Mark Hyman, MD: Haiti Journal: Hacksaws and Vodka -- Resurrecting Port-au-Prince's Largest Hospital From The Rubble:
"Haiti Journal Day 4: January 18, 2010
EDITOR'S NOTE: Two photo slideshows appear in this post. The first one is not graphic. The second one includes extremely graphic depictions of surgery and wounds. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.
The country has one doctor for 11,000 people. Electricity and running water are available in Port-au-Prince for two hours -- on a good day. The chief surgeon at the General Hospital (the largest public national hospital) told me that patients often die in the operating room because the generator fails -- on a good day. Under these circumstances, a small group from Partners in Health, led by Paul Farmer, is trying to resurrect the city's most important hospital from the rubble."
This is a long piece and lots of photos... FD
Showing posts with label Haiti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Haiti. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
There seems to be a bit of irony in appointing W and Bill to seek aid for Haiti...Democracy Now! is the source of this commentary... STOP YOUR EMAILS.
“Bush Was Responsible for Destroying Haitian Democracy”
–Randall Robinson on Obama Tapping Bush to Co-Chair US Relief Efforts
–Randall Robinson on Obama Tapping Bush to Co-Chair US Relief Efforts
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/15/bush_was_responsible_for_destroying_haitian
We speak with TransAfrica founder Randall Robinson, author of An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, from Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President. On President Obama tapping former President Bill Clinton and former President George W Bush to co-chair US relief efforts in Haiti, Robinson says, “Bush was responsible for destroying Haitian democracy…Clinton has largely sponsored a program of economic development that supports the idea of sweatshops… but that is not what we should focus on now. We should focus on saving lives.”
[Thanks for your emails! FD]
Well, Folks, I am getting more and more alternative histories of Haiti, so I will end with this one... To forget history is to repeat it.
Why The US Owes Haiti Billions – The Briefest History
By Bill Quigley. (click his name for more of his commentary)
Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights and a long-time
Haiti human rights advocate. Quigley77@gmail.com
Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State, stated his foreign policy view as the “Pottery Barn rule.” That is – “if you break it, you own it.”
The US has worked to break Haiti for over 200 years. We owe Haiti. Not charity. We owe Haiti as a matter of justice. Reparations. And not the $100 million promised by President Obama either – that is Powerball money. The US owes Haiti Billions – with a big B.
The US has worked for centuries to break Haiti. The US has used Haiti like a plantation. The US helped bleed the country economically since it freed itself, repeatedly invaded the country militarily, supported dictators who abused the people, used the country as a dumping ground for our own economic advantage, ruined their roads and agriculture, and toppled popularly elected officials. The US has even used Haiti like the old plantation owner and slipped over there repeatedly for sexual recreation.
Here is the briefest history of some of the major US efforts to break Haiti.
In 1804, when Haiti achieved its freedom from France in the world’s first successful slave revolution, the United States refused to recognize the country. The US continued to refuse recognition to Haiti for 60 more years. Why? Because the US continued to enslave millions of its own citizens and feared recognizing Haiti would encourage slave revolution in the US.
After the 1804 revolution, Haiti was the subject of a crippling economic embargo by France and the US. US sanctions lasted until 1863. France ultimately used its military power to force Haiti to pay reparations for the slaves who were freed. The reparations were 150 million francs. (France sold the entire Louisiana territory to the US for 80 million francs!)
Haiti was forced to borrow money from banks in France and the US to pay reparations to France. A major loan from the US to pay off the French was finally paid off in 1947. The current value of the money Haiti was forced to pay to French and US banks? Over $20 Billion – with a big B.
The US occupied and ruled Haiti by force from 1915 to 1934. President Woodrow Wilson sent
troops to invade in 1915. Revolts by Haitians were put down by US military – killing over 2000 in one skirmish alone. For the next nineteen years, the US controlled customs in Haiti, collected taxes, and ran many governmental institutions. How many billions were siphoned off by the US during these 19 years?
