October 8, 1993

As the Clinton Administration struggles to find a way out of Somalia, the Pentagon and State Department are locked in a last-minute dispute over the deployment of hundreds of American military trainers and engineers to Haiti during the next two weeks, senior Administration officials said today. Under a United Nations-brokered agreement reached with Haiti's military leaders last summer to restore the exiled President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power by Oct. 30, the United States promised to send troops as part of a United Nations force. American and Canadian troops are to retrain Haiti's military, while police officers from France, Canada, Madagascar, Tunisia, Algeria and other French-speaking countries are to help create an independent police force.

BACK in the early 1960's, when Roy Lichtenstein was scavenging comics like "Winnie Winkle," "G.I. Combat" and "Secret Hearts" ("I don't care! I'd rather sink -- than call Brad for help!"), not even his most ardent admirers could have predicted how rich a creative vein he had tapped. Everyone saw at the time -- how could they have seen otherwise? -- the giant pin that was Mr. Lichtenstein's art aimed at the hot-air balloon of Abstract Expressionism. He was regarded as a saboteur and a provocateur, but how far could he go with those big, cartoonish spoofs? Very far, it turns out. So far, in fact, that the end is still not in sight. What makes the gigantic Roy Lichtenstein retrospective opening today at the Guggenheim Museum so particularly remarkable is this almost miraculous sense of unfolding possibilities. Ideas tumble out of his work like circus clowns out of a Volkswagen. By the time you reach the top of the museum's ramp you may well wonder how the same artist who in 1961 was cribbing from an advertisement for Mount Airy Lodge in the Poconos to come up with an image of a girl holding a beach ball could have conceived in the 1980's and early 90's vast compositions that seamlessly weave references to Picasso and Magritte, the Futurists and Expressionists, not to say to Mr. Lichtenstein himself.

A majority of New Yorkers say the quality of life in the city has declined over the last four years, and they generally have a bleak view of the state of the local economy, race relations, crime and the public schools, according to the latest New York Times/ WCBS-TV News Poll. But in the midst of an election campaign in which Rudolph W. Giuliani has made the quality of life a major issue, the poll also found that most New Yorkers do not think either he or Mayor David N. Dinkins is likely to change things significantly.

In a debate civilized in its tone but full of pointed attacks, Gov. Jim Florio, the Democratic incumbent, and Christine Todd Whitman, his Republican rival, sparred tonight before a statewide television audience. The debate was the first time since the general election campaign began in June that voters statewide had the chance to compare the candidates side by side and to get more than the one-sided information that could be gleaned from either candidate's ads.

Companies Nine Wall Street firms -- including Merrill Lynch, Lehman and Goldman, Sachs -- will abstain from making contributions to politicians or candidates who could give them business in state and city bond issues. The curb comes amid increased scrutiny into how lucrative bond-selling business is awarded to financial firms, which have long made political contributions. [ Page A1. ] New York State banking regulators introduced a complex formula to determine how many dollars a bank should invest in its community. The system focuses on actual dollars of lending and de-emphasizes paperwork and other factors like community outreach efforts highlighted in the previous system. [ D1. ]