Breaking News: Haiti hit by a 7.0 quake

[Alyeska]

Airport and Google Maps update:

As Google has updated their Haiti images you can now zoom in on the airport for a closer look. There are tire-track semi-circles all up and down the runway from fast turn-arounds, as well as the usual landing skid-marks on the ends. If you look at the ground next to the runway you can also see tire-tracks in airplane-landing gear configuration as well - apparently the ground is stable enough for some aircraft to get off the runway and taxi over the grass but you can't do that with every sort of airplane, the bigger they are the more problematic it is. They are also parking some airplanes on the grass, apparently saving the ramp for the largest airplanes that really need to have pavement under them.

That is a hell of a busy airport right now.

I just don't see them increasing capacity there over what they currently are handling. Folks are just going to have to accommodate reality. AND we need to get the sea port functional again ASAP.

I can see two C-130s (one of them is Coastguard). A C-17, a KC-10 Extender. Numerous small jets. Those are carrying all manner of support and supplies. Several H-60 helicopters. Some other 727s. Couple other prop airplanes. And a fair amount of cargo just sitting on the grass. And of course a ton of gear tracks all over the grass.

[hongi]

I read this account of a ZAKA (Israeli relief agency) worker in Haiti and I can't help but cry.

I receive a four-year-old boy for treatment, accompanied by his 16-year-old brother – the only survivors in the family who are still buried beneath the rubble of their home. Again the picture repeats itself, nothing to do but pronounce the child dead. When I announce the painful news, his brother cries out in anguish and, in total despair, begins running toward the mountains. He does not want to receive his brother’s body.

Fuck.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Speaking of Israeli relief:

IDF sets up communications system in Haiti:

Lt.-Col. (res.) Yaakov Magal: All the media networks operating in Haiti are using the system.
Li-Or Averbuch20 Jan 10 17:45
Sources inform ''Globes'' that the IDF has set up a communications system in Haiti worth NIS 8-10 million. The system is now one of the disaster-hit nation's main means of communications.
Overnight, the Israeli field hospital in Port-au-Prince carried out surgical procedures via video conferencing with surgeons at Sheba Medical Center Tel Hashomer outside Tel Aviv.

In an interview with "Globes", the head of the IDF computerization mission to Haiti, Lt.-Col. (res.) Yaakov Magal said that the communications system being used by the Israeli delegation is a wholly satellite-based system. He said that it was one of the first systems operating for outside communications. The mission comprises ten officers and men who set up and operate the communications system.

Magal said, "We enable communications with Israel and for all the forces who leave the camp to go to work. We set up a complete headquarters communications system, and operate 14 headquarter staff lines, as if we were at the IDF general headquarters in Tel Aviv. We also have a video conferencing system, WiFi, and a diversified communications network."
Magal added that all the media networks operating in Haiti are using the system, as well as civilians who come to the Israeli field hospital, located in Port-au-Prince's main football stadium.
"All the correspondents in the area - Israeli, Jews, and everyone who finds a home with us here, uses the systems," said Magal. "We try to let local residents use the system. There was a case of a woman whom we rescued after six days, and the first thing she asked was to call her mother. We came to her bed and helped her place the call."

Magal did not rule out the possibility that the IDF mission might be asked to set up a communications infrastructure in Haiti. "Haiti's infrastructure has slightly improved now. The cellular system was shaky even before the earthquake, and now that the infrastructure has been damaged, there is little chance that they'll begin to rebuild the systems for a long time," he said.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 20, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010

Talk about a tech disparity, all of the media networks in the country on something operated by a small group and set up over a few days?

[Broomstick]

From the looks of things, the Israelis also brought the best field hospital. That facility is totally kick ass.

Maybe someone should start an awards program to recognize best disaster relief stuff: Best Medical Aid, Best Water Distribution, Best Communications....

[Darth Wong]

I read this account of a ZAKA (Israeli relief agency) worker in Haiti and I can't help but cry.

I receive a four-year-old boy for treatment, accompanied by his 16-year-old brother – the only survivors in the family who are still buried beneath the rubble of their home. Again the picture repeats itself, nothing to do but pronounce the child dead. When I announce the painful news, his brother cries out in anguish and, in total despair, begins running toward the mountains. He does not want to receive his brother’s body.

Fuck.

That's just awful. Unfortunately, these are the side-effects of poverty. The same quake in California would not have had the same effects.

We turn our backs on third-world poverty 99% of the time, except when something horrible like this happens. Then we rush in to help, but once the crisis is over, we turn our backs again, and begin to exploit them again with trade and financial policies which inevitably keep them mired in poverty forever.

[[R_H]]

Here's a somewhat interesting Opinion piece by Jeremy Scahill. Some of the comments are quite, um, interesting.

US Security Company Offers to Perform "High Threat Terminations" and to Confront "Worker Unrest" in Haiti

Here we go: New Orleans 2.0

By Jeremy Scahill

We saw this type of Iraq-style disaster profiteering in New Orleans and you can expect to see a lot more of this in Haiti over the coming days, weeks and months. Private security companies are seeing big dollar signs in Haiti thanks in no small part to the media hype about “looters.” After Katrina, the number of private security companies registered (and unregistered) multiplied overnight. Banks, wealthy individuals, the US government all hired private security. I even encountered Israeli mercenaries operating an armed check-point outside of an elite gated community in New Orleans. They worked for a company called Instinctive Shooting International. (That is not a joke).

