Back to the topic of Haiti, but this time I’m not alone
The last time I wrote about what I think the appropriate response in Haiti should be, I got drug through the wringer. But the events of the last week have done nothing to convince me that I was wrong and that America needs to be in Haiti.
Happily, over the last week, I’ve talked to some like minded folk, and I’ve seen where a few people I don’t know tell us that they think the same as I, most notably Congressman Ron Paul. Here’s what he had to say about the subject.
I rise in reluctant opposition to this resolution. Certainly I am moved by the horrific destruction in Haiti and would without hesitation express condolences to those who have suffered and continue to suffer. As a medical doctor, I have through my career worked to alleviate the pain and suffering of others.
Unfortunately, however, this resolution does not simply express our condolences, but rather it commits the US government “to begin the reconstruction of Haiti” and affirms that “the recovery and long-term needs of Haiti will require a sustained commitment by the United States….” I do not believe that a resolution expressing our deep regret and sorrow over this tragedy should be used to commit the United States to a “long-term” occupation of Haiti during which time the US government will provide for the reconstruction of that country.
Now, I’m not one to look for the affirmation of others as validation of my beliefs. To be honest, I realize that at least half of the people I meet have to, by definition, be of “below average intelligence”, and I usually just dismiss the ramblings of the idiots. But it’s nice to see others, people whom I respect for their ability to think, coming to similar conclusions.
No one argues that Haiti was devastated, nor that the suffering was/is great. But that does not give us reason to send in the troops. That does not give us license to step in and try to create a new order for a sovereign people. There is no reason why we should be willing to sacrifice the valuable lives of our soldiers, doctors, and relief workers for an open-ended occupation couched in terms like “We’re only here to help.”
This nation needs to learn to mind its own business.
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* I realize that at least half of the people I meet have to, by definition, be of “below average intelligence” *
Uh oh. Then better not look in the mirror.
How about in your next article you start off with, “I don’t give a damn about Haiti, or anywhere outside the U.S. , let them all die in the rubble or dig themsleves out, it’s all the same to me.”?
“That does not give us license to step in and try to create a new order for a sovereign people. ” What’s that line about good men doing nothing.
Create a new order? There was practically no order in Haiti before the quake.
I agree, Haiti is a basket case of a place, the earhtquake only made it worse.
“There is no reason why we should be willing to sacrifice the valuable lives of our soldiers, doctors, and relief workers…”
You’re aware that Haiti is not a war zone, right?
You have the military there to provide security, otherwise aid trucks doctors and relief workers don’t make it past the first starving mob close to the port or airfield to get to the second staving mob further away.
Also, until something better comes along, the military is the only element that can go somewhere, orient themselves quickly, and start acting.
Doctor Congressman Paul is an isolationist, and probably would prefer to have lived and been in Congress 100 years ago so he could have voted against all actions outside our borders. He’d probably be more useful by going to Haiti, or in any medical clinic, anywhere, than he is as a Congressman. The same can’t be said about most other Congressmen, they have no other useful skill.
@ Rob
1) What is the difference between Haiti and a war zone?
The place looks like it’s been carpet bombed, the streets are filled with violent mobs, we have to have the military in there for the love of pete.
Sounds like a war zone to me.
Indeed, right after you finished telling me Haiti wasn’t a war zone, your proceeded to tell me how the relief workers wouldn’t even make it off the boat if the military wasn’t there…
2) What is wrong with being an isolationist again? With adopting the principle of “you don’t hit us, we won’t hit you” as a foreign policy?
Mike, a country looking devastated, as though it had been carpet bombed, is not the same as being in a country that has been carpet bombed. The destruction of a combat zone may look like the destruction found in a disaster area, yet there are the results of two very different causes.
You seem to be surprised that, following a large scale disaster, and the societal/infrastructure collapse in Haiti impedes relief efforts, and that military forces are providing security. This is a pretty common practice after natural disasters even in the US.
