OAS to hold extraordinary assembly on aid plans for Haiti

[Judi Lynn]

OAS to hold extraordinary assembly on aid plans for Haiti
14:34, January 21, 2010

The Organization of American States (OAS) will hold an extraordinary general assembly to discuss aid plans for Haiti, Dominican Republic's Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso said on Wednesday.

The assembly, to be held in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, will take place after the upcoming OAS summit in Montreal, Canada on Jan. 25, said Troncoso.

However, he added, "there is no established date (for the assembly) yet. This decision will taken by the OAS member countries in Montreal."

Troncoso said that during the extraordinary general assembly, the OAS countries will analyze aid plans for Haiti's rebuilding and recovery after a 7.3-magnitude earthquake devastated that country last week.

More:
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/6875364.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. Worth watching this for Hillary's "free trade for the rich" plan vs. the leftist democracy block

whose plan will likely stress sovereignty for Haiti, return to democratic/constitutional rule, integration/cooperation with regional countries and will possibly call for Aristide's return.

There is already U.S.-caused trouble in the emergency aid project, with France Brazil, Venezuela and several aid organizations including Doctors Without Borders, criticizing the U.S. for acting to "occupy" Haiti, sending US soldiers in first and seriously delaying aid deliveries during the critical first week. Doctors Without Borders is saying that its doctors are having to amputate limbs that could have been saved, and amputate them without anesthetics, and injured people are dying, because of the US-caused delay in aid.

I expect more U.S.-caused trouble in the long term planning. I did not criticize any US actions in the first week because the situation was so dire, and the USAF seemed to be critically needed to get Haiti's one-strip, damaged airport up and running, and also the USS Carl Vinson, 3 days out when the quake hit, finally got there with 19 helicopters and the ability to convert sea water to potable water with its nuclear generators. US military engineers also got Haiti's broken harbor back in commission (according to reports). I didn't care what the Pentagon/US State Dept.'s long term agenda might be, those things were so important--the airport, the harbor, helicopters, a potable water source. But, frankly, I'm now rather appalled that the US used these advantages to get US soldiers into the country at the cost of aid deliveries. The UN had 9,000 peacekeepers in Haiti when the quake hit, commanded by Brazil, and, though the UN building fell in the quake (killing their mission head and about 100 personnel), it's not as if there weren't existing forces in the ground, to provide "first instance" order and security. Yes, more soldiers were/are needed to back them up, and, indeed, an entire temporary city needs to be set up for 2-3 million people--a staggering task. But considering the multiple parties who are issuing this criticism--that the US is primarily interested in "occupying" Haiti--I am giving no more "benefit of the doubt" to the Pentagon/US State Dept. I have to believe France, Brazil, Venezuela, Doctors Without Borders and other aid agencies, that something is seriously wrong with U.S. policy.

And that wrongness in US policy will very likely continue at the OAS, as to long term planning. The US, which has messed with Haiti for many decades, is on the same path now.

[bemildred]

2. Well said.

I think they (the US) are repeating the same mistakes made in Katrina. I don't think it's ill intentioned, I think they just don't know anything else. It's the little boy with a hammer that thinks everything looks like a nail. And some desire to play the hero. And perhaps an attempt to find vindication by doing the same thing successfully this time, but that's pretty speculative of me.

[Peace Patriot]

3. I have made a distinction myself between the on-the-ground, on-the-sea and

in-the-air aid givers, and the Pentagon/State Dept. CLEARLY, the Pentagon/US State Dept. have ill intentions in Haiti. I thought that, short-term, that doesn't matter. We're talking 200,000 dead and 2-3 million without water, food or shelter, including tens of thousands of injured. If the Pentagon, whatever its motives, can get the one strip airport up and running, who cares about their long term intentions, right now? But what these criticisms demonstrate--the same criticisms from a broad range of sources--is that US long term intentions have greatly affected immediate aid, in the negative. They got the airport up and running, and started infusing a huge number of troops--troops that were not needed-- instead ofinstead of food and water and air drops of food and water.

See this analysis, for instance:

Haiti needs water, not occupation
The US has never wanted Haitian self-rule, and its focus on 'security concerns' has hampered the earthquake aid response
Mark Weisbrot
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 20 January 2010 2
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jan/20/haiti-water-us-occupation

Mark Weisbrot is the very best informed researcher and analyst on Latin America. If he says the US troops were not needed, we can trust that he knows what he is talking about. He wouldn't say it if it were not true and if he hadn't consulted the best sources.

I don't think that individual US commanders and soldiers are doing anything but the best they can, to help Haiti. And I'm sure there are many heroes among them. (The ones who got the airport functioning have my special admiration.) It was Gates who delayed water drops. And it was Hillary who invited the-spawn-of-the-Devil to a photo op, and together, I'm sure, they okayed a $100 million LOAN to Haiti, via the IMF, which Haitians will now be obliged to pay with slave labor for global corporate predators for decades and decades to come!

The last thing in the world Haiti needed was a $100 million debt! Slave labor, privatization of all public services, corporate rule--the whole ball of wax of "free trade for the rich." And if the Haitians don't like it, they've got tens of thousands of US troops, US military control of their airport and harbor, and permanent US military occupation to tell them otherwise.

This should have been, and could have been, a MULTINATIONAL effort--short and long term. That is what's best for Haiti. Instead, the US is using its military expertise to make it a US show and one that will likely be in the interest of US corporate and bankster predators. Long term, that is terrible for Haiti, and it also missed yet another chance to implement Obama's stated policy of "peace, respect and cooperation" in Latin America. They have shoved US power in the faces of Latin American leaders in Honduras, Colombia and elsewhere--and now the Pentagon/US State Dept. are doing it again on Haiti aid. This is not good. And I'm afraid that it is well beyond any normal type of misunderstandings, confusion, mistakes and so forth that occur in all disasters. You don't have France, Brazil, Venezuela, Doctors Without Borders, the UN Food Program and other aid groups complaining about normal disaster relief mistakes or a small matter.

[bemildred]

4. Yeah, there is a lot of spotlight hogging and more to come.

Like this is show business, "Survivor, Haiti" or some horseshit like that. And I agree about our "leaders" in the Foreign Policy establishment and their intentions.