Now, it is kicking into full gear in Haiti. As we know, the member companies of the Orwellian-named mercenary trade association, the International Peace Operations Association, are offering their services in Haiti. But look for more stories like this one:

On January 15, a Florida based company called All Pro Legal Investigations registered the URL Haiti-Security.com. It is basically a copy of the company’s existing US website but is now targeted for business in Haiti, claiming the “purpose of this site is to act as a clearinghouse for information seekers on the state of security in Haiti.”

“All Protection and Security has made a commitment to the Haitian community and will provide professional security against any threat to prosperity in Haiti,” the site proclaims. “Job sites and supply convoys will be protected against looters and vandals. Workers will be protected against gang violence and intimidation. The people of Haiti will recover, with the help of the good people from the world over.”

The company boasts that it has run “Thousands of successful missions in Iraq & Afghanistan.” As for its personnel, “Each and every member of our team is a former Law Enforcement Officer or former Military service member,” the site claims. “If Operator experience, training and qualifications matter, choose All Protection & Security for your high-threat Haiti security needs.”

Among the services offered are: “High Threat terminations,” dealing with “worker unrest,” armed guards and “Armed Cargo Escorts.” Oh, and apparently they are currently hiring.

[FSTargetDrone]

I'm also glad to see that Mexico (a country with enough problems of its own) has responded as well:

Mexican aid efforts "extraordinary": Haitian official

English.news.cn 2010-01-21 13:11:34

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The efforts Mexico has made to aid quake-torn Haiti have been "extraordinary," a Haitian diplomatic official in Mexico said Wednesday.

"I would call the response from Mexicans extraordinary on several levels, from ordinary people and authorities to central and local government," said Moise Dorce, Minister-Counselor at the Haitian embassy in Mexico City, who is in charge of the aid work.

"There has been a very human response," Dorce told Xinhua. "People immediately realized how hard it is and are working to make things better."

Two trucks are loaded with donated goods daily. The streets outside the embassy, in the posh suburb Polanco, are stacked high with crates of donations: water, rice, beans, medicines, canned food, mattresses, diapers and toilet rolls.

Both Haitian and Mexican volunteers are busy filling trucks with goods, which will head down to the eastern port Veracruz and then be loaded onto the Mexican navy ship "Hausteco" that has carried 200 tons of aid to the Caribbean nation.

Embassy staff estimate the embassy alone has sent between 250 and 300 tons of aid to Veracruz, and there are many more collection points across the country.

The Constitution Square in central Mexico City is also packed with volunteers organized by the city government sending goods to Veracruz for shipping.

Dorce said Mexico's biggest telephone company Telmex had raised 10 million pesos (784,000 U.S. dollars) on the first day of an appeal for funds to send aid to Haiti, where officials say at least 75,000 people have died in the devastating quake.

Dorce said he was particularly proud to be in a nation that responded so quickly. "Mexico City's quake increased the sensibility of the population. It makes them understand more about what other people have experienced."

Mexico's Topos de Tlatelolco, a volunteer quake rescue team that travels across the world when a disaster strikes, flew immediately to Port-au-Prince once the quake struck Haiti last week.

But the crisis is not over. Food was running short and aid reached only a small number of Haitians, Dorce said.

Many people were sleeping on the streets fearing more aftershocks would occur after a powerful one hit the country on Wednesday morning, he said.

"We see the quantity of aid that arrives here, but the people in Haiti don't know. They just see they have nothing, and they are desperate," Dorce added.

The World Food Program estimates it is now feeding 200,000 people in Haiti. However, this remains short of what is needed.

Other UN bodies estimate as many as 3 million residents in Port-au- Prince and the surrounding cities are homeless and need assistance.

Needs remain varied. Embassy staff say they need urgent help from a logistics company to pack up donations. Tents are also urgently needed as many people stay in the streets and Haiti is prone to heavy rains.

Other staffers say the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine is the most important.

Here is a blurb concerning the ship mentioned in the article, the Huasteco:

USNS COMFORT to have Company off the Coast of Haiti
19th January 2010

The USNS COMFORT will not be the only hospital ship off the coast of Port-au-Prince. Colombia and Mexico are sending their hospital ships.

David Axe of War is Boring has a great post about the Colombian Navy’s Surgery Barge.

According to SOUTHCOM, the Mexican Navy Navy is sending the Huasteco Hospital Boat.

[Broomstick]

CNN is reporting that they've got a pier open at the sea port - it's the smaller of the two, but apparently it is usable. They also laid a new gravel road from it. The road is narrow and only allows for one-way traffic. Also, due to concerns about the structural integrity of the now-open pier they are limiting it to one truck at a time (they are taking no chances on further damage to the port), but it IS open and some stuff is getting through there as of right now. I would expect the situation to continue improving.

[Broomstick]

Here's an interesting group: ShelterBox. These folks have been around for a decade. Their goal this year is to provide emergency shelter for 500,000 people. I don't think they're were expecting to get an opportunity quite so early in the year.

The idea is to send a large box with a 10-man tent, plus items like blankets, mosquito nets (in tropical areas), water purification supplies, multi-fuel stove, basic hand tools, cooking utensils, and other really practical items. Each box can be customized to the location it's going (so in cold areas you get thermal blankets, in malarial areas mosquito netting, etc.). All equipment is new and selected with durability in mind. The tent has partitions to subdivide the interior, allowing for some privacy. The box everything comes in has multiple uses as well.



