The Right Testicle of Hell:
History of a Haitian Holocaust
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Blackwater before drinking water
by Greg Palast for The Huffington Post
Just in!
Our plea to send medicine to a friend's father in Haiti was answered by Democracy Now! producer Sharif Abdel-Kouddous who will make the delivery in Port-au-Prince. Apparently DN, unlike the US government, doesn't require armed "Security" to save lives.
Click on image to enlarge1.
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.
***
Greg Palast is author of the New York Times bestseller, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy." His investigations for BBC TV and Democracy Now! can be seen by subscribing to Palast's reports at www.GregPalast.com.
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You got the following fact completely backwards!
Haiti is the right half of the island of Hispaniola. It's treated like the right testicle of Hell. The Dominican Republic the left.
Haiti is the LEFT half of the island of Hispaniola. It's treated like the right testicle of Hell. The Dominican Republic the RIGHT.
I agree with every point you make. I would like to add the following:
Iceland is a small island with extensive volcanic activity which is careful to maintain a top-quality, standing readiness to help its citizens when they are affected by landslides, eruptions and the like. In northern countries in general, where the margins for survival are smaller, there is a greater will to centralised (ie, state) medicare and quality emergency services. People pay their taxes and can feel secure that someone will be there to help when troubles arise.
The United States since Reagan has allowed its infrastructure to crumble away, in order to avoid properly taxing the rich and the super-rich. It is a country that can hardly help its own people, never mind people in other countries. It has the technology, but not the philosophy. Any useful technology they have is tied up in unjustifiable military actions in countries where they have no jurisdiction.
If Americans would get their minds out of the tangled mess of religion and focus on science and solving real-world problems, they could fix their country and become useful world citizens.
These are the same men having perpetrated an equally catastrophic human calamity artificially in Iraqiranistan! Manifest Insanity!! And DEPRAVED!!!
There are so many good excerpts, but I'll limit myself to one:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/3235427/Haiti-aid-flow-grows-feuds-over-reaching-victims
"The US military operating Haiti's damaged main airport said it can now handle 90 flights a day, but that wasn't enough to cope with all the planes sent by foreign donors and governments circling overhead in hopes of winning one of the few spots available on the tarmac.
"France's Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet told The Associated Press that he had filed an official complaint to the US government after two French planes, one carrying a field hospital, were denied permission to land.
"A plane carrying the prime ministers of two Caribbean nations also was forced to turn back late Friday due to a lack of space at the airport, the Caricom trade bloc announced..."
For someone who brings nothing to the picnic, you sure bitch a lot.
It's about time somebody said the emperor has no clothes.
According to AP yesterday, "Troops from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division began setting up an aid station on a golf course in an affluent part of the city, but they had no supplies to hand out yet and Capt. John Hartsock said it would be another two days before they could start distributing food and water.
"We've got to wait until we've got enough established so we can hand it out in a civilized fashion," Hartsock said." Others have been quoted as saying that they can do little becuse they're concerned about "violence" or riots.
All this is like saying we shouldn't give pain killers to people dying of cancer because we might make addicts of them; in this case, people will die from hunger and lack of water, but they'll do it neatly and "in a civilized fashion." Maybe if enough of them die, we won't have to worry about rioting . . .
During WW II, in places where there were no airports, the Allies managed to air-drop food, weapons and supplies to guerilla forces in the midst of nowhere. We even managed to organize the Berlin Airlift.
One could not blame Haitians if they wonder whether more would've already been done if theirs weren't a poor black country, but a wealthy white one.
One might also question our readiness in case of an earthquake or an attack on, say, Hawaii. A 1979 headline in a Dallas paper after a minor snowstorm had caused power outages that lasted for 10 days is parts of the area read: "Office of Emergency Preparedness Not Yet Ready." Nothing's changed much in 30 years . . . Does the U.S. or the U.N. have anything similar to an Emergency Preparedness Department?
The U.N., as well as the rest of the world, needs a catastrophe department that should long ago have worked out how to handle every possible sort of emergency. There'll be another major tsunami in Asia one of these days and thousands of people will die -- as thousands are now dying in Haiti -- because those who learn nothing from history are condemned to repeat it.
What about bucket brigades to build piers; After WWII, the German Trummerfrauen (Rubble Women) collected and carried away tons of debris with their bare hands. That's how parts of the Burma Road and airports were built.
If firefighting planes can dump tons of water on forest fires, why can't a huge container be set up or a hole be dug in the hillside and lined with tarp and the water be dropped in there??
Why didn't someone think of landing supplies and troops in the Dominican Republic on Day One, and taking them into Haiti from there?
I could go on and on; maybe none of my ideas are feasible, but somebody smarter than I should be coming up with something -- somebody should have been PREPARED for catastrophe.
I'll bet terrorists are watching all this with very interested eyes.
If this is the best we can do, God help us all.
#
Gates should disassemble the Navy's hospital ship and fly it from Baltimore to Haiti by C130, and then reassemble it in Port au Prince. Perhaps we could shave some time off the transit time required for sea travel.
