MOOD ON THE STREETS . . . EUPHORIA DOWNTOWN, FEAR IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

U.S. troops have taken control of the wharf, army storehouses and airport around Port-au-Prince, where mobs of Haitians surrounded American personnel. The overwhelming feeling in the capital: relief and gratefulness to the American soldiers, a source on the scene told TIME Daily early this evening. "There's a whole sea of Haitians looking into their [the American soldiers'] eyes, just glad that they're here," the source said. Haitian police also fired two shots into the air to control the crowd. But elsewhere, hundreds of Haitians fled toward and across the 180-mile Dominican border, frightened because the U.S. agreement has left the Haitian military in power. "They were being arrested in groups of a dozen" in the Dominican Republic, many without food or water for several days, the source said. "To Haitian eyes, their lives haven't changed that much. The same guys with the guns are still around. All the promises that Clinton made before haven't come true. And now the Americans and theHAITIAN TROOPS . . . "EVAPORATION DEFENSE" TO EVAPORATE? A force of 1,800 U.S. Marines will hold back from landing on Haiti's northern shore for now, as they would have in an invasion, TIME Defense correspondent Mark Thompson says. The reason: A number of Haitian troops who shed their uniforms as part of the junta's "evaporation defense" are still at large and poised for trouble. U.S. personnel are now negotiating to get them back in uniform, the better to keep tabs on them. As for the Marines, now held in reserve off the coast: "The [U.S.] didn't want to send them in because they thought the Marines' presence would quickly escalate into a confrontation," Thompson says. BTW: Thompson says some at the Pentagon have gained new respect for Clinton's "Operation Uphold Democracy." Their term for the move until Sunday's agreement: "Operation Preparation-H."