Venezuela steps up aid effort to Haiti, questions US military deployment

[Nostalgic]

Venezuela steps up aid effort to Haiti, questions US military deployment

By Kiraz Janicke, Caracas

January 20, 2010 – Venezuelanalysis.com – Venezuela has stepped up its aid effort to Haiti as a second earthquake rocked the Caribbean country again today. This follows a 7.3 magnitude earthquake which destroyed the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince last week leaving at least 75,000 people confirmed dead, 250,000 injured and millions homeless.

Echoing his Nicaraguan counterpart Daniel Ortega, who accused the United States of “manipulating the tragedy to install North American troops in Haiti” and French Secretary of State for Cooperation Alain Joyandet, who criticised the US role in Haiti, saying the priority was “helping Haiti, not occupying Haiti”, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez also questioned the US military response to the disaster.

“It seems that the United States is militarily occupying Haiti, taking advantage of the tragedy, 6000 soldiers have arrived. Thousands are disembarking in Haiti as if it were a war”, Chávez said during his weekly television program Alo Presidente on January 18.

Haiti “needs doctors, tents, rescue teams and machinery… Now, who said soldiers, rifles and machine guns are necessary?”, he asked.

As of January 20, the US has donated US$130 million (according to US AID), sent more than 11,200 military personal, 265 government medical personal, five Navy ships, as well as five Coast Guard cutters and seven cargo planes “to assist in aid delivery, support and evacuations”, Associated Press (AP) reported. The US has delivered “more than 90,000 pounds” or 40 metric tonnes of aid and supplies the AP report continued. The US has also taken control of the airport at Port-au-Prince.

Read the rest of the article here.

Also:

Haiti needs medical relief, not military intervention — add your name to open letter
22 January 2010

The “open letter” published below has been initiated by the Canada Haiti Action Network. CHAN is calling for individuals and organisations to add their names to the statement, You can add your name here.

January 21, 2010 -- We, the undersigned, are outraged by the scandalous delays in distributing essential aid to victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Since the US Air Force seized unilateral control of the airport in Port-au-Prince, it has privileged military over civilian humanitarian flights. As a result, untold numbers of people have died needlessly in the rubble of Port-au-Prince, Leogane and other abandoned towns.

If aid continues to be withheld, many more preventable deaths will follow. We demand that US commanders immediately restore executive control of the relief effort to Haiti's leaders, and to help rather than replace the local officials they claim to support.

We note that obsessive foreign concerns with 'security' and 'looting' are largely refuted by actual levels of patience and solidarity on the streets of Port-au-Prince. The decision to avoid what US commanders have called "another Somalia-type situation" by prioritizing security and military control is likely to succeed only in provoking the very kinds of unrest they condemn.

In keeping with a longstanding pattern, US and UN officials continue to treat the Haitian people and their representatives with wholly misplaced fear and suspicion.

We call on the de facto rulers of Haiti to facilitate, as the reconstruction begins, the renewal of popular participation in the determination of collective priorities and decisions.

We demand that they do everything possible to strengthen the capacity of the Haitian people to respond to this crisis.

We demand, consequently, that they allow Haiti's most popular and most inspiring political leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide (whose party won 90% of the parliamentary seats in the country's last round of democratic elections), to return immediately and safely from the unconstitutional exile to which he has been confined since the US, Canada and France helped depose him in 2004.

If reconstruction proceeds under the supervision of foreign troops and international development agencies it will not serve the interests of the vast majority of Haiti's population.

Neoliberal forms of international "aid" have already directly contributed to the systematic impoverishment of Haiti's people and the undermining of their government, and in both 1991 and 2004 the US intervened to overthrow the elected government and attack its supporters, with devastating effects.

This is why we urgently call on the countries that dominate Haiti and the region to respect Haitian sovereignty and to initiate an immediate reorientation of international aid, away from neo-liberal adjustment, sweatshop exploitation and non-governmental charity, and towards systematic investment in Haiti's own people and government.

We demand a much greater international role for Haiti's genuine allies and supporters, including Cuba, South Africa, Venezuela, the Bahamas and other members of CARICOM.

We demand that all reconstruction aid take the form of grants not loans.

We demand that Haiti's remaining foreign debt be immediately forgiven, and that the money that foreign governments still owe to Haiti — notably the massive sums extorted by the French government from 1825 through to 1947 as compensation for the slaves and property France lost when Haiti won its independence — be paid in full and at once.

Above all, we demand that the reconstruction of Haiti be pursued under the guidance of one overarching objective: the political and economic empowerment of the Haitian people.

Initial signatories:

Jean Saint-Vil, Canada Haiti Action Network

Pierre Labossiere, Haiti Action Committee, USA

Noam Chomsky, MIT

Niraj Joshi, Toronto Haiti Action Committee

Roger Annis, Canada Haiti Action Network

Brian Concannon Jr., Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

BC Holmes, Toronto Haiti Action Committee

Yves Engler, Canada Haiti Action Network

Peter Hallward, Middlesex University

Kevin Pina, journalist and film-maker

Kevin Skerrett, Canada Haiti Action Network

http://links.org.au/comment/reply/1474/55530

[readmoreoften]

1. Noam Chomsky supports this! That ignoramus!!!

:sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

3. Watch, someone will accuse him of belonging to the 101st Keyboard.

:rofl:

[fascisthunter]

24. lol

[EFerrari]

2. All these people must hate America, too!

:sarcasm:

K&R

[northzax]

4. Doctors, tents, rescue workers and machinery

And, of course, someone to move all that around. And who has a lot of doctors, tents and machinery and the ability to move them around? Why, the US. If Mr. chavez and Mr. Ortega want point on this, they can send their own planes, ships and helicopters. Then we can sit by and talk about how they aren't doing it right.

[sabrina 1]

5. Well, you'd have a point if Venezuela had NOT been in there

providing humanitarian aid. Not just since the earthquake, but for several years before as Haiti was already a nation badly in need of humanitarian help. The reason for that was the interference of the West in Haiti's affairs. The crushing debt and draconian demands placed on it by the World Bank. The support of the U.S for brutal dictators who ravaged the country and later, the support of the U.S. for the removal, twice, of Haiti's first democratically elected president which plunged the country into more violence and poverty.

If you're going to make statements like that, please make sure you know what you are talking about. Venezuela and Cuba have given more humanitarian help to Haiti than the U.S. who even now in the midst of this tragedy are still telling Haitians they are not welcome in the U.S.

U.S. policies towards Haiti are largely responsible for the conditions of political unrest and poverty that existed before this tragedy.