This charity has pledged 3,000 boxes for Haiti so far. That's housing for up to 30,000 people. The first several dozen boxes to arrive in Haiti were snatched up by field hospitals, so that injured people could have shelter from the elements. The boxes started arriving Tuesday of this week, starting at 400 a day. They're planning to move into Leogane next, the epicenter of the quake, as nearly every building in that town is destroyed and there is no shelter other that what people have cobbled together out of the ruins.

The boxes are relatively lightweight for their contents, allowing for transport by a variety of means:

[CJvR]

The main pier is effectively gone... It was south of the magazines originaly, the cranes are standing on the water.

The secondary pier just lost the tip so some of it is probably useful.

Noted that a French ship was first to dock so the frogs wont have anything to croak about.

[Simon_Jester]

CNN is reporting that they've got a pier open at the sea port - it's the smaller of the two, but apparently it is usable. They also laid a new gravel road from it. The road is narrow and only allows for one-way traffic. Also, due to concerns about the structural integrity of the now-open pier they are limiting it to one truck at a time (they are taking no chances on further damage to the port), but it IS open and some stuff is getting through there as of right now. I would expect the situation to continue improving.

Though they still don't have the cranes, so the same limitations on having to transfer cargo by stevedores apply, right?

[Korvan]

I keep seeing articles about aid getting out to a fraction of the 3 million people in need and that makes me wonder about the other 7 million Haitians out there. Are they all survivalists with 6 month food stocks? I imagine they are in slightly better shape with what food they did have not being buried under rubble, but they can't be having too much left after over a week.

I guess their need is not as immediate as those directly affected, but as time goes on, their need will become just as dire. I just hope the bottlenecks get resolved before too much longer.

[Sea Skimmer]

That's just awful. Unfortunately, these are the side-effects of poverty. The same quake in California would not have had the same effects.

We turn our backs on third-world poverty 99% of the time, except when something horrible like this happens. Then we rush in to help, but once the crisis is over, we turn our backs again, and begin to exploit them again with trade and financial policies which inevitably keep them mired in poverty forever.

In Haitis case foreign companies could hardly make things worse, but the UN sure could. The near total UN trade embargo in the early 1990s completely destroyed what little industry had been built up in the country and its never recovered.

[Broomstick]

CNN is reporting that they've got a pier open at the sea port - it's the smaller of the two, but apparently it is usable. They also laid a new gravel road from it. The road is narrow and only allows for one-way traffic. Also, due to concerns about the structural integrity of the now-open pier they are limiting it to one truck at a time (they are taking no chances on further damage to the port), but it IS open and some stuff is getting through there as of right now. I would expect the situation to continue improving.

Though they still don't have the cranes, so the same limitations on having to transfer cargo by stevedores apply, right?

The problem with the north pier is that not only is most of it underwater, but there are wrecked cranes in the water next to it, which prevents pulling a ship alongside, nevermind unloading it.

The south pier apparently only lost the end bit, and there aren't masses of twisted steel lying next to it, allowing ships to pull up to the dock and then unloaded, either by crane or stevedore.

Granted, this is still far from ideal, but a week ago they had NO capacity to unload a ship in Port-au-Prince at all.

I keep seeing articles about aid getting out to a fraction of the 3 million people in need and that makes me wonder about the other 7 million Haitians out there. Are they all survivalists with 6 month food stocks? I imagine they are in slightly better shape with what food they did have not being buried under rubble, but they can't be having too much left after over a week.

I guess their need is not as immediate as those directly affected, but as time goes on, their need will become just as dire. I just hope the bottlenecks get resolved before too much longer.

On another message board one of the posters lives on the north edge of Haiti. If I recall correctly he said they barely felt the quake in his town, power never went out, etc. (well, obviously, he still has internet connection). He said what they ARE worried about is droves of refugees coming from the wrecked south of the country.

I'll see if I can find the post, but there are literally thousands of Haiti-related posts there.

[Manus Celer Dei]

Hugo Chavez still crazy.

Chavez says US 'weapon' caused Haiti quake
Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:55:24 GMT

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez Wednesday accused the United States of causing the destruction in Haiti by testing a 'tectonic weapon' to induce the catastrophic earthquake that hit the country last week.

President Chavez said the US was "playing God" by testing devices capable of creating eco-type catastrophes, the Spanish newspaper ABC quoted him as saying.

A 7.0-magnitude quake rattled the desperately poor country on January 12, killing an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people. As Haiti looks to the world for basic sustenance, the authorities say the biggest dangers facing survivors are untreated wounds and rising disease.

Following the quake, appeals for humanitarian aid were responded to globally. However, the nation is struggling with violence and looting as aid is still not enough for the tens of thousands left homeless and injured.

Chavez said the killer earthquake followed a test of "weapon of earthquakes" just offshore from Haiti. He did not elaborate on the source of his claim.

The outspoken leader had earlier accused the US of occupying Haiti "under the guise of the natural disaster."

At least 11,000 US troops have been dispatched to the country to provide security for aid distribution efforts.

[Tribun]

Chavez is crazy, so you shouldn't be surprised about it. Another way for him to make himself like the fucktard he is.

