US Takes Charge In Haiti _ With troops, Rescue Aid

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

(01-14) 18:17 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --

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 by the first large-scale humanitarian disaster of his presidency, Obama ordered a relief effort of historic proportions despite the strains it was sure to put on both the stretched U.S. budget and military forces 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 steep political cost George W. Bush paid for an ineffective response to Hurricane Katrina, the White House has labored to show intensive engagement by Obama 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.

"I will not put up with any excuses for us not doing the very best in this time of tragedy," Obama pledged at the Capitol, making his third public comments on the topic in two days.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/01/13/national/w073705S70.DTL

[Solly Mack]

1. k/r

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Sultana]

3. K&R

:patriot:

[Josh Splarf]

4. LATIN AMERICA: From Peacekeeping to Humanitarian Relief in Haiti

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49982

"RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 14, 2010 (IPS) - Two planes from Brazil carrying 21 tons of food and water were to head to Haiti Thursday, as part of an air bridge to provide humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean island nation in the wake of the deadly earthquake that has claimed an untold number of lives. U.N. peacekeeping troops from Brazil, Uruguay and other countries, meanwhile, are fully engaged in the rescue and relief effort.

The Brazilian air force plans to send six more planes with food as well as medicine, civil defence professionals, doctors and sniffer dogs. Brazil will also donate 15 million dollars to the humanitarian relief operations, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim announced.
Brazilian Defence Minister Nelson Jobim and military chiefs flew to Haiti Wednesday, accompanying the team of civil defence personnel, to assess the situation on the ground in order to help plan Brazil's assistance to the victims of Tuesday's quake, which measured 7.0 on the Richter scale. The death toll for the disaster, which shattered the capital, Port-au-Prince, is feared to be above 100,000, while up to three million people in this deeply impoverished country of nine million are in need of aid.

The biggest contingent in the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) is made up of the 1,250 troops from Brazil, which heads the mission that was created in 2004 and includes soldiers from 16 countries."

(much more in the link above)

Does the U.S. really need to send in so much military force? Why do the guns always need to go in first, especially if there has not been numerous reports of serious unrest (yet), and thousands from the U.N. are there/more on the way, as well as from many other countries? They need doctors now. And heavy machinery. Let's hope it stays relatively calm...

[jobycom]

5. Even in New Orleans, we needed to do more than "hope it stays relatively calm."

The troops aren't just guns. Militaries are trained to be self-sufficient in the field, in the worst of conditions. The troops come with bridging equipment, salvage equipment, building skills, tents,communications, training and discipline for distribution of supplies, logistics for everything from rescue to latrines.

[carla]

13. Infantry

comes with all that? Excuse for being skeptical.

[jobycom]

17. You don't have to be skeptical. You've got Google.

Do the research. Find out the facts instead of just having an opinion. That's the beauty of technology.

[boppers]

7. MSF lacks engineers, and instant hospital ships. OXFAM lacks heavy equipment.

The list goes on and on, but basically, if you want to "plant" a civilization in a recently destroyed one, you need an agency, or entity, that has an absolute SHIT-TON of money historically dumped on it to make sure that:
1. No matter where they go, they can set up communications, medicine, social order, transportation, etc.
2. They are not only willing, but will volunteer, to help people.
3. When everything is falling apart, they have been trained, and retrained, to keep their act together.

I can't think of a better place to put our troops and resources right now.

Come to think of it, I can't think of a better way to piss off every single faction of the "'merucan soldiers are bad" groups than to spend some serious efforts doing good.

[sce56]

9. I suspect my old unit will be there shortly providing power!

That is how I got my HSM to the left on disastour Typhoon Omar and Hurricane Iniki back to back disasters.

[boppers]

10. HSM = High School Musical?

Just kidding.

"disastour" explains it quite well.

[sce56]

19. Yes you are right!

Check out this posting!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7478498|Prime Power>

[BrightKnight]

12. MSF has had a large field hospital and doctors on planes that can't get in.

They only got one of their 7 planes in yesterday and it contained cooking kits, plastic, and basic medical kits. The DoD needs to prioritize the flights and get the airport working at night. For some reason the Air Force is unable to make an airport work 24 hours a day?