We have a long sad history of oppressing those people and preventing them from achieving their long-fought-for goal of independence.

Venezuela, aside from the financial aid they have provided to Haiti, the training of much-needed doctors, before the earthquake, were there from the beginning with humanitarian aid and no, they did not feel the need to send in the military for 'security'. They, like everyone else, including the media, have no fear of the Haitian people. Only the U.S. military brass are making that claim.

Haiti doesn't need another U.S. occupation. They had that already. They need, as that letter says, medicine, water, food and clothing and nurses and doctors. And there is no plausable explanation why so many tons of supplies are still sitting at the airport, when the media can go there, pick up some supplies and drive safely back with it to those who need it.

It really is becoming more than annoying to constantly see these knee-jerk reactions to people who ARE THERE themselves, asking that this mission NOT be turned into an occupation, a fear that is well founded considering our past history with that poor country. A fact apparently known by everyone but the average American, kept ignorant by a media that refuses to tell them the truth about the actions of their own government.

[Greyhound]

6. Interesting to see if he replies. n/t

:kick:

[northzax]

12. Well I responded

Are you arguing that the US should withdraw all military in Haiti? Or just some of it?

[Greyhound]

33. There is no need for the Combat units, and imposing the bizarre American version

of absolute authority wrapped in DoD bureaucracy is a great hindrance that is costing more lives.

But this is really a distraction from the underlying/foundational defect inherent in using the U.S. military as a "Swiss Army Knife". That is, tasking them to missions for which they are not prepared or trained to carry out.

[TxRider]

35. Besides the fact they they are trained for it

[Greyhound]

40. The operational script is all the evidence required to show that they are not.

Priorities are all wrong and liaison functions fall into two categories, non-existent and my-way-or-the-highway.

The National and Coast Guards are both better prepared for this kind of operation but...

[Pavulon]

43. National Guard is composed of combat units

with support units as well. Plenty of national guard units deployed to combat now. You guys have no understanding of the basic structure or function of the us military but have all the answers.

There is no one in the world with a longer history of running successful air operations than the US Air Force. So we should bring in B string pick ups to cover a critical function that we have been doing right since ww2?

[Greyhound]

58. Oh no, not at all. After all serving as a consultant to the military, being from a family with

over 400 years of consistent service to the British and later American Navies, half a dozen Admirals and two MoH winners. No, I have no idea how the military works at all.

I understand that you guys think that air power is all that's ever needed and the rest of us are here simply to support you, but it doesn't make it so. A single ship can provide more supplies, personnel, and equipment in one day that the entire Air Force could deliver in a week.

[Pavulon]

82. After serving in the NG with a combat mos

i disagree. your fantasy ship would still be in transit after one day. My c5 or c130 (one an hour) would have been there after a few hours flight time. The point is getting the right people and supplies there quickly.

most ships use intermodal containers, including the ones the military uses to transport equipment to onload offload cargo. if your port is wrecked and there are 100ton cranes dumped in the water where ships need to berth then a ship worthless. That is what the engineers (my old job) and seabees are doing.

KFOR did not sail into action, these guys did not take the slow boat to get to work.

Tell that to the germans who lived through the berlin airlift. Maybe we could just sail supplies there.

Oh BTW what is the sailing time from the US to haiti at 30kts? What is the trip time at 450kts.

250,000 lbs of cargo in a c5 goes a very long way. We have lots of airlift, it gets things moving, we have lots of capacity, why all the bitch when we put it to use to help people.

[Merchant Marine]

7. Pull the US military out now!

Never mind that we're the only nation in the world with the sealift capabilities to supply 2.5m people...

[Andronex]

11. "Pull the US military out now!"

Right, the US military has "helped" the Haitian people sufficiently since 1915, the last thing they need is another occupation.

[Pavulon]

27. That is a death sentence

and is basically the same as mass murder. If the US stopped its use of military resources last week it would have been much worse. But hey, maybe you are ok with that?

[Andronex]

70. You are assuming two things...

That the US military is there to help and that no other nation or group of nations has the means or will to assist the earthquake victims, you are mistaken on both counts.

[hack89]

83. Who else has the logistics capabilities?

the heavy lift aircraft, ships, all those helicopters? I don't think you appreciate just how unique the US military is - the entire world combined can't match it's capabilities.

[Pavulon]

28. That is a death sentence

and is basically the same as mass murder. If the US stopped its use of military resources last week it would have been much worse. But hey, maybe you are ok with that?

[northzax]

8. Cuba? Where did Cuba come from?

Did I mention Cuba? Cuba complained that it's doctors weren't being given anasthesia for amputations (you'd think they could provide their own, instead f depending on the us, but hey) and once it was clear that on the ground at least, supplies were flowing as fast as possible, they stopped commenting.

So I'll just rephrase my question, since you seem inclined to take offense: if the US mitary left Haiti tomorrow, Are Venezuela and co ready to take up the slack? Exactly how many heavy lift helicopters are they offering? How many bulldozers can they get on the ground? Will they rebuild the airport? Or the seaports? Or the water systems? Exactly how many heavy lift cargo planes capable of landing at a non-functioning airport?

The US is not 'invading' Haiti. The Haitian government asked for help. And when you need to move millions of tons of stuff and tens of thousands of people into a damaged place in a hurry, no one is better than the US Military. If you ever need to emergency build a ruined airport, call the USAF, they've destroyed and rebuilt enough. When you need helicopters, call the Army. When you need to refit a port in three days, call the Navy.

I appreciate it must be difficult for many to see the US Military not just as a threat, but seriously, what's your alternative, right now? Do you seriously believe that the people of Haiti would be better off today if Obama had said 'sorry, no military. Hugo Chavez is in charge, where do we send the check?'

[Merchant Marine]

9. Wow, not a single disaster relief expert or logistician

But hey, Noam Chomsky knows how this sort of thing works, right?

[sabrina 1]

10. He knows the history of U.S. intervention in Haiti.

It's a very long history, none of it good for the Haitian people.

[northzax]

13. Ok, what's your alternative?

Who else is going to do the quite literally heavy lifting needed right now? Who?

[sabrina 1]

15. The complaints are that they did NOT do the 'heavy lifting'.

Other aid groups were out saving lives, managing to get to places the military claimed needed to be 'secured' before they could get there, a lie as we know.

The window of time to try to save lives buried in the rubble, passed as they focused on their so-called 'security'. People died every day unnecessarily if all you say is true. What use is all this great equipment, if it isn't used. It would have been far better to let Doctors Without Borders and World Food groups in instead of blocking them, at that point in time.

