People of goodwill everywhere are rightly sympathetic to the plight of hundreds of thousands of innocent Haitians in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake that rocked the island country. Private donations and volunteer efforts are pouring into Haiti from all over the globe—especially from the United States. This is a good thing, right? So, why am I troubled?
Simply put, I cannot remember such an all-out "relief effort" by our nation's military and government forces following a natural disaster anywhere—ever! Not even New Orleans, Louisiana, and surrounding Gulf Coast communities here in the homeland received the kind of attention from Washington, D.C., that Haiti is receiving.
According to Agence France-Press (AFP), "The US military is ramping up its mission in quake-hit Haiti, with 20,000 US troops expected to operate on ground and offshore by Sunday [January 24], the US commander overseeing the region said."
No doubt, this would include ships and personnel from the USS Carl Vinson carrier group. Cost to US taxpayers to send an entire carrier group—along with more than 20,000 (so far) military personnel—to Haiti already numbers in the multiplied millions of dollars. It is also almost certain that there will be no quick exit from the island nation. There never is. In other words, our military presence (dare I say occupation?) in Haiti will doubtless last for years. At least, that's the way Latin American and European countries see it. And they are probably right.
Suffice it to say that the United States military is now completely in charge in Haiti.
At this point, it would be very enlightening for everyone to read Walter Williams' column dated January 20, 2010, entitled "Haiti's Avoidable Death Toll."
GO HERE to read more.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
The same reaction would and should have been appropriate in New Orleans. The only problem was is that we had a moron for President and an idiot for FEMA director.
ReplyDeleteGuess he was finishing up reading "My Pet Goat".
National and global humanitarian efforts in Haiti make Katrina seem as even bigger embarassment.
well let's just keep the military home and let the poor bastar-- take care of themselves. Or better yet, let all those massive numbers of french humanitarians fix the problem.
ReplyDeleteAlex, maybe you should take a clue from Florida or Texas who have more hurricane experience than the Federal Gov't with these things and note that Lousiana had a mayor and a governor fail them miserably. As far as I know, NO was not a National Park but you and people who blame Bush or "Brownie"-who by the way, held the post for 4 years before Katrina and countless Hurricanes in Florida and Texas without complaint- don't know how to take care of yourselves and expect the nanny state to cover everything. As far as this post from Joe, it's a conspiracy theory based on coincidences along the birth certificate truthers and 9-11 truthers lines, it doesn't hold water.
ReplyDeleteThe article is an opinion. It points out some pretty blatant inconsistencies surrounding the recent events in Haiti.
ReplyDeleteIt is well written and poses very important questions.
We all need to question what we are told in the media. We need to research and think about events.
Good post Joe!
This is what drives me nuts. All this effort for Haiti? Why not our OWN country? Would it really matter if Haiti were wiped off the face of the earth? It may sound blunt but it's not like they are a major contributor to the world. Haiti's main contribution to the US right now is illegal aliens, cocaine en route from from South America, and gang members. Lets take care of our OWN damn country before we worry about someone else's.
ReplyDelete1 trillion dollars over the years. has anything down there changed! got news for ya, it ain't never gonna change! let them wallow in their depravity like the rest of those $h@tholes in the world!
ReplyDelete11:53 Guess we are the only important people in the world. Nice you were in the lucky sperm club and were born here.
ReplyDeleteI told you elsewhere BB, your comments aren't going up.
ReplyDelete