Anyone else pissed that we can't do more for the People of Haiti

[babsbunny]

Because our Fuckin' Troops are used up in illegal wars????

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Yup. I am.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. I wasn't going to go there.... but I wonder how different the world

would be if we weren't spending trillions of dollars to have "defense bases" in every f*cking country in the world... and if the dollars we have spent on military adventures were put to constructive uses rather than destructive ones.

[Captain Hilts]

6. A radar station is not a base. And a lot are shared with other militaries. nt

[HysteryDiagnosis]

16. This is what I am typing about

[Captain Hilts]

24. Yeah, it's a lot. But much less than it used to be in terms of US GDP. nt

[sandnsea]

3. We're sending ten ships

The President has been on the phone all day. Every pertinent Dept worked all night. What the hell do you expect and please post your relief organizing efforts and when you and your group will be there.

[hlthe2b]

7. I was proud to hear our military had set up air traffic control

to bring some order (and safety) to air transports from throughout the world coming in now. I also take pride in hearing how many countries are pouring into help... Seeing the dog teams coming in from all over... Must be the hormones, but I'm pretty weepy with concern AND pride.

And, I agree... Both SOS Hillary CLinton and DOD Secretary Gates have cancelled their respective overseas trips and are making this their personal priority. Under the leadership of Obama and along with UN envoy, Big Dawg CLinton, I am proud of what we are doing and the priority being given. I just desperately wish we'd done the same for our own people in NOLA... Those memories of overt failure and devastating preventable images will never leave me.

[JI7]

9. that was because of Bush

[hlthe2b]

10. Of course... but unfortunately we all have to live with the failure

[PacerLJ35]

21. We did set up air ops in NOLA

KMSY was chock full of military helicopters and fixed wing....our squadron flew to NOLA on the first day weather cleared up enough to get in there. We weren't the only squadron either.

I think too many people confuse the civil (read: FEMA) response versus the military response in NOLA. It was night and day. The military got it done.

[hlthe2b]

22. I don't confuse the two... and I expecially remember with pride the

coast guard choppers rescuing folks off the rooftops on their own initiative. I'm speaking only to the Bush administrative governmental response...

[PacerLJ35]

23. Agreed, the FEMA response was a disaster

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. I hate to point this out but it is NOT JUST THE US helping

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7459327

[hlthe2b]

13. Exactly.... The international teamwork makes me more proud

than any nationalistic notion ever could, though I'm very happy to see us do our part and assume leadership in the areas that we can.


I am also devastated at the loss of UN personnel... This is going to have lingering impact for decades.

[Captain Hilts]

5. That's not really a factor right now. nt

[ima_sinnic]

8. just think how much better off Haiti would be if it hadn't been our colony for the last century

If, instead of subjugating it to control its resources for banana plantations and use its people as cheap labor in "Miami," we had respected its sovereignty and assisted it with schools, roads, hospitals, agricultural and ecological betterment, and other infrastructure, it could be a prosperous country now instead of a completely deforested, impoverished, starving and squalid place.

[stray cat]

20. You mean Frances'?

[anonymous171]

27. You can't respect their sovereignty and still build up their infrastructure.

We should have just left them alone.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

11. My BIL lives in the Dominican.

Many Haitians work in the Dominican as laborers and their children are unable to attend school because most families
can't afford the $15 a month. We are able to sponsor a few kids. The money goes directly to the school, no overhead,
no bureaucratic bs.

[Political Heretic]

12. That and no one can figure out how to get in / get on the ground there

The UN, per Countdown reporting, can't get in touch with any of its workers on the ground and fears they may all be dead.

Nations are trying to decide what alternative countries they can land aid in then drive, ship whatever to haiti due to no contacts, no access, no structure - nothing.

...I wish I could just fly there now and at least stand with the suffering. :(

I don't even have any income to give to relief effort, but my mother and father do and I am helping them know where and how best to give.

[Warpy]

14. Fortunately, we're not fighting naval wars

and that's the kind of help they need, ships with desalinization capabilities to supply potable water, hospital facilities (USS Hope is on the way), and quite possibly transport of gear to offload containers of relief supplies that are already there in a broken port with a toppled crane.

Military and non military help is pouring in from all over the world. We're not alone in this. We're just closer.

[sandnsea]

15. Air Force & NG readying help too

His deputy military commander, Air Force Lt. Gen. P.K. "Ken" Keen, was on the ground in Haiti when the earthquake struck, and is providing the initial on-the-ground military command.

The initial thrust in the operation, Fraser said, is on assessing the situation on the ground to determine what's needed and where, and to provide communications and command-and-control equipment needed to support relief efforts.

Toward that end, Southcom is deploying a 30-person team to Haiti this afternoon to support U.S. relief efforts.

Two Puerto Rico Air National Guard C-130 Hercules aircraft will deliver the team, made up of U.S. military engineers, operational planners, a command-and-control group and communication specialists. Once on the ground, they will work with U.S. Embassy personnel as well as Haitian, U.N. and international officials to assess the situation and facilitate follow-on U.S. military support.

"From practice, we've found that the assessments are critical to making sure we get the right equipment in there and make the recovery efforts and the life-supporting efforts as efficient as possible," Fraser explained.

Meanwhile, the C-130s are transporting civilian search-and-rescue teams to Haiti, he said.

Southcom officials reported other immediate response activities:

-- A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter evacuated four critically injured U.S. Embassy staff to Naval Station Guantanamo, Cuba, hospital for further treatment earlier today;

-- Elements of the Air Force's 1st Special Operations Wing will arrive in Haiti this afternoon to provide air traffic control capability and airfield operations at the Port-au-Prince airport; and

-- A Navy P-3 Orion aircraft took off from Comalapa, El Salvador, early this morning to conduct an aerial reconnaissance of the area affected by the earthquake.

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=57493

[PacerLJ35]

18. Active USAF is flying into Haiti as well

[stray cat]

17. I'm actually thrilled that we have the resources and drive to get there quickly to offer aid

Our special forces are already there enabling air traffic control (as there was none and planes were close to crashing into each other) to allow airborne shipments in.

We have ships transporting more aid and capable of offering offsite medical help.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

19. Yeah....We could send them Blackwater

That would help out immensely....

[niyad]

25. before the quake, I was thinking about what the trillions and trillions we have wasted, and will

continue to waste, on wars of empire, could do for the world. imagine--haiti might not, in that case, have been the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

[Maru Kitteh]

26. I had that thought