From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was forced to live under US backed dictators “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” Duvlaier. The US supported these dictators economically and militarily because they did what the US wanted and were politically “anti-communist” - now translatable as against human rights for their people. Duvalier stole millions from Haiti and ran up hundreds of millions in debt that Haiti still owes. Ten thousand Haitians lost their lives. Estimates say that Haiti owes $1.3 billion in external debt and that 40% of that debt was run up by the US-backed Duvaliers.
Thirty years ago Haiti imported no rice. Today Haiti imports nearly all its rice. Though Haiti was the sugar growing capital of the Caribbean, it now imports sugar as well. Why? The US and the US dominated world financial institutions – the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank – forced Haiti to open its markets to the world. Then the US dumped millions of tons of US
subsidized rice and sugar into Haiti – undercutting their farmers and ruining Haitian agriculture. By ruining Haitian agriculture, the US has forced Haiti into becoming the third largest world
market for US rice. Good for US farmers, bad for Haiti.
In 2002, the US stopped hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Haiti which were to be used for, among other public projects like education, roads. These are the same roads which relief teams are having so much trouble navigating now!
In 2004, the US again destroyed democracy in Haiti when they supported the coup against Haiti’s elected President Aristide.
Haiti is even used for sexual recreation just like the old time plantations. Check the news
carefully and you will find numerous stories of abuse of minors by missionaries, soldiers and charity workers. Plus there are the frequent sexual vacations taken to Haiti by people
from the US and elsewhere.
What is owed for that? What value would you put on it if it was your sisters and brothers?
US based corporations have for years been teaming up with Haitian elite to run sweatshops teeming with tens of thousands of Haitians who earn less than $2 a day.
The Haitian people have resisted the economic and military power of the US and others ever since their independence. Like all of us, Haitians made their own mistakes as well. But US power has forced Haitians to pay great prices – deaths, debt and abuse.
It is time for the people of the US to join with Haitians and reverse the course of US-Haitian relations.
This brief history shows why the US owes Haiti Billions – with a big B. This is not charity. This is justice. This is reparations*. The current crisis is an opportunity for people in the US to own up to our country’s history of dominating Haiti and to make a truly just response.
* Not too keen on the concept of reparations, the World Bank or the IMF...
It might simply be better to adopt a truly free market strategy and support the UN efforts to re-build agriculture in small countries that seem to have been defoilated by bigger countries and Multinational Corporations that frankly don't care about the impact on local economies where profits matter to them.
FD
By Bill Quigley. (click his name for more of his commentary)
Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights and a long-time
Haiti human rights advocate. Quigley77@gmail.com
Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State, stated his foreign policy view as the “Pottery Barn rule.” That is – “if you break it, you own it.”
The US has worked to break Haiti for over 200 years. We owe Haiti. Not charity. We owe Haiti as a matter of justice. Reparations. And not the $100 million promised by President Obama either – that is Powerball money. The US owes Haiti Billions – with a big B.
The US has worked for centuries to break Haiti. The US has used Haiti like a plantation. The US helped bleed the country economically since it freed itself, repeatedly invaded the country militarily, supported dictators who abused the people, used the country as a dumping ground for our own economic advantage, ruined their roads and agriculture, and toppled popularly elected officials. The US has even used Haiti like the old plantation owner and slipped over there repeatedly for sexual recreation.
Here is the briefest history of some of the major US efforts to break Haiti.
In 1804, when Haiti achieved its freedom from France in the world’s first successful slave revolution, the United States refused to recognize the country. The US continued to refuse recognition to Haiti for 60 more years. Why? Because the US continued to enslave millions of its own citizens and feared recognizing Haiti would encourage slave revolution in the US.
After the 1804 revolution, Haiti was the subject of a crippling economic embargo by France and the US. US sanctions lasted until 1863. France ultimately used its military power to force Haiti to pay reparations for the slaves who were freed. The reparations were 150 million francs. (France sold the entire Louisiana territory to the US for 80 million francs!)
Haiti was forced to borrow money from banks in France and the US to pay reparations to France. A major loan from the US to pay off the French was finally paid off in 1947. The current value of the money Haiti was forced to pay to French and US banks? Over $20 Billion – with a big B.