The US response isn't as slow. Those 2,000 troops aren't the whole package, nor are they search-and-rescue people.
USAID activated its teams hours after the quake and sent its first people by early the next day. The LA County Fire Dept. sent a rescue team by wednesday night. Not to mention the coast guard ship that was there by wednesday morning to provide air traffic control.
Ain't it the truth,eh!?
"BLackwater before drinking water"
Excellent summation.
But too wretchingly 'exasperating' to have this knowledge.
Excuses. Excuses. Excuses.
Hearts and minds withexperienced hands wanting/waiting to get there and on hold.
palast wrong timeline USresponse
Check out this url http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123185581
shows US relief supplies arriving eve 13 Jan, same timeframe as iceland.
(see http://www.isria.com/pages/14_January_2010_52.php)
This excellent article on the Haiti crisis by Greg Palast really shows how cold-hearted our government so often is. It makes me deeply ashamed to be an American. A relative of mine had a seizure disorder. It's absolutely terrifying and heart-breaking to see a loved one go through convulsions because they do not have their vitally needed medication in their blood. I'm just appalled that Obama and his government would not give the help, and readily, at that, that is so desperately needed in Haiti. Why is America like this? How would it hurt anyone or anything to help the Haitians in their time of desperate need????
Thank you, Greg Palast, for an *excellent* article. I deeply hope your friend, her father and all the Haitians get all the help they require!
Puerto Rico had trained rescue teams ready two hours after the earthquake. Minutes before departure, when the planes where moving to take off, word came from The U.S. imperial government and military to turn back. The rescuers remained on alert until Saturday, when finally the U.S. allowed them to go. Puerto Rico is ...barely 400 miles from Haiti. China was able to deploy rescuers, from 8,000 miles away in 48 hours. Cuba had over 200 doctors in Haiti by nightfall of the event. Yet, we do not hear any of this in the U.S. media. Shame, SHAME!
Hopefully this is a rough draft? Some corrections:
#7--"Without any emergency relief supplies." Not true-- at least according to the Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2010/0113/US-sends-aircraft-carrier-to-help-with-Haiti-earthquake-damage
Also, even the CS Monitor story that you cited in #6 says, "Medical personnel and supplies are on the Carl Vinson."
#10-- Haiti is on the left side of the island
#1, #4-- I agree that the US should have sent rescuers sooner, but these points are misleading. The 2000 marines were not the only people the US sent-- the US had search and rescue teams on the ground by Thursday afternoon, a couple of hours after China.
(http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2010/0113/Test-for-US-Obama-in-Haiti-earthquake-response)
There needs to be CLOSE attention paid to this issue of airdropping aid, as well as some groups like Doctors w/o Borders reportedly blocked at the airport. A common denominator might be prioritizing WHO gets aid and CONTROL over who gets aid.
A number of people have reported that flimsy excuses are being deployed not to airdrop food quickly, eg from Duke Lang on FaceBook:
A telling thing I read was a military official explaining why helicopters weren't lowering food and water to the desperate survivors. It "could cause riots," he said. Yeah, but not doing so is causing death.
I have to question some of your basic facts. My cousin is a Marine that was one of the 2,000 deployed. He was out first thing on Wednesday after the Earthquake.
"Haiti is the right half of the island of Hispaniola."
You're holding your map upside down.
http://www.activecabarete.com/info/images/map-hispaniola-physical.jpg
Well, this is sure helpful:
Doctors Without Borders Cargo Plane With Full Hospital and Staff Blocked From Landing in Port-au-Prince
(http://doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=4165&cat=press-release&ref=home-center)
I don't think someone that can't tell his left from his right should be criticizing ANYONE.
http://vimeo.com/7761485
Expertly shot & edited. Done with so much insight & attention to detail that most women who see it can't believe it was created by a man.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0033811/
jeff, great job on your short.
> very clean. i am impressed
> peace
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1843310/
This is absurd. US military personnel started arriving within 24 hours of the quake. Get your facts straight.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jr7KGNI3LRVnuZdGyB7E8lHE3kWA
Sirs:Yes, you;re right, and slavery is deplorable. But let me fill in the bits of information on the history.
During the Slave Rebellion, the former slaves went around the country, slaughtering any whites they found. They also killed any sympathyzers to the whites. The people of mixed race, Mulattoes, the tradesmen, the artison, the educated, were slaughtered.
After the general uprising, those people that survived, the Mulattoes, the educated, the craftsmen, tradesmen, merchants, fled Haiti in droves. That was around 1802, the survivors of the slaughter took refuge in New Orleans, and that area, thus giving origin to the Free Mulattoes.
The former Black slaves, now free, where left alone, to do the best they could. There are very few mixed race there today. Any whites, came in after that time.
bless u, Greg, for providing the background info on this story. NO ONE ELSE would say the truth. To be honest, when I saw DOUCHTER Sanjay Gupta and all the voicestitutes on XNN and ohter news media hyperventilate and ask HEAVILYLEADING questions about "..and it's getting really violent, isn't it "...I knew, that the ass media was lookin for an excuse to "start shooting". G_d help.