Btw., I just got the latest number, and they are really horrifying. The government of Haiti confirmed that at least 150,000 died in Port-au-Prince alone. And they got that number from counting the bodies they burry. That's only the death toll for the capital. How horrifying must it be in the whole of Haiti?

[Ekiqa]

OP/ED

The Toronto Star

Dismal forecasts on Haiti's future

Shortly after the earthquake, Haitian President Rene Préval told reporters at the darkened Port-au-Prince airport he had nowhere to go. The National Palace was badly damaged and his house unlivable.

Anyone would feel sympathy for a president whose country was so ravaged, admiration even, as he pluckily set up what government he could on the grounds of the city's police academy.

It's worth remembering, however, this is the man who, during an earlier incarnation as president in 1997, treated 140 Canadian soldiers on guard duty at the palace with contempt, ordering up helicopters for his pals on a whim and keeping the Canadians so in the dark they felt their own lives in jeopardy.

Préval would go on two years later to airly dismiss the Haitian legislature and rule by executive decree, continuing the presidential custom of looking out for his friends as death squads, the revamped Tontons Macoute, kept opponents and grassroots movements in line.

Unfortunately, the experience of these soldiers serves to encapsulate Canada's role in Haiti over almost two decades. Préval was America's man, not Canada's, and the U.S. government (or rather its intelligence service) has always appeared to have the upper hand. It deals with a few elite Haitian families who, for the most part, parcel out aid monies to their own agencies, while Canada remains a lapdog.

Not surprisingly, the palace soldiers were removed from their posts for talking to a journalist, despite having been directed to do so by their superiors. Mustn't offend.

I've witnessed this sad spectacle over almost 25 years of reporting from Haiti, seeing first-hand the demoralizing effect on well-meaning Canadians and, more importantly, the crushing of democracy in Haiti.

It appears to be happening again.

The U.S. has assumed the post-earthquake leadership role, choosing priorities and setting the timetable. Canada plays a bit part in this American drama, ignoring what should have been learned from the example of hundreds of Mounties and soldiers. If that is indeed true, then what of the ultimate effectiveness of millions of dollars donated by Canadians who grieve with Haiti?

The U.S. military rapidly took over control at the Port-au-Prince airport, giving preference to its own military flights and turning away other rescue and food missions in early critical days, brushing off concerns of governments and aid agencies that food should be as important as guns.

On Day 2, CNN reported security was the priority for the U.S. but that Marines would not land for at least a week. And before they arrived last Tuesday, no significant aid reached frantic Haitians.

As it has before, the Pentagon moved quickly to set up a massive air, sea and land blockade – "Vigilant Sentry" – to ensure no desperate Haitians would make it a thousand kilometres to the U.S. As Noam Chomsky, U.S. policy critic and author, told the Star Thursday: "Unfortunately, the new blockade is not illegal since the refugees are not fleeing from persecution – just fleeing for survival which doesn't seem to be covered by international law. But it's grotesque."

He sees the "monstrosity" of the earthquake as a "class-based disaster and the result largely of driving the rural populaton into miserable urban slums" after a deliberate destruction of the farming system to suit foreign interests.

Meanwhile last week, Ottawa watched Dutch and American planes airlift orphans out of Haiti, while failing to offer similar flights for Canadian adoptive parents. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said he needed approval from the Haitian government. But with the Haitian government virtually non-existant it appeared more likely Ottawa waited for clearance from the U.S. Meanwhile, it took precious days for Canada to get its marching orders to provide relief and support to the south, in Jacmel, and west in Léogâne.

Haitian political scientist Gabriel Nicolas summed up the pattern a decade ago when he told me: "We know that when you want to know what the American ambassador is really thinking, you listen to the Canadian ambassador.

"It's about time Canada stepped up to play their own game and take advantage of the great affinity Haitians have for Canada."

Canadians know something is wrong. In a letter to the Star last week, retired Toronto contractor Kevin Kelly expressed disgust with Defence Minister Peter MacKay's early comment about having 150 people on the ground, "Enough for crowd control at a rock concert," he wrote.

Added Kelly: "By following the American lead, once again we look hapless."

Dr. Paul Farmer, deputy UN special envoy to Haiti under former president Bill Clinton, has been a caustic critic of U.S. policy. "What then is to be done?," he wrote in his 1994 book The Uses of Haiti. Then, Farmer was a Harvard medical professor who had practised in rural Haiti for a decade. "The first order of business might be a candid and careful assessment of our ruinous polices towards Haiti. The Haitian people are asking not for charity, but for justice."

Conventional wisdom portrays the U.S. as Haitian benefactor, notably during the 19-year occupation by Marines, ending in 1934, that left a partial road system and some schools. In reality, the Marines created an army whose top officers would be trained at the infamous U.S. Army School of the Americas, with its documented record of teaching torture to despots and army generals.

Haiti's poor struggled through the savagery of dictators François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc," until the latter was exiled to France in 1986. What followed was more butchery by the Tontons Macoute, a groundswell for democratic elections and the victory in 1991 of new president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a slight Liberation Theology priest from the slums of La Saline, as president.

Washington, not to mention the Haitian elites, were apoplectic. Aristide wanted land reform, a higher minimum wage (to $3 a day), an end to low-wage foreign-owned factories controlled by outsiders and an end to privitization that turned government assets over to a privileged few.