Unlike a war’s amphibious landing, such as D-Day, the Haitians are not resisting US military and relief workers from coming ashore. What some Haitians are doing is acting alone or banding together to prey on those left alive, taking whatever they need. In the past disasters, groups of thugs have taken over food distribution areas, or simply taken the aid supplies from victims. Does the use of military personnel to provide security make sense now?
As for Isolationism, it might have worked 150 years ago, but ease of travel as well as global interdependence, have made this course of action less feasible. For US involvement around the world, I’ll et you write a column on it and maybe I’ll put in my opinion.
As to Haiti, you are correct, there is no apparent and immediate need for us to go there, and if your not bothered by people starving or dying of infection and disease caused by this disaster, no moral need either.
But in the way that nature abhors a vacuum, so do people. The poor souls of Haiti will not all simply die in their devastated homeland. Some will, but not enough, and not quickly enough. Some will take to the sea to flee, and not enough will drown in the attempt. More than a few will try to walk or float to the Dominican Republic, and though some Haitians will surely perish what are the Dominicans and the other Caribbean nations, and the US as well, to do with those who do arrive on their shores.
Times are tough, refugees are more mouths to feed, and a possible factor for instability in their host country.
So, though carpet bombing the rublle of Haiti, and maybe using some bio weapons to ensure the Haitian earthquake survivors really are dead, is the surest way to answer the Haitian Question, our governments as well as others have decided to try to take care of the Haitian survivors in order to not make a bad situation worse.
@ Rob
Ahhh… So the causes are different, but the results are same? Haiti didn’t go through a war, but it’s still a destroyed country, just as if it did?
So we’re sending troops into yet another third world hell hole that is in a state of anarchy, with the mission of restoring peace and order, but without an exit strategy? And you’re all roses about it.
Personally, I think it’s the last thing we need.
To borrow from Pres. Johnson, and alter his quote about Vietnam a touch:
“They call on us to supply American boys to do the job that Haitian boys should do.”
When the US has a natural disaster hit, do the US citizens stand around waiting for someone else, from another country, to come and fix it?
Why do you think the Haitians are so much less capable than American citizens? Kind of bigoted, don’t you think?
Keep in mind: I’m not against helping them. I’m against sending our military in, I’m against taking money from the US Treasury to help them when we have so much here in America that needs to be fixed. Let them help themselves, and we can drop some supplies in from the air.
No need to risk the lives of American soldiers in Haiti.
I already explained why you could, but shouldn’t, just dump aid on the beach and leave, as I have mentioned why the Soldiers are necessary to provide security. Unless you want Blackwater to do it alongside the Red Cross.
You say you’re not against helping them, I believe that.
You seem to be unwilling to have them be helped in a way that is likely to improve the situation and mitigate loss of life.
Do other nations assist us in natural disasters? no, but we don’t really need them to, do we?
Is it bigoted to look at the current situation in Haiti, take in the conditions and infrastructure in Haiti before the quake, and realize that the likelihood of the Haitians being able to rectify the situation in the amount of time that will minimize loss of life is very slim?
I suppose we could sit and watch them try deal with the situation with their limited resources, disrupted communications, and poor infrastructure, purely as an experiment, and see if they could do it as well but would we have a sufficient number of Haitians available to use as a control group to compare to recovering WITH outside assistance for the next quake?
Wow. Some very interesting conversation here. I’d like to weigh in on a couple subjects.
1. Haiti is totally jacked up, it was before the quake and now even more so
2. Haiti is not able to dig themselves out of this. They couldn’t feed their people before the quake and they certainly can’t now.
3. As for how to help them. I totally agree with Mike that our “committment” (a laughable term coming from a government known for falling short on any kind of long term comittment) is essentially the same as we always tell third world countries. “We are here to help and to restore peace and prosperity to your country, well at least until the American public gets tired of it and the media turns against us.”