They could have done a lot, but that their mission was different than everyone else's, and yes, if they weren't there with the goal of saving lives first, they should just have gotten out of everyone else's way.

[Pavulon]

30. Bullshit.

The us airlifted in medical supplies and personnel along with life saving resources. It takes time to ramp up logistics of distribution. You think doctors without borders has airlift capability? Helicopters and c-130's arent something people just have laying around at millions of dollars a clip.

You guys have your heads up your asses and have no idea of the real world capability and requirements of the moving parts at work.

Post a link from a reputable source, AP, AFP, BBC where we killed people by ramping up operations. Please provide an alternate resource for airlift who will work for free.

[WolverineDG]

68. The UN was complaining about "security"

the US "combat" troops were busy rebuilding the port & getting the airport up & running. :eyes:

dg

[sabrina 1]

76. Why do you think the UN is in Haiti in the first place?

Why are the U.S. and the UN in Haiti veiwed as suspicious by the people themselves and by the rest of the world? The record of the UN in Haiti leaves a lot to be desired, A LOT. And they were sent there after the U.S. backed the coup of Aristedes and plunged the country into a state of violence between the forces of the old Dicators, Duvaliers and Aristedes supporters. Not wanting to be seen actually invading yet another country, Bush having caused the violence in the first place, the UN was sent in and has not been particularly good for the people of Haiti, accused of murder and other violence against them. In this case, I would, and apparently so do most other observers, assume that the U.S. and the UN are working together.

[TxRider]

14. Go ask the 3 million hungry survivors if it's good

That we're stuffing enough supplies to feed 2.5 million people for a month into the country before they starve.

They strangely seem pretty glad about it.

Now if the troops don't leave once the infrastructure is back up, you have a point.

But right now the military is saving thousands of lives.

[sabrina 1]

16. If that's what they had done from the beginning, and not

blocked other organizations from bringing food and water, no one would be complaining. The reason for the complaints is because that is not what happened. They blocked aid, food and medicine from Iraqis. Try not to twist facts. Too many other groups and individuals who were there, disagree with you that the U.S. military was distributing aid until it was too late. I hope the are finally doing it and I hope, like every other group who is there, that is all they do.

[TxRider]

18. Nobody is twisting facts

One runway, capable of landing 180 planes a day.

Only there are 250 planes carrying aid trying to get in every day.

Now you tell me, are they all going to be able to land?

And if the military hadn't showed up and started air traffic control, only about 30 planes, maybe less could be landing in a day.

This is obvious logistics people.

The military now has opened 3 more airfields, clearing the runways, setting up radio communications so they can land planes, so now everyone can land.

Talk about twisting facts, the 82nd airborne had to get direct permission from the Haitian minister of health to even lend a hand at the main hospital. The first doctors that showed up there had to ask the military, then go get the minister of health to grant the military permission to help them at the hospital.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/progress-catastrophe-to-s_b_433420.html

[EFerrari]

20. That's funny. That isn't what the directing doc at that hospital says at all.

Dr. Lyon said he's been coordinating with the health minister all along. That's his job. There's nothing unusual in that.

Yes, that is fact twisting and the proof is on tape in that interview with Lyon that I've posted here ten times or so.

[TxRider]

22. Oh really, read this account

Of a doctor who was first to the hospital, which was abandoned.

And who went to the minister and personally got him to email the military with permission.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/progress-catastrophe-to-s_b_433420.html

[EFerrari]

23. I did. They are colleagues. They work together.

This is a great run down and it gives you a sense of how awful this has been. They had to move everything into different rooms because the ORs had all been destroyed. At one point in that interview, Lyon says, "Yesterday this was an empty room".

These are the people to donate to. They run the biggest chain of clinics all over Haiti and they're not just in it for this emergency but for the long haul.

[TxRider]

34. And here you can see an interview with Dr. Hyman

Who arrived first with only his wife, father in law, and a couple of nurses.

Who went to the ministry and got permission sent to the U.S. military so they could come deliver the required help.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6108550n&tag=api

Now why didn't Goodman get any of this? Too busy persistently leading Dr. Lyon into stating there was an "occupation" and implying that 10,000 troops having arrived at the hospital by force, unwanted, and are causing chaos?

Funny Dr. Hyman doesn't seem to be jumping up and down about the US hoarding supplies.

[FedUpWithIt All]

53. It matters little if the person complaining is a disaster relief or logistical expert.

They have also been complaining. Some just choose not to listen.

[arcadian]

87. And you are?

not

[anonymous171]

17. Is the Haitian government competent enough to distribute aid?

[sabrina 1]

19. No, that is why so many other countries, like Venezuela and Cuba

China, France, Canada, Israel and others are there. The complaints against the U.S. are that as soon as they got there, they stopped groups like Doctors Without Borders from landing, as they had been doing before. Iow, they just got in the way and slowed down aid getting to the people at a very critical time. And the suspicions of people around the globe, considering the U.S. role in Haiti's history is that they were sent to occupy the country first, (wow, who would think the U.S. would ever do that) and then distrubute aid, keeping out other groups while they 'secured' the country.

The reason people are saying this, is because it is what happened. So many now have pointed out that the people there do NOT need guns, they need food and water and medical care.

[TxRider]

21. Baloney

U.S. airmen showed up and drastically increased the number of planes landing -immediately-

That the U.N. and aid groups could not get that aid distributed out from the airport is not the fault of the airmen who are getting as many planes landed as physically possible.

Planes were not getting in well before the airmen organized the air traffic. Only a few DWB planes were diverted.

Read this carefully. Doctors asking the military to get supplies to them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/progress-catastrophe-to-s_b_433420.html

[sabrina 1]

26. Of course it's not the fault of the airmen and women who I'm sure

want to help as much as they can. Nor are they being blamed. Gates stated what their mission was. To 'secure the country'. As the OP says, the UN in Haiti and the US continue to view the Haitian people as dangeraous. No one else there, including the US Media, had those fears.

As for landing planes. They US was landing over 200 planes a day and turned away two planes from Doctors Without Borders and another from World Food org. What was in those 200 planes? Their claim that the road was not passable without security was proven to be false also.

No one is questioning either the capability of the U.S. What is being questioned is the priorities of the leadership. Had their main mission been humanitarian I am certain they could have done more than all the others put together, had they worked with them. Instead they did not coordinate their efforts with people who were already there. Because they were on a different mission.

With the criticism from around the world, and the fears that they would take advantage of the situation to occupy the country and take control of it, maybe they realize that this time the world is watching and this catastrophe far too tragic for people to have any patience with anyone who would turn it into a profitable enterprise either politically or otherwise.