PS. all ass media outlets were asking these leading questions ON DAY ONE of the earthquake!!! hmmmm......
10. Haiti is actually the left part and the Dominican Republic the right part of Hispaniola.
Maybe you meant "the other left" and "the other right?"
Maybe you could change the title too.
The maps I have access to show that Haiti occupies the left half of the Island of Hispaniola, unless you are viewing it from Canada.
Actually Haiti is the left side of Hispaniola -- unless you're holding the map upside down.
The 30 Icelanders may have arrived first, but what happens after their "independent" resources run out in 10 days?
Who keeps the supply chain running after that?
Gary Will's book on Jefferson talks about his betrayal of the slave rebellion in Haiti once it looked like it was going to succeed. He was worried that it could spark an uprising in the U.S. Plus, he was always a francophile. Also a hypocrite.
17. USAID has been "donating" American grown food to Haiti since the mid 90s, undercutting Haiti's peasant farmers ability to sustain themselves. They eventually became refugees or factory workers.
Our tax dollars have been making rice less-than-cost to drive third world farmers off their farms and permanently dependent on factory food. Much more here:
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/597.html
One of two federally-supported, Fairfax County VA-based, urban search and rescue teams was in the air within 12 hours, including a heavy-equipment airlift. The second team was on the way 24 hours later. Each of those teams is twice the size of Iceland's entire contingent. Check out VA Task Force 1 (www.vatf1.org) for the real low-down.
Isn't Haiti on the *left* if you look at the map with north at the top?
Though it is on the right looking "down" from the USA...
When I was looking into the only successful slave nation in the world, I came across some interesting material. While some people know that Napoleon sent 50,000 troops to try to keep Haiti ( in our post you have its wealth as the 700,000 slaves but it was the sugar they grew that created the wealth - slaves just cost money unless you can use them to create something people want to buy). Sugar was the black gold of the 1700s. What most people don't know is that England also sent 50,000 troops to reclaim Haiti, frightened by the effect it might have on their slaves in Jamaica. They were defeated by the Haitians and yellow fever also. American slave owners were also frightened. John Adams said Haitian money was as good as anybody elses but Thomas Jefferson initiated an embargo. Amazing how frightened the US is of (compared to the US) small Carribbean islands like Haiti or Cuba but probably it is just that we are petty and vindictive or at least the macroparasites that control the US.
Surely Haiti is the left testicle?
You've got its location relative to the Dominican Republic wrong.
Greg - as always you provide a valuable service: context. Life is not lived in a vacuum, no matter what most elites in the US want Americans to think. Also, one of the other reasons why they are starving? It is too expensive for their local farmers to produce rice. Because rice from the US(which is subsidized) is always cheaper. Of course Haiti has open markets. I wonder who forced that on them? When rice prices went through the roof last year everyone starved - because no one was growing rice in country and they had no money to buy the rice on the open market. It's just disgusting - this is what free markets have brought the poor countries.
Thank you for all the information and passion you share with us in every article, blog, etc. It is what we need to hear.
M. Collins
Thousand Oaks, CA
Don't know where you're getting (or not getting, in this case) your information, but apparently you missed the deployment of several US Coast Guard assets on the 13th, Search and Rescue teams from many US metropolitan areas, etc.
And on your point #7, I guess the fact that the USS Carl Vinson can make 400,000 gallons of fresh water daily and transferred 35,000 gallons of fresh water on its first day dont matter. I guess the 3 tons of water Iceland brought (750 gallons) is much more important. Dont get me wrong, I dont mean to downplay Iceland's role at all - just pointing out having a carrier there is a major asset, especially for providing ATC, medevac, hospital facilities, you name it. Its essentially a floating city.
I have the uneasy feeling the Marines are there to block other nation's efforts to help.
It is not surprising about the U.S. response to Haiti's dire situation. In fact, it's expected, based on the ineptitude of those same officials in response to Katrina. The deliberate and calculated genocidal actions of the U.S. government and their policies in the U.S. and worldwide--denial of basic human rights (food, clothing, shelter, free, quality medical care and education, economic/financial stability)--speak volumes.
Pat Robertson, the tele-evangelist, said that Haiti "made a pact with the devil", and this is the reason so many negative things are happening. Well, it's clear who the devil is!!
So -- the Vinson, in addition to "sidewinder missiles" and apparently useless helicopters, has a water purification system and hospital services, and reportedly tons of medicines (guess those don't count as "relief supplies" when there's an axe that needs grinding). Would it be hard to imagine the ship is equipped with some other stuff that might come in handy in helping Haitians as well?
And Palast -- how is it or why is it that you miss the fact that the US coast guard was on the scene within hours doing search and rescue and has been busy since providing support for all manner of relief operations?