4. Unfortunately the US military is pretty much the most capable organization in the entire world to respond to disasters and crisis on a large scale. Our military has the infrastructure in place to feed, house, protect and administer medical assistance to more efficiantly then anyone else. That being said, after the first few weeks, we should pull the military out. Rob you mentioned Blackwater, while you meant it as a snide comment, you actually didn’t realize you had a good point.
5. The global stability industry is a growing sector of the world economy. In a nut shell it is the cooperation of business, government and NGOs working together to help out war-torn or distaster ravaged countries (typically third world). It is actually a pretty neat concept. For instance, there is an aerospace company (name I can’t remember) that was formed to develop a short takeoff and landing airplane for the backwoods missionary. They also sell to goverment and private sector, but they donate every 10th plane they make to a non-profit humanitarian aid organization. Their planes sell for a little over a million dollars!
How does that have anything to do with Blackwater? Well, they changed their name, but an example of how a company like theirs could help Haiti would be as you mentioned providing security for the Red Cross or for Doctors Without Borders. In fact I would bet they are already there. Blackwater got a bad name for their actions in Iraq, but private security contractors (PSCs) have been working with NGOs for years all over the world. If you research them, you will find that most PSCs do not really make that much money considering the risks they take.
6. Anyway, enough about PSCs. I personally think the American answer to Haiti should be to pull the troops out within the next two months and turn it over to NGOs and the gobal stability industry. Our troops, though well trained and equipped are very expensive to keep deployed. They also are not really equipped to rebuild a country that was pretty crappy to begin with. If we took the millions of dollars we (the taxpayers) were going to spend rebuilding Haiti and “donated” it several of the better organized NGO’s you would be amazed at how much they could accomplish with it. And you wouldn’t have to read about American boys being sent away from home.
Thats just my $0.02. Well as much as I wrote, maybe more like $2
Good points about NGO’s, but can they do this?
http://blog.usni.org/2010/01/19/is-jlots-finally-moving-to-haiti/
Mike… your opinion on this subject makes you sound like such a selfish and sad excuse for a human being. When people (of whatever ethnicity) need your help, you help them. You don’t “keep score”. You help, and hope that they would do the same for you. Period.
@ Julie
We have poor here in America. They aren’t getting a media blitzkreig trying to drum up support for them.
No “Text 90989-0niner873 to donate $10” banners running during playoff football to help the poor in Nebraska or Kansas.
I HATE wealth redistribution, but if we HAVE to have it, let us help the American poor and needy first.
The only reason people are so pro-Help Haiti is because it’s trendy. They want to *seem* compassionate and caring. They’re willing to give $10 or $20 to charity, let someone else do the labor and take the risks, and then walk around like their shit don’t stink.
But the poor right around the corner that haven’t attracted media attention? Not so much.
I’m not one for being a hypocrite. Sorry. That one is all you.
I feel it’s better to do something (ANYTHING!) than to do nothing. It’s definitely better to do anything than it is to sit around and talk shit about the people that actually do SOMETHING, no matter what that is. You’re not doing anything but hating. Why so negative all the damn time? Did you get beat up a lot as a kid? Need a little love in your life maybe?
@ Julie
How, exactly, do you know enough about me to make those claims?
Ahhhh… You don’t and you’re just upset because I’ve made sense. Gotcha. Feel free to continue your ad hominem attack of ignorance on my character, and not to analyze the situation, if it helps to soothe your wounded partisan heart.
It’s ok.
The UN helping, too with their usual sense of alacrity and competence:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1245620/Aid-piling-UNs-cold-beer-compound-red-tape-keeps-aid-desperate-Haitians–UN-staff-wi-fi-bar.html
@ Mike
I don’t believe you are ignorant, just cold hearted and lacking compassion.
It must take a lot of energy to be so negative and hateful.
Mike needs a hug. : )
The entire GOWPP (Grand Old White Peoples Party) needs a hug.
When given it, they would say, “What was THAT?”