. "But it is not institutional, the military is not involved, you have individuals." Other diplomats said they believed, but were unable to prove, the Caribbean nation served as a transshipment point for Colombian cocaine traffickers. Finding proof has been more difficult since U.N. economic sanctions have been imposed against Haiti. There has been little cooperation between the local military and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "They are less cooperative and less helpful" than nine months ago, said one U.S. drug official. "There is very little cooperation." There are regular well-publicised busts at the Port-au-Prince airport, but a U.S. official said those mass arrests were for public relations reasons and served as a warning to those who try and circumvent the military protection. "They do what they need to do to show they're doing something," said the official. "Sometimes there are new players and if the new players aren't on the team then they might have to be sacrificed." Trafficking through Haiti became easier after the September 1991 coup which ousted democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, diplomats said. But it has been much harder for traffickers since a stricter U.N. embargo went into effect three weeks ago. U.S. defence lawyer Frank Rubino, who represented Noriega on drug charges when he was tried in Miami, visited Haiti last week to meet Haitian military leaders or their representatives. There have been several news reports that a U.S. grand jury was hearing evidence against Haitian military leader Lieutenant General Raoul Cedras, but the reports could not confirmed. Clinton announced Friday he was stopping all commerical air traffic to and from Haiti and severely restricting money transfers in an effort to force the military rulers to step down. Transmitted: 94-06-11 19:26:55 EDT