It is not surprising about the U.S. response to Haiti's dire situation. In fact, it's expected, based on the ineptitude of those same officials in response to Katrina. The deliberate and calculated genocidal actions of the U.S. government and their policies in the U.S. and worldwide--denial of basic human rights (food, clothing, shelter, free, quality medical care and education, economic/financial stability)--speak volumes.
Pat Robertson, the tele-evangelist, said that Haiti "made a pact with the devil", and this is the reason so many negative things are happening. Well, it's clear who the devil is!!
Much of the start story of this article is just garbage!!!
It may be 700 miles to Florida but the ships are all over the globe.
Ships do not travel as fast as airplanes--in case you did not know.
Carrier Vinson showed up with exactly what was needed most--vertical lifting power!
The first ships to the port could not unload due to buckled roads.
Getting a plane there from Iceland was easy, but getting a hundred flights a day in and out of the place took a little organization and work.
The Haitains, like the Katrina victims, had NO functioning disaster plan--which most societies have--maybe you did not know that.
And the fact that last year there were 10,000 relief groups in the country--from a few days to full time--TEN THOUSAND. About 20% of the entire population has been getting a free meal daily---before the earthquake.
There is plenty of blame for this problem but it is not because of the U S Military or the U S A. These people needed a hand up instead of a hand out a long time ago.
This is a test to see if submitting a comment allows on to view the comments.
Please recognize that within 24 hours the US provided this response
" As of 1615 hours local time on January 13, seven members of the USAID/DART, the 72-member Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team, and four support staff had arrived in Port-au-Prince."
It is disheartening to not see full coverage of the US response in your post - please ammend.
No doubt Gates has genocide and land-grab on his mind. Remember the Real Estate plunder with Katrina?... It still continues.
Gates was caught responding that any idea to drop food by helicopter was a bad idea because somebody might get hurt. (paraphrased)
Maybe before you post something that is completely about a carrier that hasnt been out of the shipyards very long, AND was rerouted to haiti shortly AFTER the earthquake occured. it in fact had the all of the supplies loaded rom when it left AND thousands of additional supplis, helicopters, and personnel that were flown in routinely BEFORE it even got to haiti!!!!! Not only did they give up supplies that were intended for themselves not because they were short but because they were trying to help with some of the desperation that was very visible, BUT it was because they themselves didnt need it. They have been working around the clock with very lil sleep as Stefanelli said..planes are landing hourly full of supplies from all over, they are working as an additional airport so that more flights with aid ARENT TURNED AWAY! Their entire medical team and facilities are eagerly waiting to treat the wounded!! The ship is filtering saltwater into fresh drinking water and flying the desperetly needed drinking water to the shore!! What are you doing but sitting on you butt complaining about something you clearly have not done research about and posting blatantly wrong information to the public, who id hope have in fact been watching the news and begin to chime in to make you look even more less educted than you do right now. As for aid and relief not getting there fast enough, really?? Minutes after the quake hit the US government sent out orders on every level for manpower, aid, and security!!! If you watched the news youd know that within hours teams of rescuers from all over were there trying to assess and devise plans, since the size of the disaster was far greater than anything before! Are you being denied a flight to help with rescues?? Are you a medical professional who could perform the surgeries that these poor people need to ensure they make itthrough the next few days and they wont let you go? Have you served in the military to know how things are done and why?? If you think for a second that you could do so much better than what is already being done, then please by all means stop whining and complaining and just do it already!! Lets see you swoop in and save the day so no more lives are lost, people get found with your magic radar, and your magic seeds sprout into the food you seem to be able to provide faster and better than what is in place now! Again what have you done to help those people? Because, my husband is aboard the Uss Carl Vinson, and i can honestly say that each and every woman and man aboard that gallant vessel is giving up sleep and putting their lives on line to do anything and everything that they are currently being allowed to do! I fully believe this is a sad attempt to get your few minutes of fame in though i dont know what your getting out of it. Countried from around the world are sending in trained people and tons of supplies daily. It is trash like what you have posted that causes the uprising and tempers that makes things so much harder and worse than it already is. Shame on you for talking about something you clearly know nothing about. Let us know please when you have been granted permission to be embedded in a unit, squadron, or rescue team and are doing anything remotely close to helping out in this awful natural tragedy! My heart and best wishes go out to all those who are in fact doing something not because they were told to, but because unlike this ignorant person who does nothing..they in fact are humane people who can see the suffering and desperation and are DOING something more than just sitting here venting for attention.
Haiti is the right side of the island of Hispanola? Only if your map is upside down.
Why isn't the "liberal" mainstream media talking about America's awful history w/Haiti? Ex: MSNBC is not. It's chilling. Watch as they skirt the issue and use many scrubbed phrases to describe the situation. It's instructional. Then go to the independent owned media for the TRUTH.
SPARK: Small Pack Aerial Rescue Kits. Where are they? In a FEMA warehouse? In a Pentagon compound. Today, those who survived the impact of the quake are dying of infections. Had SPARKs been dropped with antibiotics on day one, instead of thousands fighting over a dozen aid packages, dozens would have been collecting thousands of SPARKs.