But the U.S. history in Haiti has done nothing to give people hope that this time they are there merely to help the Haitian people, and their actions when they got there, and their false claims that the Haitian people were dangerous, did nothing to change that.

[Pavulon]

31. So are you saying we just invaded a 3rd world shithole?

that has nothing there worth the cost of JP5 to fly all the resources there to take. Your entire position is bullshit. Have you ever left the united states? Ever been to a developing country? Take sao paulo, nice city, but there are parts where you can not walk one block from a hotel to a office building without being robbed.

Haiti was fucked long before the earthquake. Ever wonder why they speak French? Now the reality is if the US did nothing the death toll would be massive. If some one bitches because they cant hold to land (ever taken a flight and had it turn back because of ATC) that makes the entire operation a disaster?

You use the word proven a lot and have no backing links. The us military I have seen on tv did not have magazines in weapons.

[inthebrain]

45. Haitis is rich in Silver, Copper and GOLD!!!!!!

Not to mention oil reserves off the coast.

[Pavulon]

47. Well maybe Glenn Beck can catch a flight..GOLD..doofus

their largest export is mangoes to the US. Haiti is dirt poor and to stand by and do nothing (like rwanda) is not acceptable.

[inthebrain]

50. The US and the world did nothing in Rwanda cause there is nothing there

that the capitalists deem as valuable.

Haiti is WEALTHY in gold. The gold resources that are there are not owned by Haiti but US corporations.

This is why we have disposed of TWO democratically elected governments in Haiti.

[Pavulon]

51. Yeah, we are flying out all their gold on c-130's right now

I have been to the dominican, and it is poor. Haiti is MUCH worse off. They have NOTHING there. Wouldn't the french have taken that gold when they held power. You know, the reason everyone there speaks french..

You need to do a reality check friend.

[anonymous171]

54. Rwanda has gold too.

http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/rwanda/rwanda_geography.html

[inthebrain]

59. Haiti is wealthy in resorces

Haiti is a Rich Country: Company Estimates Haiti Has 215 Million Tons of Gold, 117 Million ounces of Silver & 423.5 Million Pounds of Copper


Eurasian Minerals Inc.

TSX VENTURE: EMX
Dec 17, 2008 09:29 ET
http://www.fanmilavalasny.com/main12/Eurasian.html


Eurasian Minerals Inc. Acquires 27 Exploration Licenses in Haiti and the Historic Meme Copper-Gold Mine

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Dec. 17, 2008) - Eurasian Minerals Inc. (the "Company" or "EMX") (TSX VENTURE:EMX) is pleased to announce it has been awarded twenty-seven new exploration licenses in northern Haiti. This property package, in combination with EMX's previous license awards, gives the Company a commanding land position along 130 kilometers of strike length in an emerging new gold belt. Included in the new license grant is the historic Meme copper-gold mine. All of the new properties are subject to the Company's Regional Exploration Alliance with Newmont Ventures Ltd. ("Newmont").

EMX's Exploration Portfolio in Haiti. EMX's twenty-seven new licenses, granted by the Bureau of Mines and Energy, Republic of Haiti, cover 230,560 hectares in northern Haiti. EMX's exploration land holdings now total 281,858 hectares, and cover approximately half of the Massif du Nord metallogenic belt in Haiti (please see attached map). This regional scale gold-silver-copper mineralized belt consists of an early Cretaceous island arc assemblage, located along the northern margin of the Caribbean tectonic plate, and hosts EMX's La Miel, La Mine, and Champagne projects, as well as the Pueblo Viejo deposit in the adjacent Dominican Republic. Pueblo Viejo has 215 million tons of proven and probable reserves containing 20.4 million ounces of gold, 117.3 million ounces of silver, and 423.5 million pounds of copper as of year-end 2007 reporting (www.barrick.com ). EMX, and exploration alliance partner Newmont, are aggressively exploring the Company's extensive property portfolio in what is gaining recognition as one of the world's premier, early stage gold exploration terrains. Please see the Company's web site at www.eurasianminerals.com for more information.

Historic Meme Mine. Two of the new licenses, totaling 18,600 hectares, are centered over the historic Meme copper-gold mine and Terre Neuve mining district. The Meme mine was an underground operation primarily active during the 1960s, and produced approximately two million tonnes of ore grading 2.0 % copper from five working levels accessed by a series of adits (Kesler, 1968; Louca, 1989). Copper and gold mineralization is associated with three small intrusions that are present within a northwest trending structural zone, with the Meme mine located at the southeast end of this trend. Louca's 1989 United Nations summary report indicates that the Meme mine hosts a historic resource of 1.5 million tonnes grading 2.0% copper and 2.0 g/t gold. This historic resource estimate is relevant, but does not meet National Instrument 43-101 or CIMM resource reporting standards. A qualified person has not performed sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources, and EMX is not treating the estimate as current mineral resources. The historical estimate should not be relied upon until it can be confirmed by the Company. Gold and copper mineralization is also present at the Casseus prospect, located two kilometers to the northwest of Meme. The Company will evaluate the Meme mine, Casseus prospect, and surrounding license package to identify additional gold and copper mineralization and exploration targets.

Regional Exploration Alliance. The new properties in Haiti are covered by a Regional Exploration Alliance with Newmont. Under this agreement, the companies will jointly fund exploration with Newmont funding 65% and EMX funding 35% starting in 2009 (see Company news release dated April 28, 2008). Newmont commenced a regional airborne magnetic survey over the Company's entire northern Haiti property package in early December.

NOTE: To view the map associated with this release, please click the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/emx1217.pdf .

[anonymous171]

62. That's nice, but what you were saying that America ignored Rwanda b/c it had no resources

Which is totally untrue. Besides, that company is already operating in Haiti, they have no need for the American military to protect them or to open markets there.

[inthebrain]

48. Link

Natural resources: bauxite, copper, calcium carbonate, gold, marble, hydropower

http://www.theodora.com/wfb2003/haiti/haiti_geography.html

[Pavulon]

49. And you are saying this is why we are there?(nt)

[sabrina 1]

64. Are you seriously this ignorant of the history of the U.S. in Haiti?

Why are we in Iraq? Why have we been involved in THAT country's affairs for so long? And why are we in Afghanistan? Please don't say you believe it was because of 9/11.

And why were we involved in so many South and Central American countries, always on the side of Dictators, always behind the coups of democratically elected leaders?

Did you really think that Haiti is poor because the people there are just lazy bums, as the ignorant, xenophobic rightwing believes?