The US occupied and ruled Haiti by force from 1915 to 1934. President Woodrow Wilson sent
troops to invade in 1915. Revolts by Haitians were put down by US military – killing over 2000 in one skirmish alone. For the next nineteen years, the US controlled customs in Haiti, collected taxes, and ran many governmental institutions. How many billions were siphoned off by the US during these 19 years?
From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was forced to live under US backed dictators “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” Duvlaier. The US supported these dictators economically and militarily because they did what the US wanted and were politically “anti-communist” - now translatable as against human rights for their people. Duvalier stole millions from Haiti and ran up hundreds of millions in debt that Haiti still owes. Ten thousand Haitians lost their lives. Estimates say that Haiti owes $1.3 billion in external debt and that 40% of that debt was run up by the US-backed Duvaliers.
Thirty years ago Haiti imported no rice. Today Haiti imports nearly all its rice. Though Haiti was the sugar growing capital of the Caribbean, it now imports sugar as well. Why? The US and the US dominated world financial institutions – the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank – forced Haiti to open its markets to the world. Then the US dumped millions of tons of US
subsidized rice and sugar into Haiti – undercutting their farmers and ruining Haitian agriculture. By ruining Haitian agriculture, the US has forced Haiti into becoming the third largest world
market for US rice. Good for US farmers, bad for Haiti.
In 2002, the US stopped hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Haiti which were to be used for, among other public projects like education, roads. These are the same roads which relief teams are having so much trouble navigating now!
In 2004, the US again destroyed democracy in Haiti when they supported the coup against Haiti’s elected President Aristide.
Haiti is even used for sexual recreation just like the old time plantations. Check the news
carefully and you will find numerous stories of abuse of minors by missionaries, soldiers and charity workers. Plus there are the frequent sexual vacations taken to Haiti by people
from the US and elsewhere.
What is owed for that? What value would you put on it if it was your sisters and brothers?
US based corporations have for years been teaming up with Haitian elite to run sweatshops teeming with tens of thousands of Haitians who earn less than $2 a day.
The Haitian people have resisted the economic and military power of the US and others ever since their independence. Like all of us, Haitians made their own mistakes as well. But US power has forced Haitians to pay great prices – deaths, debt and abuse.
It is time for the people of the US to join with Haitians and reverse the course of US-Haitian relations.
This brief history shows why the US owes Haiti Billions – with a big B. This is not charity. This is justice. This is reparations*. The current crisis is an opportunity for people in the US to own up to our country’s history of dominating Haiti and to make a truly just response.
* Not too keen on the concept of reparations, the World Bank or the IMF...
It might simply be better to adopt a truly free market strategy and support the UN efforts to re-build agriculture in small countries that seem to have been defoilated by bigger countries and Multinational Corporations that frankly don't care about the impact on local economies where profits matter to them.
FD
One of my few readers suggested this History Summary of Haiti: WARNING... Haiti is not a pleasant topic for all journalists.. more history of Haiti...
http://www.gregpalast.com/the-right-testicle-of-hell-history-of-a-haitian-holocaust/
1.
Bless the President for having rescue teams in the air almost immediately. That was President Olafur Grimsson of Iceland. On Wednesday, the AP reported that the President of the United States promised, "The initial contingent of 2,000 Marines could be deployed to the quake-ravaged country within the next few days." "In a few days," Mr. Obama?
2.
There's no such thing as a 'natural' disaster. 200,000 Haitians have been slaughtered by slum housing and IMF "austerity" plans.
3.
A friend of mine called. Do I know a journalist who could get medicine to her father? And she added, trying to hold her voice together, "My sister, she's under the rubble. Is anyone going who can help, anyone?" Should I tell her, "Obama will have Marines there in 'a few days'"?
4.
China deployed rescuers with sniffer dogs within 48 hours. China, Mr. President. China: 8,000 miles distant. Miami: 700 miles close. US bases in Puerto Rico: right there.
5.