The ongoing tragedy remains NOT NATURAL. Someone knows where the SPARKS are and why they are not delivered. They MUST be called to account.
To point #14:Haiti was never a rich nation, it was a rich colony which means it supplied raw goods to a wealthy nation(France) so that they could be manufactured and sold across the world. Haiti never had the infrastructure to be a rich nation, that cold colony of New England did.
Dear Greg,
What is disheartening that your post does not include the US govt immediate response in hours that resulted in having 84 people on the ground within 24 hours as first responders on behalf of USAID. Marines are part of it but the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance are first to go and then take lead ... Please see USAID webpage for more info. http://www.usaid.gov - an excerpt -
" As of 1615 hours local time on January 13, seven members of the USAID/DART, the 72-member Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team, and four support staff had arrived in Port-au-Prince."
Instructive to look at a map of Haiti, and Cuba - a map that shows known and probable oil fields. An irony that the Intrepid Mr O shows such bravery and courage in setting aside the genocide of his co-racial brothers and putting occupation first!
There are significant oil deposits and may be major ones as well. Haiti has the misfortune, like Cuba, to have some un-looted wealth yet.
I came upon this article from Yves Smith's links on NakedCapitalism.com. I'm displeased at her for linking to this drivel.
"China deployed rescuers with sniffer dogs within 48 hours." And exactly how does this compare to the US response? Do you mention when the first US relief (dogs, S&R teams, whatever) was on its way? No? And why is that? Cuz you don't know and are speaking out of your arse?
The Marines were coming as part of their pre-packaged entity, a Marine Expeditionary Force with a carrier-like ship with plenty of helicopters. Moving them quicker, by sea, is physically impossible. Quicker movements WERE conducted by airborne and USAF Special Ops forces, however, and were instrumental in getting some semblance of control over the airport operations. Why no mention?
RE: Gates' comments, exactly what are your informed actions that would disprove his comments beyond snide assumptions?
RE: the supplies in US hurricane areas, exactly what authority do you presume the DoD has in seizing these supplies from towns/ counties/ states/ FEMA and shipping them to a foreign country?
The USS Carl Vinson arrived after three days; it was off Norfolk VA when the disaster struck. Good luck repealing time/distance physics of a 90000 ton ship, nevermind Star Trek-like fantasies. Why no supplies? It stayed at sea from the get-go so as to get there quicker; the normal planes flew off to allow more choppers. Those choppers are able to ferry water, food, supplies, security etc around the disaster area, as well as evacuate the injured who need attention on-board. This is not an asset to sniff at.
Kudos to the Icelanders. If they're the internationally designated force for that, it sounds like they were prepared in line with their agreed-upon obligation. So how is that supposed to reflect on the US?
RE the naval hospital ship, it's normally docked and half-manned because those physicians are of better use at land-hospitals than floating around on a boat with no patients. Unless you want to spend more dollars on the military-industrial complex to keep it manned 24/7 (and I presume, much more $ to have more ships closer to every conceivable disaster location), shut up.
Sir,
It is clear to me that you have very little understanding of the logistics or bureaucracy involved when dealing with the federal government. Moving a few thousand soldiers, sailors, airmen, or marines is no small feat. You also assume that the military had appropriately trained assets in Puerto Rico, could you please tell me specifically what assets the United States has there that would have been able to assist?
It is a terrible tragedy that so many people, already impoverished, would have such a catastrophic natural disaster strike. Your criticism of the actions of our government does little to help the people of Haiti. Personally, I applaud the work done by the government of the United States, as well as that of other nations. Not only that, private organizations have really stepped up, contributing to nearly 60 percent of the flights in to Haiti.
It's easy to be critical of persons in power when you aren't the one making the tough decisions. Personally, I didn't vote for President Obama, but I applaud his rapid reaction to the disaster in Haiti.
Excellent one, Greg.
My heart sank when I saw Clinton and Bush with Obama at that press conference. Trying to look like saviours to the forgetful. Then Hillary flies in! Grotesque.
Jeremy Scahill from May 2009; also appeared on Democracy Now discussing this, of course:
http://rebelreports.com/post/109822009/bill-clinton-named-new-un-envoy-to-stabilize-haiti-a
Look out for Timothy M. Carney. I saw him interviewed on Al Jazeera at the weekend. The interviewer took him to task over his involvement in Haiti. Great interview. The interviewer even apologised for not discussing the earthquake but he did a good job of giving Carney a 'grilling'. I just hope it turns up on youtube. Love this entry from Carney's wikipedia page:
'In 2000 he retired from the Foreign Service and entered consulting, but from after the 2003 invasion of Iraq served as a Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Industry and Minerals in Baghdad from that March through June. In 2005 he was hired temporarily by the State Department to be Chargé d'Affaires in Haiti from August 2005 to February 2006, and then worked as Interim Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization in the Office of the Secretary.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_M._Carney
Good report from Al Jazeera here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F5TwEK24sA
And webofdemocracy is collecting articles and video:
http://www.webofdemocracy.org/
Haiti is the left half, or western half, of Hispaniola.