Every country in which the U.S. interfered, backing dictators ended up like Haiti, in poverty and illiterate. The ratio of poor to wealthy in all of these countries is almost identical 80% poverty and illiteracy rates.

Most Americans have been ignorant of these facts. They didn't know about Reagan's secret wars in Central America, and his support for Saddam Hussein eg, but the rest of the world is not so ignorant and it only makes us look foolish to try to deny history.

The more knowledge Americans have of their governments policies abroad, the sooner those policies can start changing. But with attitudes like yours, it is no wonder that they had nothing to fear from the American people, until relatively recently.

[anonymous171]

66. I'm pretty sure America supported those dictators because they were capitalist

not because they were trying to get at Haiti's resources. American imperialism is Haiti has been more about regional control than spreading neoliberalism.

[sabrina 1]

75. Well, not according to Naom Chomsky and Naomie Klein and

most historians who have recorded the role of the U.S. and other capitalists in Haiti. From an interview with Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now:

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/3/noam_chomsky_on_crisis_and_hope

Haitian rice farmers are quite efficient, but they can’t compete with US agribusiness that relies on a huge government subsidy, thanks to Ronald Reagan’s free market enthusiasms. Well, there’s nothing at all surprising about what followed next. In 1995, USAID wrote a report pointing out, and I’m quoting it, that “the export-driven trade and investment policy” that Washington mandated will “relentlessly squeeze the domestic rice farmer.” In fact, the neoliberal policies rammed down Haiti’s throat destroyed, dismantled what was left of economic sovereignty, drove the country into chaos, and that was accelerated by Bush Number Two’s banning of international aid, on totally cynical grounds.

Haiti was once among the richest places in that part of the world. Neo-liberalism destoryed it as it tends to do everywhere it is implemented. The French and the U.S. have been the main forces in the destruction of the country over many, many years.

[Andronex]

72. Haiti used to be the one of the richest nation...

Haiti used to be the one of the richest nation in the Caribbean, before the US occupation of 1915 to 1934...

[sabrina 1]

77. It was a wealthy nation.

And it's a perfect example of what becomes of countries subjected to neo-liberal ideology and Imperialism. The French are guilty too of keeping Haiti from its right to rule itself

[sabrina 1]

63. It's clear you would prefer to remain ignorant. The U.S.

has invaded that 'shithole' before and has backed dictators who murdered their own people in Haiti, not to mention in more recent history, helped remove twice, a Democratically elected Haitian president after which the country was plunged into political violence causing the deaths of over 5000 people. That was just a few years ago.

Do some research and learn the reasons why the country is impoverished. It's not pleasant to know that your own government is largely responsible for that and that there certainly was profit to be made by keeping that country oppressed. The Rockefellers and other bankers made a fortune after taking over Haiti's banks and using slave-wage labor of Haitians to run their various businesses there. Aristede had the outrageous notion that Haitians should be getting a livable wage and education. It was not a popular idea with Western Capitalists which is why he is no longer there.

Stop showing your ignorance, facts cannot be hidden even if denied. As for posting links, I've posted plenty of them and it's no surprise that the American public is so ignorant of their government's involvement in Haitian affairs. They are the last people to ever learn these things, as you so clearly demonstrate.

I believe that if the American were informed, they would not support their government's deadly policies in these third world country. So do they, which is why we are kept in ignorance unless we take the trouble to educate ourselves.

[inthebrain]

37. Appartenly the US militrary is not

If they were, all those supplies would not be sitting at the airport for six days. Furthermore, they would not be performing amputations without Morphine and conventional saws from local hardware stores.

[anonymous171]

38. That did not answer my question. nt

[inthebrain]

41. The question itseld is absurd

It has nothing to do with capability. It has to do with Willingness.

The US military is not willing to distribute the aid. It takes more than six days get supplies to the hospitals? You can move troops around which all the people on the ground working the aid efforts say are not needed but you can't move the supplies THAT ARE NEEDED?

The military is there for one reason and one reason only. It is in line with the governments reasons for disposing two democratically elected governments in Haiti. IT'S THE RESOURCES!!!!!!

[anonymous171]

44. What fucking resources does Haiti have?

Their people are starving to death. They have absolutely nothing. If anything this intervention is more about regional control than resources.

[inthebrain]

60. Haiti is wealthy in resources

oh, and people in Sierre Leone as well as South Africa are starving to death as well. Not to mention masses of people dying of Aids with no medical facilities. They are wealth in Diamonds.

The ME is loaded with third world countries and have people starving as well. They are wealthy in Oil.

Haiti is a Rich Country: Company Estimates Haiti Has 215 Million Tons of Gold, 117 Million ounces of Silver & 423.5 Million Pounds of Copper


Eurasian Minerals Inc.

TSX VENTURE: EMX
Dec 17, 2008 09:29 ET
http://www.fanmilavalasny.com/main12/Eurasian.html


Eurasian Minerals Inc. Acquires 27 Exploration Licenses in Haiti and the Historic Meme Copper-Gold Mine

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Dec. 17, 2008) - Eurasian Minerals Inc. (the "Company" or "EMX") (TSX VENTURE:EMX) is pleased to announce it has been awarded twenty-seven new exploration licenses in northern Haiti. This property package, in combination with EMX's previous license awards, gives the Company a commanding land position along 130 kilometers of strike length in an emerging new gold belt. Included in the new license grant is the historic Meme copper-gold mine. All of the new properties are subject to the Company's Regional Exploration Alliance with Newmont Ventures Ltd. ("Newmont").

EMX's Exploration Portfolio in Haiti. EMX's twenty-seven new licenses, granted by the Bureau of Mines and Energy, Republic of Haiti, cover 230,560 hectares in northern Haiti. EMX's exploration land holdings now total 281,858 hectares, and cover approximately half of the Massif du Nord metallogenic belt in Haiti (please see attached map). This regional scale gold-silver-copper mineralized belt consists of an early Cretaceous island arc assemblage, located along the northern margin of the Caribbean tectonic plate, and hosts EMX's La Miel, La Mine, and Champagne projects, as well as the Pueblo Viejo deposit in the adjacent Dominican Republic. Pueblo Viejo has 215 million tons of proven and probable reserves containing 20.4 million ounces of gold, 117.3 million ounces of silver, and 423.5 million pounds of copper as of year-end 2007 reporting (www.barrick.com ). EMX, and exploration alliance partner Newmont, are aggressively exploring the Company's extensive property portfolio in what is gaining recognition as one of the world's premier, early stage gold exploration terrains. Please see the Company's web site at www.eurasianminerals.com for more information.