"(Aristide) did not please the U.S. Agency for International Development which had invested millions in keeping Haitian wages low," wrote Farmer. USAID is in charge of relief and political education internationally.

Ariside lasted until an army coup, backed by the CIA, in September 1991. A few days later, I walked into army headquarters in Port-au-Prince to find the CIA station chief – who'd been with the generals during the coup itself – laughing with the colonel in charge. They gave me a so-called top secret dossier on Aristide, an amateurish job put together by a mysterious Canadian. Aristide was supposedly a drug-addled communist intent on slitting the throats of the upper classes.

Later that week, while the U.S. publicly condemned the coup, the American ambassador hosted select journalists at his residence to hand out copies of the file.

It shifted public opinion against Aristide in the U.S.; there was a three-year delay before his return in 1994, when his term had essentially expired.

By then, and during a later stint as president, Aristide was a changed man, no longer the champion of systemic reform.

U.S. policy towards Haiti has always been complicated, with the White House, state department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies often fighting for different interests. As president, Clinton worked with the UN to restore Aristide but was repeatedly thwarted by a Pentagon concerned with control of the hemisphere.

These clashes came to bear on Aristide's future, not to mention Canada's, in Haiti. In 1993, the USS Harlan County, sent by the Clinton Administration and full of soldiers to help restore Aristide, turned away from Haiti because of what appeared to be an anti-American protest on the docks.

But it was led by the nefarious Emmanuel "Toto" Constant, leader of a new Macoute, who turned out to be on the CIA payroll at $500 a month.

The next day, Canadian Mounties, in the country to train Haitian police, left with tears in their eyes. They knew the protest wasn't real but Ottawa, listening to Washington, shut down the mission.

Long efforts by Canadian troops to impose order also failed; Haiti continued to be ruled by guns that, despite Canadian pleas, the United States' military had refused to round up.

More than 15,000 U.S. soldiers did land in Haiti to pave the way for Aristide's return in 1994.

When they pulled out two years later, Canadians shouldered the lead UN peacekeeping role. It was Washington's idea.

Former prime minister Jean Chrétien revealed to an open mike at a Madrid conference: "(Clinton) goes to Haiti with soldiers. The next year Congress doesn't allow him to go back. So he phones me. Okay, I send my soldiers and thereafter, I ask for something in exchange."

What Canada got remains unclear.

History lesson:

French bankrupt Haiti by demanding money after the revolution, which Haiti pays until the 20th Century. Americans invade, rule for 19 years, and leave a broken country. They leave their lapdogs in place, who rule through torture, butchery and violence. Overthrown, kicked out and Aristide is democratically elected. He wants to end the ruinous poverty that the Americans have kept in force, by raising minimum wage, land reform, and to stop privitisation of government. CIA led coup kicks him out, and the CIA replaces him with the Chief of Police under the Duvaliers. They "try" to bring him bak, but their financed protest on the docks blocks him. Release propoganda which discredits Aristide. Aristide finally returns at the end of his term, and he's a broken man. Gets elected again, and the US kicks him out again, and is replaced by Washington's man.

Why is the US running the relief efforts?

[Broomstick]

So.... are presenting an editorial piece and a solid factual essay? While I agree with some parts of the article I would want independent confirmation of others.

Shortly after the earthquake, Haitian President Rene Préval told reporters at the darkened Port-au-Prince airport he had nowhere to go. The National Palace was badly damaged and his house unlivable.

Actually, I'd describe the National Palace as "destroyed". Preval allegedly did spent the first couple of nights sleeping out in the open/on the streets like everyone else. Whether he is a bad-ass or not, he was not exempted from the effects of this disaster regardless of his wealth, power, or influence.

Keep in mind, as well, that for his first term he was only the second democratically elected head of state in Haiti's history.

Préval would go on two years later to airly dismiss the Haitian legislature and rule by executive decree

And yet he stepped down peacefully on the expiration of his term of office, again, only the second Haitian head of state to do so. That doesn't quite jibe with the portrayal of him as a business-as-usual tinpot wanna-be dictator. That is not to say he is a paragon of virtue - I'm sure he's not - but he was/is a damn sight better than many others to rule in Haiti.

His election to a second term in 2006 was contested - but from my (limited) understanding the resolution was no more hinky than that of the US 2000 presidential election (which, yes, was a bit hinky, but why should we hold Haiti to a higher standard than anyone else?)

...continuing the presidential custom of looking out for his friends as death squads, the revamped Tontons Macoute, kept opponents and grassroots movements in line.

Can you provide independent verification of these accusations? I am not ruling out the possibility, but the statements in an op-ed piece that is clearly biased against Preval needs to be backed up by facts.

It deals with a few elite Haitian families who, for the most part, parcel out aid monies to their own agencies, while Canada remains a lapdog.

That has been the way things are done in Haiti since before they kicked the French out. If Canada is so repeatedly shit upon why do they continue to involve themselves in Haitian affairs in that manner?

Not surprisingly, the palace soldiers were removed from their posts for talking to a journalist, despite having been directed to do so by their superiors. Mustn't offend.

No, you really mustn't offend when serving in a foreign country. If you're guarding the palace and the ruler doesn't want you to talk to journalists then don't talk to journalists. And if you do do something the ruler finds offensive, yes, you will be sent packing. This applies everywhere, not just Haiti.