Obama's Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, "I don't know how this government could have responded faster or more comprehensively than it has." We know Gates doesn't know.
6.
From my own work in the field, I know that FEMA has access to ready-to-go potable water, generators, mobile medical equipment and more for hurricane relief on the Gulf Coast. It's all still there. Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who served as the task force commander for emergency response after Hurricane Katrina, told the Christian Science Monitor, “I thought we had learned that from Katrina, take food and water and start evacuating people." Maybe we learned but, apparently, Gates and the Defense Department missed school that day.
7.
Send in the Marines. That's America's response. That's what we're good at. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson finally showed up after three days. With what? It was dramatically deployed — without any emergency relief supplies. It has sidewinder missiles and 19 helicopters.
1.
Bless the President for having rescue teams in the air almost immediately. That was President Olafur Grimsson of Iceland. On Wednesday, the AP reported that the President of the United States promised, "The initial contingent of 2,000 Marines could be deployed to the quake-ravaged country within the next few days." "In a few days," Mr. Obama?
2.
There's no such thing as a 'natural' disaster. 200,000 Haitians have been slaughtered by slum housing and IMF "austerity" plans.
3.
A friend of mine called. Do I know a journalist who could get medicine to her father? And she added, trying to hold her voice together, "My sister, she's under the rubble. Is anyone going who can help, anyone?" Should I tell her, "Obama will have Marines there in 'a few days'"?
4.
China deployed rescuers with sniffer dogs within 48 hours. China, Mr. President. China: 8,000 miles distant. Miami: 700 miles close. US bases in Puerto Rico: right there.
5.
Obama's Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, "I don't know how this government could have responded faster or more comprehensively than it has." We know Gates doesn't know.
6.
From my own work in the field, I know that FEMA has access to ready-to-go potable water, generators, mobile medical equipment and more for hurricane relief on the Gulf Coast. It's all still there. Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who served as the task force commander for emergency response after Hurricane Katrina, told the Christian Science Monitor, “I thought we had learned that from Katrina, take food and water and start evacuating people." Maybe we learned but, apparently, Gates and the Defense Department missed school that day.
7.
Send in the Marines. That's America's response. That's what we're good at. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson finally showed up after three days. With what? It was dramatically deployed — without any emergency relief supplies. It has sidewinder missiles and 19 helicopters.
8.
But don't worry, the International Search and Rescue Team, fully equipped and self-sufficient for up to seven days in the field, deployed immediately with ten metric tons of tools and equipment, three tons of water, tents, advanced communication equipment and water purifying capability. They're from Iceland.
9.
Gates wouldn't send in food and water because, he said, there was no "structure ... to provide security." For Gates, appointed by Bush and allowed to hang around by Obama, it's security first. That was his lesson from Hurricane Katrina. Blackwater before drinking water.
10.
Previous US presidents have acted far more swiftly in getting troops on the ground on that island. Haiti is the right half of the island of Hispaniola. It's treated like the right testicle of Hell. The Dominican Republic the left. In 1965, when Dominicans demanded the return of Juan Bosch, their elected President, deposed by a junta, Lyndon Johnson reacted to this crisis rapidly, landing 45,000 US Marines on the beaches to prevent the return of the elected president.
11.
How did Haiti end up so economically weakened, with infrastructure, from hospitals to water systems, busted or non-existent - there are two fire stations in the entire nation - and infrastructure so frail that the nation was simply waiting for "nature" to finish it off?
Don’t blame Mother Nature for all this death and destruction. That dishonor goes to Papa Doc and Baby Doc, the Duvalier dictatorship, which looted the nation for 28 years. Papa and his Baby put an estimated 80% of world aid into their own pockets - with the complicity of the US government happy to have the Duvaliers and their voodoo militia, Tonton Macoutes, as allies in the Cold War. (The war was easily won: the Duvaliers’ death squads murdered as many as 60,000 opponents of the regime.)
12.
What Papa and Baby didn't run off with, the IMF finished off through its "austerity" plans. An austerity plan is a form of voodoo orchestrated by economists zomby-fied by an irrational belief that cutting government services will somehow help a nation prosper.