Historic Meme Mine. Two of the new licenses, totaling 18,600 hectares, are centered over the historic Meme copper-gold mine and Terre Neuve mining district. The Meme mine was an underground operation primarily active during the 1960s, and produced approximately two million tonnes of ore grading 2.0 % copper from five working levels accessed by a series of adits (Kesler, 1968; Louca, 1989). Copper and gold mineralization is associated with three small intrusions that are present within a northwest trending structural zone, with the Meme mine located at the southeast end of this trend. Louca's 1989 United Nations summary report indicates that the Meme mine hosts a historic resource of 1.5 million tonnes grading 2.0% copper and 2.0 g/t gold. This historic resource estimate is relevant, but does not meet National Instrument 43-101 or CIMM resource reporting standards. A qualified person has not performed sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources, and EMX is not treating the estimate as current mineral resources. The historical estimate should not be relied upon until it can be confirmed by the Company. Gold and copper mineralization is also present at the Casseus prospect, located two kilometers to the northwest of Meme. The Company will evaluate the Meme mine, Casseus prospect, and surrounding license package to identify additional gold and copper mineralization and exploration targets.

Regional Exploration Alliance. The new properties in Haiti are covered by a Regional Exploration Alliance with Newmont. Under this agreement, the companies will jointly fund exploration with Newmont funding 65% and EMX funding 35% starting in 2009 (see Company news release dated April 28, 2008). Newmont commenced a regional airborne magnetic survey over the Company's entire northern Haiti property package in early December.

NOTE: To view the map associated with this release, please click the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/emx1217.pdf .

[blindpig]

25. Cuba Opens Third Field Hospital in Haiti

Cuba Opens Third Field Hospital in Haiti

Port-au-Prince, Jan 22 (acn) A Third Cuban Field Hospital was opened on Friday in Carrefour,
southwest of this capital.
The previous ones were raised at Leogane, at the same western department the city belongs
to, and at Jacmel, in the southeast.
A fourth one will be placed at Croix de Bouquet, another area equally hit by the earthquake.
Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are still camping out at squares, parks, sports fields,
and other open air places, some because they have lost their homes and properties and others
for fear of the constant aftershocks, while hundreds of others have travelled to Fort Liberte
(north of the country).
On Thursday, more wounded people arrived to the Cuban medical posts at Delmas 33, in Ofatma
and at the center of Renaissance –guided to the latter by US troops controlling the access of
vehicles transporting victims.
Maxime Roumer, member of the Haitian-Cuban Friendship Association and also a senator of the
Republic of Haiti, said that the cooperation being received from Cuba, Venezuela and other
countries from the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas constitutes a real example of
fraternity and human solidarity, which he deeply appreciates.
Big boxes and containers with essential items are still at the Toussaint Loverture
International Airport, closely guarded by US soldiers, which have occupied the air terminal.

worldnews/trm/trm/trm

Instala Cuba tercer hospital de campaña en Haiti

Cuban News Agency
www.cubanews.ain.cu
[e-mail]

http://hcvanalysis.wordpress.com/

[inthebrain]

29. Drs Without Boarders has issued complaints that the military has gotten in the way

of supply distrubutions. They are performing amputations without morphine.

It's seems they are capable of moving helecopters full of troops (14 in total) to secure a hospital but the supplies that are there in abundance are left sitting at the airport. They have tons of antibiotics on hand that are not being delivered either.

Drs Without Boarders has been offering a harsh critisism of our intervention there.

[Pavulon]

32. Guess they should buy some c-130's, seabees, ATC and run the show

everyone bitches. Especially those who have no real ability to take over and be responsible. Guess they have a few hundred million dollars of airlift capability on standby? News flash, fed ex is not currently flying there, and brown probably is not either.

What is your solution to the problem, stand down all us military assets and remove them.

[inthebrain]

36. If the goal of US military intervention was to aid the citizens of Haiti

Then those supplies would not be sitting at the airport for six days straight.

The helecopters use to move Military personal could just as easily be used to move the supplies. It appears the US militray has taken the same position as FedEx in this except FedEx really has no interest in protectiong as well as shoring up Haitis wealthy reserves of Copper, Silver, Gold AND OIL RESERVES!!!!

Furthermore FedEx has not reopened the same detention wing at Gitmo used to jail Haitian refuges when they tryed escaping that island in 1992 due to a military coup.

Drs without borders has stated that they are not being attacked by the Haitians and that US MILITARY PERSONAL ARE GETTING IN THE WAY!!!!!

[Pavulon]

39. Links Please, real sites, not agenda shit. So we should pull out?

Would you issue that order? THat would have led to massive numbers of deaths in haiti last week and would still kill people now.

Would you stand down all us military assets in the region? Yes or No.

Hey, how the FUCK are you going to get supplies on and off an aircraft without military personnel? It is not like packing your van to go to the beach, overweight or improper load outs cause aircraft to crash.

Doctors without borders does not have a tiny fraction of the resources needed to maintain a supply of aid via airlift.

[inthebrain]

42. And meanwhile, the military is not moving the supplies at all

YOu are claiming these people are needed to do a job which they are not doing.

[Pavulon]

46. Yes or No, military or no military, which is it please?

I am claiming they are doing their job and doing it well, you are claiming what exactly? Yes or no please.

[TxRider]

52. They are moving supplies they bring in, and doing it well

They are not taking the supplies of the NGO's and other countries and air organizations and distributing them unless asked to do so.

Managing getting as many planes down full of supplies belonging to every organization wanting to fly in is one job.

Those organizations moving them out to people, is another job.

The military isn't going to yank all the supplies on a doctors without borders plane, and go hand them out, DWB would go apeshit. The organizations stuff sits by the tarmac until they can move it, or they arrange for the military or U.N. to provide transport.

I assume every truck any organization can lay hands on, military or otherwise, and every chopper, is moving goods nonstop as fast as possible.

[inthebrain]

56. Not according to the aid workers down there.

[Flaneur]

55. All the airlifts in the world aren't going to help if the shit sits at the airport.

I think that's what has people frustrated. It looks like the US military valued security over actually getting aid to survivors.

[TxRider]

57. But that isn't the case.

The supplies do not belong to the military.

The military is delivering the supplies that they brought, and that they are asked to deliver.

Their job at the airport, is simply to get as much landed and unloaded as possible. And it would appear they have done a brilliant job, getting more NGO planes and supplies landed than the NGO's can move.