I've witnessed this sad spectacle over almost 25 years of reporting from Haiti, seeing first-hand the demoralizing effect on well-meaning Canadians and, more importantly, the crushing of democracy in Haiti.

Haiti is demoralizing to everyone who spends time there. As for crushing democracy - WHAT democracy? Haiti has had more democracy since the 1990's then it ever had before. The Haitian revolution was not the American Revolution or the French Revolution.

The U.S. has assumed the post-earthquake leadership role, choosing priorities and setting the timetable. Canada plays a bit part in this American drama, ignoring what should have been learned from the example of hundreds of Mounties and soldiers. If that is indeed true, then what of the ultimate effectiveness of millions of dollars donated by Canadians who grieve with Haiti?

If Canada wants to take control of the relief effort they are welcome to show up in Haiti with an equal amount of material and manpower.

The Haitian President - you know, the guy that was declared the legal winner of the most recent election, not some Op-Ed journalist - specifically requested American aid, including asking for the hospital ship Comfort by name on video that was shown around the world. Was the US supposed to refuse that request or something? The US commanders have met with the Haitian government to discuss Haiti's needs and priorities - unless, of course, you're someone who has the notion that that constitutes the US dictating terms.

The U.S. military rapidly took over control at the Port-au-Prince airport, giving preference to its own military flights and turning away other rescue and food missions in early critical days, brushing off concerns of governments and aid agencies that food should be as important as guns.

Someone had to impose air traffic control at that airport, otherwise there was going to be a very nasty accident with that volume of traffic. US assistance - OK, air traffic control - upped the flights from a pre-earthquake level of 30-40 a day to something like 140-180 per day. Frankly, given my experience with one-runway airports lacking taxiways, I find that extraordinarily efficient. It would have been nice if the Haitian air traffic controllers had been able to do that, but their tower was completely destroyed and their numbers limited. Someone had to send air traffic controllers.

Actually, when the US controllers showed up they found Dominican Republic military already there, securing the airport grounds and keeping the runway clear of squatters. So I suppose you could blame the Dominicans for the US control of the airport.

And, sad to say, security really IS just as important as food and water - because if you don't control aid distribution then only the strong and vicicious will eat and drink. That typically means only young men without families will survive, women, children, and men who are elderly or with dependents will die - that's why there are "Lost Boys of Sudan" but no "Lost Girls" or "Lost Families" of Sudan. As it is, there have been incidents of aid distribution points being attacked by men wielding improvised weapons. The notion that you can just fly in food, water, and medicine is sadly naive.

On Day 2, CNN reported security was the priority for the U.S. but that Marines would not land for at least a week. And before they arrived last Tuesday, no significant aid reached frantic Haitians.

As previously stated, the Dominican Republic was providing some security even before the Americans arrived. Marines are not the only form of security available in the world.

As for aid reaching Haitians - with the roads destroyed, rubble and corpses filling the streets, and a limited number of helicopters I just don't know what the hell was expected. We saw the same issues with the Boxing Day Tsunami - aid takes time to reach people. We don't live in a Star Trek world, we can't conveniently beam stuff down where it's needed.

As it has before, the Pentagon moved quickly to set up a massive air, sea and land blockade – "Vigilant Sentry" – to ensure no desperate Haitians would make it a thousand kilometres to the U.S. As Noam Chomsky, U.S. policy critic and author, told the Star Thursday: "Unfortunately, the new blockade is not illegal since the refugees are not fleeing from persecution – just fleeing for survival which doesn't seem to be covered by international law. But it's grotesque."

Oddly enough, this person doesn't seem to be bitching about the Dominican Republic fortifying THEIR borders to prevent literally millions of refugees from pouring into their country... I smell a double-standard here, after all, the Haitians wanting to enter the DR are not fleeing from persecution - just fleeing for survival which doesn't seem to be covered by international law.

Fact is, for a long time Haitians have made attempts at the water crossing. Most of them die. They just don't have access to the equipment (a seaworthy boat of any sort) and knowledge (how to navigate the intervening waters) to do this successfully. Nevermind that the DR, Cuba, and the other surrounding islands and coasts don't want the Haitians washing up on their shores, either - it's just the US that are the bad guys here, right. The fortunate ones are picked up at sea, but plenty have died when shipwrecked on remote bits of land (many with no source of fresh water) or literally washing up on Caribbean beaches. Yes, the situation in Haiti is dire, that doesn't mean putting out to sea in some half-assed cobbled-together "boat" is a good choice.

If they're picked up at sea official US policy allows them to make a case for being given permission to enter the US. Tens of thousands of Haitians have entered the US in just such a manner. Of course, some of them haven't given a convincing reason to be let in, and they were sent back. That change in policy was prompted in no small part by Haitian and Cuban corpses washing up Florida beaches - in the late 1980's to around 1992 that was a DAILY occurrence in cities like Miami.

So what the fuck does this OpEd author want the US to do? Just let them float by in their sinking rafts and leaky boats, hoping they'll actually make landfall and if they die that's just too bad... or fish these people out of the water before they perish?