13.
In 1991, five years after the murderous Baby fled, Haitians elected a priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who resisted the IMF's austerity diktats. Within months, the military, to the applause of Papa George HW Bush, deposed him.
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. The farce was George W. Bush. In 2004, after the priest Aristide was re-elected President, he was kidnapped and removed again, to the applause of Baby Bush.
14.
Haiti was once a wealthy nation, the wealthiest in the hemisphere, worth more, wrote Voltaire in the 18th century, than that rocky, cold colony known as New England. Haiti's wealth was in black gold: slaves. But then the slaves rebelled - and have been paying for it ever since.
From 1825 to 1947, France forced Haiti to pay an annual fee to reimburse the profits lost by French slaveholders caused by their slaves’ successful uprising. Rather than enslave individual Haitians, France thought it more efficient to simply enslave the entire nation.
15.
Secretary Gates tells us, "There are just some certain facts of life that affect how quickly you can do some of these things." The Navy's hospital boat will be there in, oh, a week or so. Heckuva job, Brownie!
16.
Note just received from my friend. Her sister was found, dead; and her other sister had to bury her. Her father needs his anti-seizure medicines. That's a fact of life too, Mr. President.
***
But don't worry, the International Search and Rescue Team, fully equipped and self-sufficient for up to seven days in the field, deployed immediately with ten metric tons of tools and equipment, three tons of water, tents, advanced communication equipment and water purifying capability. They're from Iceland.
9.
Gates wouldn't send in food and water because, he said, there was no "structure ... to provide security." For Gates, appointed by Bush and allowed to hang around by Obama, it's security first. That was his lesson from Hurricane Katrina. Blackwater before drinking water.
10.
Previous US presidents have acted far more swiftly in getting troops on the ground on that island. Haiti is the right half of the island of Hispaniola. It's treated like the right testicle of Hell. The Dominican Republic the left. In 1965, when Dominicans demanded the return of Juan Bosch, their elected President, deposed by a junta, Lyndon Johnson reacted to this crisis rapidly, landing 45,000 US Marines on the beaches to prevent the return of the elected president.
11.
How did Haiti end up so economically weakened, with infrastructure, from hospitals to water systems, busted or non-existent - there are two fire stations in the entire nation - and infrastructure so frail that the nation was simply waiting for "nature" to finish it off?
Don’t blame Mother Nature for all this death and destruction. That dishonor goes to Papa Doc and Baby Doc, the Duvalier dictatorship, which looted the nation for 28 years. Papa and his Baby put an estimated 80% of world aid into their own pockets - with the complicity of the US government happy to have the Duvaliers and their voodoo militia, Tonton Macoutes, as allies in the Cold War. (The war was easily won: the Duvaliers’ death squads murdered as many as 60,000 opponents of the regime.)
12.
What Papa and Baby didn't run off with, the IMF finished off through its "austerity" plans. An austerity plan is a form of voodoo orchestrated by economists zomby-fied by an irrational belief that cutting government services will somehow help a nation prosper.
13.
In 1991, five years after the murderous Baby fled, Haitians elected a priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who resisted the IMF's austerity diktats. Within months, the military, to the applause of Papa George HW Bush, deposed him.
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. The farce was George W. Bush. In 2004, after the priest Aristide was re-elected President, he was kidnapped and removed again, to the applause of Baby Bush.
14.
Haiti was once a wealthy nation, the wealthiest in the hemisphere, worth more, wrote Voltaire in the 18th century, than that rocky, cold colony known as New England. Haiti's wealth was in black gold: slaves. But then the slaves rebelled - and have been paying for it ever since.
From 1825 to 1947, France forced Haiti to pay an annual fee to reimburse the profits lost by French slaveholders caused by their slaves’ successful uprising. Rather than enslave individual Haitians, France thought it more efficient to simply enslave the entire nation.
15.
Secretary Gates tells us, "There are just some certain facts of life that affect how quickly you can do some of these things." The Navy's hospital boat will be there in, oh, a week or so. Heckuva job, Brownie!