[inthebrain]

61. Tell it to the people on the ground actually delivering the care

CNN’s Karl Penhaul reported from Port-au-Prince General Hospital, where US paratroopers have taken up positions. He said that Haitians questioned why so many US troops were pouring into the country. “They say they need more food and water and fewer guys with guns,” he reported.

He also indicated that American doctors at the hospital seemed mystified by the military presence. “They say there has never been a security problem here at the hospital, but there is a problem of getting supplies in.” He added, “They can get nine helicopters of troops in, but some of the doctors here say if they can do that, then why can’t they also bring with them IV fluids and other much needed supplies.”

The Spanish daily El País quoted one of these American doctors, Jim Warsinguer: “We lack a lot of things, too many for so much time having passed since the earthquake: betadine, bandages, gloves. And, above all, morphine. We have to do amputations without anesthesia. You see them suffer, and it is terrible. The Haitians are very brave, but they are suffering a lot.”

The desperate conditions and lack of sanitation for the estimated 2 million Haitians left homeless by the earthquake threaten to trigger a public health disaster. “The next health risk could include outbreaks of diarrhea, respiratory tract infections and other diseases among hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in overcrowded camps with poor or non-existent sanitation,” said Doctors Without Borders deputy operations manager Greg Elder.

While media reports claim that ever-growing amounts of material aid are coming into the country, reporters on the ground have said that there is still no sign that it is getting into the hands of the overwhelming majority of those who need it.

The British Broadcasting Corporation reported Thursday, “Correspondents say the aid that has thus far arrived at the port is being driven for 45 minutes across the city to the airport, where it is piling up and not being distributed to those who need it.”

The BBC continued, “The US and UN World Food Programme insist the distribution of food and water is well under way, but the BBC’s Adam Mynott in Port-au-Prince says many people have still seen no international relief at all.”

Aid organizations have charged that since establishing its unilateral control over the Port-au-Prince airport and the city’s port facilities, and assuming essential governmental powers in Haiti, the US military has given the beefing up of its presence in the country priority over the provision of aid. Doctors Without Borders, for example, has protested that military air traffic controllers have since January 14 refused permission to land to five of its planes carrying 85 tons of medical supplies

[TxRider]

65. Funny you should link that

Here are the words of the first doctor to arrive at that abandoned hospital.

The man who asked the military to come help, and had to go get the minister of health to give them permission.

"We have run out of IVs and IV needles and IV fluids," said Dr. Mark Hyman of Partners in Health. "We've run out of surgical supplies. We have to wash with vodka and we have to operate with hacksaws because we don't have enough operating tools."

The military is going to help with organization and with supplies, Hyman said. "They're going to help us get electricity, they're going to help us get food, they're going to help us get tents, they're going to help us get all the operating supplies in," he said."

Here you can follow his story.. From arrival

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6108550n&tag=api

To requesting aid, the military getting permission from the Haitian government, and supplies arriving.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/progress-catastrophe-to-s_b_433420.html

---------------------------

As for the rest of your link, you will notice it says...

"“The US and UN World Food Programme insist the distribution of food and water is well under way, but the BBC’s Adam Mynott in Port-au-Prince says many people have still seen no international relief at all.”"

That is not the military, and the U.N. and U.S. world food programme own the supplies, as the other NGO's own their supplies that are stacked at the airport, it is their job to distribute them and the military can't move them unless asked to.

The U.S. at the airport and the port are simply getting as much aid into the country as possibly can be done. Straining the capability of the airport and port well past their reasonable capacity.

----------------------

As for doctors without borders, here's what their man says to CNN...

""Last night, we couldn't see to land the plane that was supposed to land," said Renzo Fricke, the chief of Haiti operations for the aid organization Doctors Without Borders. "The night before we were supposed to receive two planes that couldn't land. The night before it was the same. That's our fourth plane that's not able to land."

Fricke told CNN's Christiane Amanpour Tuesday that although the organization was "facing huge problems" in receiving supplies, the work went on.

"This morning we had to buy a saw in the market, in the city ... for our surgeons to do amputations," he said. "We had to buy a saw because our materials -- the medical equipment is not coming as it should arrive."

Fricke said that some equipment and other materials are coming into Haiti by road from the Dominican Republic, a route that Crowley cited as one of several that are slowly being opened to channel aid."

[inthebrain]

67. In other words

You're own source backs up what I've been telling you all along.

THe military is not moving the supplies.

This has been going on for more than ten days.

Funny that they can move military personal around the Island but not the supplies that are just stacking up at the airport.


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

As for doctors without borders, here's what their man says to CNN...

""Last night, we couldn't see to land the plane that was supposed to land," said Renzo Fricke, the chief of Haiti operations for the aid organization Doctors Without Borders. "The night before we were supposed to receive two planes that couldn't land. The night before it was the same. That's our fourth plane that's not able to land."

Fricke told CNN's Christiane Amanpour Tuesday that although the organization was "facing huge problems" in receiving supplies, the work went on.

"This morning we had to buy a saw in the market, in the city ... for our surgeons to do amputations," he said. "We had to buy a saw because our materials -- the medical equipment is not coming as it should arrive."

Fricke said that some equipment and other materials are coming into Haiti by road from the Dominican Republic, a route that Crowley cited as one of several that are slowly being opened to channel aid."

[TxRider]

71. In other words, they did not put security above aid delivery.

Because their mission isn't to be a taxi service for all the aid NGO's are flying in.

Unless asked and given permission to do so.

They do deliver the aid they bring in, just like everyone else.

[inthebrain]

74. If you repeat that lie often enough I suppose SOMONE will believe it

You're own link contradicted what you are claiming is the purpose of the US military in Haiti. Not to mention what they are actually doing.

It must be hard to play turd polisher for this mess.

[crazyjoe]

69. oh, did chavez send a second plane?

[TxRider]

73. No he asked the russians to send a couple.

[sabrina 1]

78. Another display of biased ignorance. Chavez has been in

Haiti long before this earthquake, donating millions of dollars to help build Haiti's infrastructure, to train doctors and to work with other South American nations who have historical, friendly ties to Haiti. Venezuelans were among the first on the ground after the earthquake, NOT worried about 'securitizing' the country but delivering humanitarian aid to the people there.

Even Clinton praised the work done by Venezuela and Cuba after the U.S. backed coup of their democratically elected president, causing violence that took thousands of Venezuelan lives.

The bias and ignorance about Venezuela and Haiti is stupifying at times by people who should know better.

Find another scapegoat, Chavez doesn't work for you in this case.

[TxRider]

79. Scapegoat?

Hardly.

and he did ask the Russians to send a couple of military transport planes, which they did.

