‘The U.S. ought to have some experience with chaotic situatuins since being involved in the chaos of the war(s) in the mid-east and central asia. ” Right, Moni, unfortunately the US military is only experienced in causing chaos not remedying it. Nabnyc, you are right on the money - it is sickening to watch the US jackals salivating over the carcass of the Haitian nation. I hope there is a special kind of hell to house the Clintons, the Bushes, the faceless leaders of global corporatism and may they be greeted by the evilest of them all, Milton Friedman.
Truth be known the best solution to bring Haiti back to life and restore economic security and independence is to hand over the reconstruction to Cuba. Whereas the US, Canada and other Western countries see an opportunity to profit Cuba sees the people as sentient, human beings deserving of the dignity of earning a living and having their children educated and their sick cared for.
The arrival of more gun toting troops is unjustifiable. This is becoming too familiar a scene. Survive a hurricane, have a gun pointed at you, survive an earthquake, have a gun pointed at you. Why is there an immediate desire to criminalize innocent survivors of disasters. It goes further right into our own lives. Want to fly somewhere -be treated as a criminal. Want to go to an Olympic event - be treated as a criminal. Want to cross the US/Canada border - be treated as a criminal. We are becoming people who are guilty until proven innocent and we don’t even know what the charges are.

skulz fontaine:  Nothing says “humanitarian relief effort” like the U.S. military. WTF?

Very, very funny comment.

The criminal military occupation of Haiti by the US needs to stop; send aid, send doctors, send supplies, and let Aristede back in; but this is not a war, and the US government does not own Haiti.

It’s so predictable.  The U.S. prevents aid from getting in and concentrates instead on bringing in the Marines.  Without aid, more people die, more people leave the city.

Clinton and Bush are put in charge of coordinating the international auction of Haiti, while pretending to be a charity and raising money that will undoubtedly be used for such philanthropic purposes as hiring Blackwater to come in and murder any stragglers who refuse to leave their own city, clearing out the rubble, burning the dead, building a new infrastructure, then selling off the beach-front property to resorts and condo-developers for the international rich. 

“The people” can go live somewhere else.  Maybe in Fema trailers on the outskirts of town.  Then they can come into town to be maids and servants, leave at night.

“The government” of Haiti, which apparently consists of one surviving U.S.-appointed puppet, will sign new laws handed to him by a U.S. representative (is Bremer available) turning over all of Haiti’s resources to multinational corporations who, as an aside, will be choosing the new U.S. president, congress, governors, state and federal judges at their meeting of the board of directors, now that they’ve been given control of our country too.

Correction to the 3rd from last paragraph: It should read ...better off with a bunch of far-Right lunatics dreaming of Nirvana in Havana?

Rather then: “...better off with strangers then with a bunch of far-Right lunatics dreaming of Nirvana in Havana?”

The suck-in on these articles always says ‘read more’. Yet, when it comes to Haiti, just as with New Orleans, if you take that challenge, it only sickens and depresses the reader. I have been sending some articles to my son. He has now asked me to please stop. The mind can only handle so much, whether it be Gaza, Haiti, Somalia, or the AfPak War.

And what do these places have in common? Thousands of troops sent in rather then food, water, and medical help. Yesterdays Al Jazeera, or maybe La Prensa, had a lengthy interview with doctors at two of the Cuban Hospitals. The biggest problem is dealing with survivors who have been physically crushed by debris, left to suffer and dehydrate for days, and now have raging opportunistic infections, because of the delays in aid. The are doing so many amputations that the saws are getting dull - yet while the troops land at the airport, dock at the port, and helicopter in to the National Palace grounds where hundreds of refugees have gathered, the docs are forced to buy a saw at the local market. Planes carrying medical supplies are diverted to the Dominican Republic, and then supplies have to trucked in over 200 miles of bad roads.

To make up for this, we are stealing the children: “Taking children out of the country would permanently separate thousands of children from their families – a separation that would compound the acute trauma they are already suffering and inflict long-term damage on their chances of recovery.” This is aided and abetted by the Catholic Church in Miami.

Does anyone recall Operation Peter Pan in the mid-sixties? Inflamed propaganda in Cuba - paid for by the CIA - frightened the citizenry with the theft of their kids by the Revolutionary Government [to turn them into perfect little Anti-Catholic Communists]. Thousands of children were shipped off to Florida in care of the Church. Most never saw their parents again because of the embargo.

Given what we know now, I keep wondering how many of these ‘orphans’ were abused by Pedophile Priests, rather than rescued by real families. And, if they lucked out and were adopted, were they really better off with strangers then with a bunch of far-Right lunatics dreaming of Nirvana in Havana?

Keep reading about these poverty stricken countries. This is our future, when the Corporatist Fascists succeed in their goal. With the help of the Military, it will soon be them - with the money and guns - And the rest of us trying to survive on baked clay for dinner, and polluted water.

Unless we luck out and these assholes succeed in destroying the Human Race with either Global Warming or Nuclear Bombs. For entertainment, we can watch Dr Frankenstein, Or How I Learned to Love The Bomb! while we starve.

Nothing says “humanitarian relief effort” like the U.S. military. WTF?

I’m guessing the 4,000 more troops are to insure more people die, since they aren’t doing a thing to help them.  How do Americans look at themselves in the mirror?  Obama is worse than Bush.