He sees the "monstrosity" of the earthquake as a "class-based disaster and the result largely of driving the rural populaton into miserable urban slums" after a deliberate destruction of the farming system to suit foreign interests

And you can thank the French for that tradition - the Haitian "farming system" has, historically, pretty much always been run for the benefit of foreign interests - except for the initial 50 years post-revolution where the world had a de facto embargo on Haiti and the population had to be self-supporting or starve.

The REAL disaster of Haiti is too damn many people - if Haiti had never had 1/4 of the pre-earthquake population things would be a LOT better. But you can't change history.

Meanwhile last week, Ottawa watched Dutch and American planes airlift orphans out of Haiti, while failing to offer similar flights for Canadian adoptive parents. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said he needed approval from the Haitian government. But with the Haitian government virtually non-existant it appeared more likely Ottawa waited for clearance from the U.S. Meanwhile, it took precious days for Canada to get its marching orders to provide relief and support to the south, in Jacmel, and west in Léogâne.

And meanwhile we have adopting parents in the US still bitching they can't get their adopted kids out of Haiti. Most of the orphan airlifts are planes that flew down with supplies and/or personnel and came back with the injured and orphans - so if Canada took awhile to get down to Haiti it doesn't surprise me their adoptees wound up waiting.

Added Kelly: "By following the American lead, once again we look hapless."

But if the US is so fucked up do you want to follow their lead?

The Haitian people are asking not for charity, but for justice."

Um... right now I think they're asking for help. Justice? That's useful only when you have sufficient food and water to survive, and if it takes charity to get it you'll ask for charity, even beg for it. You'll ask for justice once you're assured of survival.

Conventional wisdom portrays the U.S. as Haitian benefactor, notably during the 19-year occupation by Marines, ending in 1934, that left a partial road system and some schools.

Actually, every time I've heard about the US getting involved in Haiti the prior occupation is described as a "disaster" or a "failure". What's the "conventional wisdom"????

And do you know why we left in 1934? It was because the US was flat broke - the Great Depression, you know? That was before the US was a superpower.

Haiti's poor struggled through the savagery of dictators François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc," until the latter was exiled to France in 1986. What followed was more butchery by the Tontons Macoute, a groundswell for democratic elections and the victory in 1991 of new president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a slight Liberation Theology priest from the slums of La Saline, as president.

The US influence on the Duvaliers is not in dispute. However, I would like to see some independent confirmation that Aristide was ousted by the US either covertly or overtly. And if that IS true.... why did the US deploy troops to Haiti to have Aristide restored as president?

It shifted public opinion against Aristide in the U.S.; there was a three-year delay before his return in 1994, when his term had essentially expired.

Considering how few coup-deposed leaders ever return to power I'm not sure what the issue is here. And Aristide's term wasnt's "expired", it lasted until 1996, two years after he returned from exile.

Then, after he was elected to a second term, he was deposed again! I'm supposed to feel sorry for this guy? Clearly, he wasn't the best choice to run Haiti.

On top of that, it was the Canadians who arrested Oriel Jean, Aristide's security chief, for money laundering! Oh, wait - is that Canadians being "lap dogs" again?

Long efforts by Canadian troops to impose order also failed; Haiti continued to be ruled by guns that, despite Canadian pleas, the United States' military had refused to round up.

The US won't take guns from its own citizens - you seriously expect them to "round up" the guns of citizens of a foreign land? And if the US did do that, they'd be accused of disarming the populace and leaving them defenseless! It's a no-win situation for the US, isn't it?

More than 15,000 U.S. soldiers did land in Haiti to pave the way for Aristide's return in 1994.

What - you don't want the lawfully elected president to return? Do you seriously expect his return - after a military coup - to happen without armed allies at his back? Were the Canadians offering to do that for him?

When they pulled out two years later, Canadians shouldered the lead UN peacekeeping role. It was Washington's idea.

Right - 'cause everyone was bitching about US involvement. So the UN was called in. What's the problem here?

Former prime minister Jean Chrétien revealed to an open mike at a Madrid conference: "(Clinton) goes to Haiti with soldiers. The next year Congress doesn't allow him to go back. So he phones me. Okay, I send my soldiers and thereafter, I ask for something in exchange."

What Canada got remains unclear.

I don't think anyone has ever gotten anything of significant value for being involved Haiti, not for more than two centuries.

French bankrupt Haiti by demanding money after the revolution, which Haiti pays until the 20th Century.

And this has what to do with the premise of the article, that the US is a big, mean, meddling bully?

Americans invade, rule for 19 years, and leave a broken country.

Ya, because the US was out of money and in crisis itself - again, that was before the US was a superpower.

Overthrown, kicked out and Aristide is democratically elected. He wants to end the ruinous poverty that the Americans have kept in force, by raising minimum wage, land reform, and to stop privitisation of government.

He actually did manage to do that - he just wasn't able to do enough of it to make a big difference.

CIA led coup kicks him out, and the CIA replaces him with the Chief of Police under the Duvaliers.

Provide cites that the coup was orchestrated by the CIA, please.

They "try" to bring him bak, but their financed protest on the docks blocks him. Release propoganda which discredits Aristide.

Funny - high level members of his own government were arrested for laundering drug money. And the Canadians were involved in that, not just the Americans. Beaudoin Ketant, an international drug trafficker, is the godfather of Aristide's daughter. If it's true, it's not propaganda, is it?

Aristide finally returns at the end of his term, and he's a broken man.