16.
Note just received from my friend. Her sister was found, dead; and her other sister had to bury her. Her father needs his anti-seizure medicines. That's a fact of life too, Mr. President.
***
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Even if you can't or don't wish to give money for Haiti Relief, the U.S. Government is using your tax dollars to help them... US help is on its way...
Game On: Is the U.S. Doing Enough for Haiti? - Salem-News.Com:
"Military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will not be interrupted by the mass human disaster in Haiti. Sound familiar?
History shows us that the U.S. government failed to help its own people adequately after Hurricane Katrina struck the residents of Louisiana, Mississippi and several other states.
Impoverished, homeless people, mostly black, who didn't in many cases have anything to their names to begin with; plunged into the depths of natural catastrophic madness.
So why would this country that can't helps its own poor and disaster stricken masses, be able to adequately address the needs of people on an island nation of again, mostly black, very poor people?
Especially when a so-called American spiritual leader feels compelled to remind right leaning Americans that their ancestors 'made a pact with the devil' and somehow possibly deserve this tragedy?
I'm sure glad President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela didn't bat an eye in his decision to send immediate aid.
The Haitians are still laying under tons of crushed rubble. The casualties include Americans and people from all over the world who were visiting when the quake struck."
Chinadaily BBS - United States - Is the U.S. Doing Enough for Haiti?: "Is the U.S. Doing Enough for Haiti?
How come half a world away China had a search and rescue team on the ground almost a day before the US?
In the past, the U.S. has occupied and administered Haiti.
Since its birth as the second republic in the Americas, Haiti has never had much chance to develop. The United States blocked recognition of Haiti until 1862, and an immense debt demanded by the French to indemnify French planters for losses in the wars of independence resulted in economic and diplomatic isolation. And it has had a chaotic political life that further reduced its opportunities.
With conditions in Haiti growing worse by the hour, the Obama administration has pledged $100 million and is sending 5,000 troops to help in relief efforts there. Should the U.S. be doing more? Does it have an obligation different from other nations? Should the U.S. take on a nation-building project in Haiti?"
America's doing what it does best in Haiti TheLoop21.com:
"There hasn't been a more divisive several years in this country in quite some time. During the Bush administration, we on the left honestly did not believe the guy could tie his shoes without assistance. We knew that evil old man, Dick Cheney, was really running the country. We thought the war in Iraq was about nothing but oil. We suspected even that the past administration's lackluster response to Hurricane Katrina was based on race and class.
And since coming to office, the Democratic Obama administration has had to endure that same level of distrust, dislike and vehemence both inside and outside the halls of Congress. He's been called everything from a welfare thug to an illegal immigrant.
But as we watch the horror unfold in Haiti, it appears that most of us are putting our differences aside, at least momentarily, to do what America does best. We are our best when we lend aid to a country in crisis, we are our best when we, even during a financial crisis, can see beyond our own troubles and respect the scale and devastation in another place.
In responding to the devastating 7.5 earthquake that has killed between 50,000-100,000 people, we have come out swinging. We have dispatched soldiers. We are working with the international Red Cross. We even have celebrities like George Clooney, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt as well as Wyclef Jean donating millions of their own money. As a country, we are committing $100 million. As individuals, through $10 increments, we are giving millions more. This is America at its strongest."
Is the U.S. Doing Enough for Haiti? - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com:
"Haiti has sustained what may be the most severe natural disaster ever in the Western Hemisphere. Its historically weak physical and institutional infrastructure, and the sad fact that the earthquake’s heaviest blow was delivered to the capital city’s core, have only compounded Haiti’s vulnerability.
No matter how much the U.S. gives, there cannot be enough relief for the desperately needy victims in Haiti.The blockages from collapsed roads, bridges and ports will make this relief effort even more difficult than in previous disasters. No matter how much the United States gives, there cannot be enough relief for the desperately needy victims in the time frame that anyone would want.