"Haiti is the right half of the island of Hispaniola. It's treated like the right testicle of Hell. The Dominican Republic the left"
Considering that Haiti is on the LEFT side of the island and DR is on the RIGHT, I have to question what other 'facts' you have wrong. Or do you just not know left from right?
http://www.activecabarete.com/info/images/map-hispaniola-physical.jpg
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.
While those helicopters are very important (as you'll see), you left out a few things that are also quite important and useful. When we sent the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and it's complement of sailors and Marines to Indonesia after their tsunami, in 33 days it delivered 5.3 million pounds of food, water and other supplies. An aircraft carrier has tons of food on board, and since the USS Carl Vinson had just been deployed it had plenty left. It can also generate hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water a day, and has the helicopters to deliver them (now that the Haitian government has given them permission to do so) and to ferry back injured people for the ship's doctors to work on. That permission will also permit the helicopters to pick up supplies from the airport and deliver them to the country's interior.
As far as the Marines go - it's their job to be ready to deploy off of a carrier and perform land operations. They'll do a far better job than a bunch of civilans of riding on helicopters, go into country that only the locals have ever seen, and deliver and distribute supplies and coordinate medical assistance with those who can provide it.
Perhaps if you had researched your topic before you posted you'd not have made such a foolish comment.
Good article, unfortunately spoilt by the fact that Haiti is the western third of the Island of Hispaniola i.e. the LEFT side. Take a look at a map of the Caribbean.
Not for nothing, the response by this American president was far better than the last sitting American president during Hurricane Katrina. It seems that Haiti has long been cursed by fate. I don't have answers for its plight, other than the rest of the world deciding to take an interest in finally fixing it. The chances of that happening....??
according to you, no matter what, the u.s. is a failure. self fulfilling prophecy. you need to check yourself, brother. a great tibetan teacher once said, "if the world looks shitty to you, it's because you're looking out of your asshole."
Dear Greg,
Thank you for your investigative reporting. I know what third world
countries smell like. I grew up in Panama and spent six weeks in
India. They smell bad all of the time. Shame on Gates. I am hoping
that something good will come out of this.
I am thankful that this is "dry season" which runs from December to
through March.
I am glad to see that China is helping out. We as a people tend to dehumanize those who are not like us. Please keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Carol Harris RN
It gets worser and worser - Brazil, France, Caricom, Doctors without Borders, and others complain that the US is blocking aid. Sometimes they are forcing the goods to the Dominican Republic, causing a day or more of delay. One on the ground report...
http://standwithhaiti.org/haiti/news-entry/the-city-is-changed-forever-evan-lyon/
"we had a late day opportunity to evacuate 4 patients to the US. these may be the first haitian nationals allowed to leave for the US. but martinique has taken over 200. the DR has taken many many more."
Another comment suggests that US efforts have been directed primarily at wealthy officialdom, i.e., the Montana luxury hotel...
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/pate170110.html
Thanks for your post, Greg - I've forward the link far and wide.
I have been transfixed by this debacle since the beginning. I have found hope in the ruins. Please check the following links and videos out. These are OUR troops on the ground in Haiti
http://permaculturemagazineeditorial.blogspot.com/2010/01/permaculture-design-is-for-disaster.html#comments
http://friendfeed.com/catlaine (Cat was already in Haiti when it struck)
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/03/28/opinion/1194838983811/american-ingenuity-in-haiti.html
sasha was also there and is now distributing stuff with Cat
http://www.permacultureguild.us/help-for-haiti-from-permaculture/
and the coup de grace,
http://permaculture.org.au/2009/12/11/greening-the-desert-ii-final/
viva OUR troops on the ground!!
Haiti is on the left half, Dominican Republic the right.
Greg, what's with the two voodoo references? Try dancing a little salsa before you go all negative. I'm sure even the Druids had some good ideas, don't you think?
Explain a little more how much and for how long did the Haitian government have to pay off the expropriation of their own slavery. Didn't Aristide try to get a refund?
wp
If Haiti had significant OIL assets... America would already be rebuilding the presidential palace in Port Au Prince.
This is so full of half-truths, false comparisons, and lies by omission, it's absurd.
You cherry-pick certain statements about certain elements of American rescue forces to paint a misleading picture of a slack, snail's-pace operation.
It also sounds like you know nothing about the conditions of the airport and seaport in Port-Au-Prince. They are almost unusable.
Finally, you don't even know the geography of Hispaniola. Haiti is on the LEFT side of the island when viewed on any conventional map.
Good job. (Insightful and entertaining, as always.)
Frankly, I was puzzled by the "right testicle", cos on a map it's the western part of Hispaniola, i.e. left. But then I realized that if America looks down to its crotch, i.e. the Caribbean ballsack (with Florida being youknowwhat), that would be its right one.
Haiti is actually the left half of the island.
i do not understand what you are ranting on about, greg. the US really does what it can
http://af.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idAFTRE60I02P20100119
i love that blackwater before drinking water sentence.