Some reporter said that the road from the harbor was damaged. I doubt that an engineering team with explosives would find it impossible to repair. I guess that someone will look into that next month.

[PacerLJ35]

18. They got the airport lighting working yesterday

That was limiting flights at night...a lack of runway lights.

[hack89]

24. The issue is the amount of space to park planes

a big plane needs a lot of space - I don't know how many planes can be on the ground at any given time but it can't be many. When you consider it may take hours to unload a large cargo plane, it makes perfect sense that there is a bottle neck at the airport.

How do explosives repair a road so heavy trucks can travel on it?

[carla]

14. So,

after eight years+ of waging illegal wars in the Middle East, torturing and denying people their rights and basically violating international law, the US military gets to polish up its image by "helping Haiti". I hope not everyone here is as naive as your post would indicate. In my eyes, they remain bad.
Get out of everyone elses countries.

[era veteran]

16. It took WW2 for the Dutch to leave their colonial empire

The worst of the imperialistic powers. Yes Iraq was stupid. Killing terrorists in Afghanistan is/was noble. Going to Haiti is noble. Your logic is flawed, the US military contingents will be engineer and logistic heavy. There will be security too. Who the fuck else in this hemisphere has our ability? I have 3 Haitian employees, American citizens that have no problem with getting help for their people. This is not US imperialism but a humanitarian mission. I could not believe your post. Would you rather more people die and suffer? We do not want to occupy Haiti but help it. I suggest you donate to a relief organization, take a walk, and clear your head.

[auburnblu]

21. You are "enlightened"

I'm with you the U.S. military should sit this one out.

Now I'm not as "enlightened" as you so I need your help though in thinking about how aid will be distributed and order kept there. Perhaps we can drop leaflets with a peace symbol on them. That should do it.

[Iowa]

6. It's good to see a humane and competent response to a disaster. Quite a contrast to Bush's bungling.

[winyanstaz]

8. Well this is more like it.....

This is how a president should be and this is what the military should be used for...this and rebuilding America.
Let's not forget there is also tragedy and death going on in the cities of America with homeless freezing to death and children going hungry in the so called "richest" nation on earth.
I am proud of Obama for reacting so quickly..which puts the lie and shame to Bush and co. for letting New Orleans drown.

[Josh Splarf]

11. This could be positive. But what is the overall objective?

What is the "end"?  Has anyone seen Haiti from
satellite photos?  You can literally see the border between
Haiti and the DR.  One side is brown and the other green. 
Historically a major national disaster.  I don't want to hear
of any long-term plans unless they include land reform and
debt forgiveness.  If not, we get out once the worst is
over...because without major social reforms on local levels
(not top-down)...it will simply go back to what it was like
before the quake.  Not pretty.  Where is Aristide, by the way?
 Since the Marines kicked him out of his own country, can they
now bring him back?  Many there might like that, you know.   

[carla]

15. Don't count on seeing him soon.

Chomsky points out that J.B. Aristide was a populist president and the US and France deliberately destabilized his government when he wouldn't agree to US economic demands/ "progressive legislation".
To see the US in there now, "helping" flies in the face of what the US has already done to Haiti. The help is needed, but the hypocrisy is so obvious and cynicism is a valid response to this image polishing exercise. Pres. Jean Bertrand Aristide is forbidden from even travelling to the Caribbean basin. Check it out by searching for "Chomsky + Haiti + food crisis".

[setfreetruth]

20. Goodman/Robinson Interview Provides Great Insight on U.S. Haiti Policy

You're absolutely right. Amy Goodman did an interview of Randall Robinson today that provides insight into what the U.S. under Bush and Clinton has done to Haiti. Here's the link:

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/15/bush_was_responsible_for_destroying_haitian

[New Dawn]

25. Bingo.

President Aristide was actually abducted by US Marines and flown out of the country in 2004. It was a typical US-organized right-wing coup.

[golfguru]

22. Picture

[golfguru]

23. n/t

duplicate removed

[treestar]

26. The nerve of them talking about Katrina

Katrina was in our country.

Whatever we do here is generosity.