"At the Venezuelan government’s request, two EMERCOM IL-76 planes delivered Venezuelan humanitarian goods from Caracas to Haiti on January 17. The airlift will likely go on during subsequent days. Russian aircraft have already made 21 flights, including the delivery of 60 tons of relief supplies from Venezuela. Two EMERCOM planes are now being loaded in Caracas and Panama."

Cudos to Venezuela.

But Chavez shouldn't take shots at other nations that are helping.

[sabrina 1]

80. He asked the Russians for expediency sake. People were dying. The U.S.

attitude towards Venezuela, Cuba, and most of the South and Central American countries has been one of oppression. The U.S. is living in the past while the rest of the world moves away from Imperial wars, we are still occupying countries and oppressing, torturing and kiolling their citizens as well as taking control of their resources. While Venezuela would have been glad to cooperate with the U.S., the childish pouting of this nation because those people dare to want to control their own destiny, would, he knew, have made it a useless request. Good for the Russians for being willing to step up. And good for him for taking the initiative and not wasting time when lives were at stake.

Ortega, Chavez, even Noam Chomsky, France (although in their case it's a bit hypocritical) and many humanitarian organizations across the globe, as well other International observers and countries, are expressing a very justifiable concern about the U.S military presence in Haiti.

And with Gates insisting that there will be a need for the U.S. to remain in the country and 'police' it, it is no wonder that there is concern.

Chavez is only one of many leaders of other nations to speak out about it, but because of the irrational obsession with him by some on this board, one would think that he was alone in his concerns, when nothing could be further from the truth.

Gates now has 16,000 troops in Haiti. There are only 8 million people in the entire country. It would be like having a foreign military force occupying NYC after 9/11.

Each day it looks more and more like those concerns are justified. When asked about the intentions of the U.S. in Haiti, the answers are not very encouraging. There is money flowing into Haiti now, and the neo-liberal global Capitalists are already swarming around, with the U.S. government as always, right in the middle of it.

[crazyjoe]

81. I am not going to waste my time arguing with a Chavez

supporter. His only interest is trying to make the United States look bad, he will grab on to any opportunity to do that. Even our historic election of Obama didn't change anything.
Our response to the earthquake in Haiti has been second to none, many people are alive over there because of us, but there are some in the world ( and in this board apparently ) who will never pass up a chance to shit on anything we try to do.
The majority in this country will never agree with your view (thank god), so good luck with that, and it's only a matter of time until chavez exposes himself for the complete and utter fraud that he is.

[sabrina 1]

86. Actually most peopel in the world disagree with your view

Most respect a country's right to elect their own leaders. Most condemn the US backing coups against democratically elected leaders.

And most have seen the documentary that has been basically banned here, speaking about censorship, of that coup. Unfortunately for the traitors and their CIA backers, there were two Irish journalists there among others, who managed to film the whole thing.

Telling the truth in your mind, is 'shitting on anything we try to do'. Either you are unaware of this country's history of interfering, tragically in most cases, in the business of other countries, or you prefer to allow this country to continue down a path of destruction. I care too much about this country to NOT point out where it is wrong.

When so many other countries and aid organizations are fearful of the role of the US in Haiti, it is because, unlike many Americans kept in the dark by their media, they know the sad history right up the present, of US support for the worst dictatorships there and its role in removing the people's choice for president. You can put blinders on if it makes you feel better, but the world knows what you refuse to acknowledge. And some of us care more about this country than to support it becoming an Empire rather than a Democracy.

Gates has already stated the US reason for being there. No one who has been paying attention to Haiti over the years is surprised.

My country right or wrong has never ended well for those countries who engage in that philosophy. I know how much good this country can do but I'm not blind to how much bad it has done. Iraq being another example.

[hack89]

84. 13,000 of those troops are on ships

only 3,000 are actually on shore.

[TxRider]

85. Tell that to the haitians

The 50,000 refugees the 82nd airborne are feeding daily by the palace and the hundreds of critically injured they have medivacced to the Navy hospital ship. From just that one location.

The 3 million getting food and water from the hundreds of thousands of gallons being produced by the water desalinization plants on the ships and set up on shore by the Navy and getting food and water from the over 50 distribution points set up around the are by the military, that even the NGO's are using to distribute aid.

Ask the NGO's who can now unload massively more supplies at the ports opened thanks to the Navy and get more than the trickle of supplies that a single runway can deliver.

That's all just evil disaster capitalism , yup. No help to anyone whatsoever.

No doubt Obama has very evil intentions in Haiti. He is such an evil evil man after all.

[sabrina 1]

88. It is not the help that is a problem

Almost every country in the world is doing their part.

The concern is that unlike other countries, the US has stated that they will 'be there for a long time' to 'police' the country. Gates has stated that, then backed down after criticism, claiming that it will be 'up to the Haitian people'. Iow, if those Haitians behave themselves. And I am certain they will be helped NOT to behave themselves as has been the story there for a long time.

This is called 'occupation' and the rest of the world knows it. The US has occupied Haiti before, much to its detriment. Some things are worse than death, and the people of Haiti did fight and die to gain their freedom, not once but many times over the course of their history.

To NOT be concerned about the military buildup there would be foolish. If the troops are not helping the relief effort, then why are they there? I think it is obvious. They are because of what Gates has said 'we will be here for a long time'.

Disaster Capitalism is exactly what is happening. Maybe someone should ask the Haitian people do they want another US occupation? The wealthy elite no doubt will answer 'yes' but the 80% of the country that will suffer again under another occupation are who I'd like to hear from.

[TxRider]

89. Well lets look

"And I am certain they will be helped NOT to behave themselves as has been the story there for a long time."

You are certain, you know this as fact, though there is no evidence. No room to be wrong about President Obama's intentions in your mind?

"To NOT be concerned about the military buildup there would be foolish. If the troops are not helping the relief effort, then why are they there? I think it is obvious. They are because of what Gates has said 'we will be here for a long time'."

There is room for concern, but the troops are hugely helping the relief effort. Just fact.

"Disaster Capitalism is exactly what is happening. Maybe someone should ask the Haitian people do they want another US occupation? The wealthy elite no doubt will answer 'yes' but the 80% of the country that will suffer again under another occupation are who I'd like to hear from."

Show me disaster capitalism, show me someone profiting in Haiti from this.

Right now 3 million people need food, water, shelter, sanitation and medical care. We are providing the bulk of it.

When the situation is more stable, that is the time for concern about military presence. Right now those men and women are desperately needed and working their butts off to save lives, and being insulted for it.