What else can the world expect from this land of the brave slaves that was build on genocide and theft from its very beginning and that initiated two world-wars (by financing Lenin, Stalin and Hitler) to commit even more murder and theft...!
Hope that these USA = United Satans of America finally go bankrupt and break apart ASAP
Haiti is the LEFT half of the island of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic being the right half.
Also curious why, whenever there is a problem somewhere in the world, ultimately, its the USA's responsibility to take care of it. Floods, fire, earthquakes, everyone points to the US and says "you didn't do enough, fast enough". Seriously, the USA is not the other countries of the worlds caretakers. When hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans, we got a few international volunteers to help, but generally, nobody gave a damn. I'd even say that more than a few countries looked for ways to take advantage of us at that point. And I'll bet a few even laughed over it. Personally, we need to remove our military presence from the other countries of the world until our own country is safe, secure, and 100% self sufficient. Then we can help those who are in need. Maybe if the US didn't spend BILLIONS of dollars a year (month?) to police the world (yes, at the worlds request) then we could have money to spend at home on such great thing that other countries in the world have, like health care in England and Canada or education in Germany and France. Gee, I'd love to cheap or even free health care and education like those countries. If only my tax money weren't being wasted to try to bring civilization to countries like Iraq and Afghanistan that have decided conflict for centuries by killing each other and themselves.
hell yeah
Nice title, but Haiti is only the right side of the island if you're looking up from the southern hemisphere. Since the Huffington Post is no doubt based in the northern hemisphere, I suggest you do a quick edit.
I agree entirely. Nothing was learned from Katrina. Thousands more have needlessly died in Haiti every day, and mayhem is increasing, because of poor decisions and lack of leadership. Meanwhile most in the media fails to ask the tough questions, let alone demand answers, even though they lambasted the Bush admin. for essentially the same mistakes on Katrina. Even more perplexing, a recent poll showed 80% of Americans approve of Obama's handling of the Hatian crisos. Evidently most Americans have their heads as far up their arse's as the government and military decision makers.
Mr. Palast, I believe you meant the LEFT testicle of hell?
Right or wrong my country! When it comes to the truth (USA permanent genocide)you remove unpleasant comments!
Allow me to make the following points.
1) A few days is actually really fast for a military deployment. About a million and one things have to happen before a unit can deploy, even for short periods of time. To get 2000 bodies over to Haiti is going to require a lot of people working pretty much around the clock. Especially when you're dealing with an air and sea logistical capacity that is probably in ruins. In the meantime, I know that US forces, along with others, have initiated HA drops; I know I saw choppers dropping off pallets on TV.
4) So how many Chinese sniffer dogs were deployed? Anywhere close to 2000? Are they maybe a small enough contingent to be able to utilize existing logistical support from NGOs or the UN troops that were already in Haiti? And maybe a small enough element that they can be included in one airlift, as opposed to the 20 or so it's going to take to move 2000 Marines in?
6) FEMA may have that stuff. But it sure is easier to truck it somewhere in the Continental US that it is to fly it in or load it on a ship. Think of the transportation assets as being a finite resource. Evacuate people where? With what assets?
7) This may be a valiud point. Maybe it would be better to send in other organizations, since the US Armed Forces main job is not humanitarian relief. It's just something that we end up doing fairly often.
8 ) Yup. ICESAR showed first with a lot. Good on them. They're also one of 15 or so SAR teams that are certified at their level by the UN, they also consist of 35 individuals. So the Marines are trying to do something similar times, say 50 or 60.
9) Security first . . . okay, this one may be a semi-valid poing; however . . . I've seen TV imagery of crowds close to riot when receiving HA . (Assuming of course, that the media imagery isn't showing too much of a skewed view.) And those same crowds were being controlled by armed troops who were already there under UN auspices. If you can't insure that the HA is getting to those who need it, and not gangs or hoodlums, or even just scared people trying to make sure they get theirs,then you're basically wasting a scarce and important resource. In addition, no military man worth his salt will ever ever neglect security. It's like breathing for us. If a Soldier or Marine was killed, wounded, or kidnapped because there was no security on the ground, then someone is getting fired for negligence.
10) So exactly how long did it take to get 45,000 marines in the Dominican Republic? Initial elements landed on April 28. Wikipedia's entry on the invasion indicates that 42,000 US Army and Marines were eventually deployed. (Sure Wikipedia isn't the most reliable source, but then again, this guy doesn't seem to be either.)
11-14) Points taken.
15) SECDEF Gates is simply telling the truth. "There are just some certain facts of life that affect how quickly you can do some of these things." There are also certain facts that sound really really bad until you start looking deeper into to them and start looking for context.
Try and get some context for your facts. It presents a more complete version of reality.