Even so, the U.S. leapt into an all-of-government response: President Obama has chaired interagency sessions, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cut short her trip to Australia, the U.S. Agency for International Development sent its prepositioned disaster relief and search and rescue teams to help U.N. peacekeepers within a day, and aircraft carriers and support ships were in place within 60 hours."
"Military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will not be interrupted by the mass human disaster in Haiti. Sound familiar?
History shows us that the U.S. government failed to help its own people adequately after Hurricane Katrina struck the residents of Louisiana, Mississippi and several other states.
Impoverished, homeless people, mostly black, who didn't in many cases have anything to their names to begin with; plunged into the depths of natural catastrophic madness.
So why would this country that can't helps its own poor and disaster stricken masses, be able to adequately address the needs of people on an island nation of again, mostly black, very poor people?
Especially when a so-called American spiritual leader feels compelled to remind right leaning Americans that their ancestors 'made a pact with the devil' and somehow possibly deserve this tragedy?
I'm sure glad President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela didn't bat an eye in his decision to send immediate aid.
The Haitians are still laying under tons of crushed rubble. The casualties include Americans and people from all over the world who were visiting when the quake struck."
Chinadaily BBS - United States - Is the U.S. Doing Enough for Haiti?: "Is the U.S. Doing Enough for Haiti?
How come half a world away China had a search and rescue team on the ground almost a day before the US?
In the past, the U.S. has occupied and administered Haiti.
Since its birth as the second republic in the Americas, Haiti has never had much chance to develop. The United States blocked recognition of Haiti until 1862, and an immense debt demanded by the French to indemnify French planters for losses in the wars of independence resulted in economic and diplomatic isolation. And it has had a chaotic political life that further reduced its opportunities.
With conditions in Haiti growing worse by the hour, the Obama administration has pledged $100 million and is sending 5,000 troops to help in relief efforts there. Should the U.S. be doing more? Does it have an obligation different from other nations? Should the U.S. take on a nation-building project in Haiti?"
America's doing what it does best in Haiti TheLoop21.com:
"There hasn't been a more divisive several years in this country in quite some time. During the Bush administration, we on the left honestly did not believe the guy could tie his shoes without assistance. We knew that evil old man, Dick Cheney, was really running the country. We thought the war in Iraq was about nothing but oil. We suspected even that the past administration's lackluster response to Hurricane Katrina was based on race and class.
And since coming to office, the Democratic Obama administration has had to endure that same level of distrust, dislike and vehemence both inside and outside the halls of Congress. He's been called everything from a welfare thug to an illegal immigrant.
But as we watch the horror unfold in Haiti, it appears that most of us are putting our differences aside, at least momentarily, to do what America does best. We are our best when we lend aid to a country in crisis, we are our best when we, even during a financial crisis, can see beyond our own troubles and respect the scale and devastation in another place.
In responding to the devastating 7.5 earthquake that has killed between 50,000-100,000 people, we have come out swinging. We have dispatched soldiers. We are working with the international Red Cross. We even have celebrities like George Clooney, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt as well as Wyclef Jean donating millions of their own money. As a country, we are committing $100 million. As individuals, through $10 increments, we are giving millions more. This is America at its strongest."
Is the U.S. Doing Enough for Haiti? - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com:
"Haiti has sustained what may be the most severe natural disaster ever in the Western Hemisphere. Its historically weak physical and institutional infrastructure, and the sad fact that the earthquake’s heaviest blow was delivered to the capital city’s core, have only compounded Haiti’s vulnerability.
No matter how much the U.S. gives, there cannot be enough relief for the desperately needy victims in Haiti.The blockages from collapsed roads, bridges and ports will make this relief effort even more difficult than in previous disasters. No matter how much the United States gives, there cannot be enough relief for the desperately needy victims in the time frame that anyone would want.
Even so, the U.S. leapt into an all-of-government response: President Obama has chaired interagency sessions, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cut short her trip to Australia, the U.S. Agency for International Development sent its prepositioned disaster relief and search and rescue teams to help U.N. peacekeepers within a day, and aircraft carriers and support ships were in place within 60 hours."
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