Helping Haiti

If you are abroad, you sometimes get a very different picture of what’s going on in the United States than the local media gives, especially as related to interactions with other parts of the world.

Two weeks ago, Haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake that essentially leveled much of the country. Infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, utilities, water and sewage systems all collapsed, and many of the people who know how to either repair, rebuild or operate them were killed.

This is a disaster on par with Hurricane Katrina or the Tsunami in southeast Asia in 2004. Hundreds of thousands of people are impacted, many of whom will die if aid is not rushed there.

The United States is Haiti’s neighbor. We’re not on especially good terms with her, still being mad over the snub we (and Great Brittain) were given in 1804 when this slave colony revolted and declared it’s independence from colonial powers.

Imagine the audacity!

The US, though, has stepped up to the plate to render aid. Control over the airport at Port-au-Prince was turned over to the US to manage incoming flights from around the world. We can organize things so that the aid can be distributed efficiently, right?

Not so fast. According to an article in Thailand’s paper The Nation, that’s not what’s been happening. The US has instead turned away planeloads of medical workers and supplies in order to make sure that US Soldiers are able to get in. This, supposedly, is to insure that there is an orderly and efficient distribution of these supplies to people who need them.

OK, that might be viable, although it’s a stretch to buy off on that line. But it loses credibility all together when you find out that the US has very quietly thrown up a naval blockade as well, to prevent any refugees from fleeing and potentially reaching the United States.

So essentially, the US is stopping aid from coming in and stopping the people in need of help from leaving.

Help me remember – aren’t we supposed to be the good guys?

Protecting the borders of the country is legitimate, but how about if we take care of the injured, homeless and hungry there first, then we’ll deal with whether or not someone has slipped out of that little corner of Hell to come to the US for a better life? For the relatively few that would make it to the shores of America, there’s a process set up already.

It ain’t a very good one, and you see all kinds of screwing with it by Congress when it serves their political purposes, but there is a process.

This is the best that the greatest country in the world has to offer? Soldiers inhabiting yet another place that really doesn’t want to be inhabited? Another form of military government that will suck the resources away from our own needs while doing nothing to help others? While turning away doctors, medical supplies, engineers, architects, builders and heavy equipment operators from helping those who are in need?

This is on par with the stupidity that happened when people went to try to rescue Katrina victims from their flooded houses and were told that they had to provide proof that their registrations and insurance were current on the boats they were using.

How about if we take a deep breath, not get too twisted up in our own self interests and take care of people who are hurting? 

We can sort out the rest of the stuff later.