Greg: Iposted this on the White House blog, re
"food and water being dropped..." before I found your comments:
Finally. I'm seeing some similarities between Haiti and Louisiana, despite the different administrations and intentions. There is a battle in the board rooms between the "aid first" lobby and the "security first" lobby. Both are well-intentioned, and both have reasonable cases to make. The problem with "security first" is that it makes both aid and security situations worse in the immediate term. As aid is delayed, desperation turns people to rely on their worst instincts. Thuggery and looting become rational options for survival, even despite the threat of "shoot on site" patrols.
On the other hand, if humanitarian aid is distributed as quickly and widely as possible, that makes the thugs' control over distribution meaningless, making both real security and organized humanitarian aid possible.
Please why is it that when somethings happens that no one can do anything about, someone has to compare who has done the most soonest. But when all the houses were standing and the same people were starving,where were the concerned and the helpful world-wide. Let us begin to point fingers when most folks on the planet receive two meals today, regardless. The United States Europe and China need help as well..Perhaps even on more levels than Ayiti.
Are you sure Haiti is the "right side" of Hispaniola? I thought it was on the "left side" closer to Cuba.
I wish I could offer some great sounding advice here but all I have to offer is prayers for the suffering to end.
What will happen when the crisis is over ?
The people were starving before and nobody but the UN was there to help band-aid a country who needed more than the UN could give because the US Goverment is writing IOUs to the UN.
Too bad the UN does not have a collection agency to send after dead beat countries owing monies to starving people.
Sincerely
Rabbi Billy Bob
aka
Keith Kemp
Excellent. thank you
Dear Greg,
Thank you for such a good article. What I would love to know is why people are not telling that the earthquake in Haiti was caused by HAARP and done deliberately.
Boys and girls that earthquake was not a natural disater! That was a plotted disaster and the United State Air Force was involved. That is the one hundred percent TRUTH!
I am not a lawyer, but that earthquake was what I call premeditated murder and was done by the orders of the Illuminati!
Truly,
Karen Marie Romero
Remember in noo yeork sity, when that cable car "sky-tram" got STUCK over Roosevelt Isle a year or two ago? Those poor women/men were stuck in that box for approx 12 hours. I can only imagine the "needs" of any human being stuck like that (food, water, toilet, cramps). not hard to imagine. we are all human.
do you remember the Municipal Gornment's response? the last 5 hours of that ordeal they sent in armed(?) policemen. what a relief! Does history rhyme?
I'm sure all you say is true and confirms many of my own suspicions - but isn't Haiti, strictly speaking, the left testicle of hell?
I have wondered why the earthquake that devastated Haiti had no effect on its neighbours until I came across websites that suggest technology that can target particular countries and regions has been developed by the United States and Israel. See this for example: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133083
Also why target Haiti of all places? This website may offer a clue:
http://www.metropolehaiti.com/metropole/full_une_fr.php?id=13439
According to this article Haiti is rich in oil and uranium deposits. The size of Haiti's oil deposits is said to be bigger even than those of Venezuela which is said to have the largest oil deposits outside the Middle East.
Could this be the real reason why the US is turning Haiti into an offshore military colony? And I thought Haiti was just a convenient spot to invade Cuba and Venezuela from!
This situation is no different that any other political negotiation. One can frame the analysis anyway they want but the fact remains that all actions will be assessed therefore a strategy is critical.
I am very surprised at the biased nature of Greg's recent information including the decisions not to cover significant components of the analysis. There is ample evidence that this was not an Earthquake given the unnatural inconsistencies that point directly to HAARP.
Depending upon which subject Greg covers recently, he is responding merely to the reported data and is missing the behind the scenes data reported including the illegal faction in the US government allegedly behind the 'attack' and all that this implies. Much of the money sent to Katrina victims was made permanently unavailable as well. Did you ever see the video of the FEMA helicopter hovering of the levy 20 minutes before it broke? This is a Rpyal Scam of magnificent proportions. Stop being naive folks and notice that it's all designed..
Though you may opt to write me off an a conspiracist, I will go on record to say that simple research will verify all that I say. I am a designer and I see the signatures of the authors subtly present everywhere. The decisions the President Obama must make are fraught with death threats and global agendas of which Haiti is but a detail. This though does not help the innocent people that are terribly suffering though it does create a context of limitations.
It appears that the US has done a fine job of promoting assistance and providing solutions to help Haitians recover the basics and their loved ones. Hindsight is 20/20 and I hear so much easy chair philosophy going on here that is quite unacceptable. Do we want a fast quick fix or a systemic solution? Is the solution exclusively about aiding Haiti? Sadly it is not and only a fraction of the resources can be devoted as such.
Palast doesn't listen to people. His is a passionate wordsmith whom has perfected a media style that is as judgemental as it is inquisitive, neither which implies accurate. If any of the details are taken out of context, they can be made to be right or wrong. in context he and we just might see that the decisions as such are are necessary.
For all you saying that Haiti is on the left and no the right, your forgetting that if someone was wearing the island on their groin as testicles and you were facing them, indeed Haiti would be the right testicle!mirror image phenomenon.
The Planet is Not Like Politics
Right or left
or up or down
Is not a "fact"
in a world that's round.