No, he returned with two years to go on his term, and I wouldn't describe him as "broken". Perhaps more realistic as to what is actually possible to accomplish in Haiti.

Gets elected again, and the US kicks him out again, and is replaced by Washington's man.

Provide cites that the US was involved in Aristide's second coup, and that his successor was "Washington's man".

Why is the US running the relief efforts?

Fine - someone else can send a fucking aircraft carrier, 1,000 bed hospital ship, and ass-load of C-130's instead of us. And some other assorted ships and aircraft. Go for it. The US would be happy to see someone else step up to the plate, really.

(And I would like to note, for the record, that other countries HAVE sent substantial aid - Mexico, for example, sent a hospital ship as well. But the US has more stuff to send than just about anyone else. If we didn't send our ships and planes and choppers we'd be blasted for neglect. If we do send all that we're taking over with ulterior motives. Again, a no-win situation for the US. Yet the US goes ahead and jumps in anyway.)

[Master of Ossus]

What happened with Aristide was so bizarre I don't think anyone fully knows what happened outside of the people who were actually involved. The Americans generally claim that Aristide agreed to leave, and asked the US embassy to set up a flight. Aristide later claimed he was kidnapped by the Americans, who flew him to the CAR, but he had also (apparently) left a document resigning rather than turning the country into a killing grounds. Many, many countries wanted him back in power, and the US was part of the peacekeeping force (which, I believe, was led by Brazil or Chile?) when he was brought back into the country to serve out his term.

[FSTargetDrone]

Btw., I just got the latest number, and they are really horrifying. The government of Haiti confirmed that at least 150,000 died in Port-au-Prince alone. And they got that number from counting the bodies they burry. That's only the death toll for the capital. How horrifying must it be in the whole of Haiti?

Some of the bodies buried by family members may never be added to the official death toll figures, either.

Rescue efforts "winding down":

Bloomberg

Haiti Rescue Effort ‘Winding Down’ as Hopes Fade, USAID Says

January 24, 2010, 06:27 PM EST

By Nicole Gaouette and Matt Craze

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Rescue efforts for victims in earthquake-stricken Haiti are “winding down” as hopes of finding survivors fade, the official in charge of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Haiti effort said.

U.S. rescue teams and the United Nations continue to search for victims among the rubble, aid agency official Tim Callaghan said in a conference call with reporters today. The death toll in Port-au-Prince has risen to more than 150,000, Haiti’s communications minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue told the Associated Press.

“We are prepared to go anywhere that we hear where someone might be,” Callaghan said. “Obviously the further we get away from the event the more difficult it becomes.”

The earthquake struck Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, on Jan. 12, destroying about a third of the buildings in Port-au-Prince, as well as the city’s seaport and its water and sewage systems

An emergency summit of 20 nations is scheduled for tomorrow in Montreal to coordinate aid for Haiti. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be among the delegates attending to discuss long-term reconstruction and arrangements for a donor conference to be held in March, the UN said in a statement.

More than 600,000 are without shelter in the Port-au- Prince area, the UN said Jan. 22, citing the government. The city is Haiti’s capital and home to more than 2 million people.

No Final Death Toll

The final death toll may never be known as it will take years to find bodies buried beneath the debris, Edmond Mulet, assistant secretary-general for UN Peacekeeping Operations told CNN. Some deaths weren’t officially recorded because victims were buried informally by family or delivered to mass graves, he said.

More than 1,000 planes are waiting to land in Haiti to deliver assistance from around the world, Mulet told CNN.

The country is “calm” and reports of major violence are not true, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said today in Ottawa at a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

A man was pulled from the rubble after being buried for 11 days, the AP reported. The rescuers dug a tunnel into a wrecked food store to reach the man, who survived by taking refuge under a desk, the AP said.

“Relief and recovery for the survivors is the priority now,” Mark Fried, spokesman of the aid group Oxfam International, said in a statement. “Hundreds of thousands who lost everything but their lives” need drinking and washing water, shelter, toilets to stop the spread of disease and simple household items such as cooking pots, Fried said.

Humanitarian Needs

Those needs will be discussed at the “Friends of Haiti” meeting in Montreal. UN humanitarian chief John Holmes and UN development head Helen Clark are scheduled to attend, along with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank. Other nations that may attend include Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, France and Japan.

Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia said they will boycott the meeting to protest the U.S. military’s presence in the Caribbean, according to the German news service Deutsche Presse Agentur.

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro wrote in the official Cuban newspaper Granma that U.S. troops have “occupied” Haiti. The U.S. bolstered its presence in the country and offshore to 11,000 soldiers and sailors last week to help provide humanitarian assistance and security.

The UN Security Council voted Jan. 19 to raise the authorized strength of the peacekeeping force in Haiti by 3,500 soldiers and civilian police, in addition to the 7,000 soldiers and police officers already there, to increase security for relief efforts and to speed delivery of aid.

The U.S. is working with the Haitian government to deliver aid, State department spokeswoman Megan Mattson said today in an e-mailed response to questions.

“We are responding to their requests for assistance, and in so doing, closely coordinating with the United Nations and the international community as partners in this process,” she wrote.



--With assistance from Ben Farey in London, Greg Quinn in Ottawa, Catherine Dodge and Dan Hart in Washington and Wes Goodman in Singapore. Editors: Kristen Hallam, Ann Hughey.