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By dominating the aid to Haiti, US is up to its old game of exploiting peoplel's misery to gain advantage

I have received the links below from the Labour Briefing e-list and I am sure I am not the only one to find it disconcerting that the US army now controls the airport in Port-au--Prince (PauP) and gets to decide which incoming aircraft are given landing rights. Whilst planes chartered by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Caribbean community’s emergency aid mission to Haiti were refused permission to land in PauP airport, ten thousand battle hardened US marines, plus their military hardware, where given priority to land.

It can hardly have been an accident that over the weekend, the western media led with stories about murderous looting taking place in the Haitian capital. Whereas more rational journalists are reporting the outbreaks of looting and violence are isolated incidents and are far from the norm.

Indeed some aid agencies have complained the way the US army is behaving in Haiti has made the Americans part of the problem, as a week into the disaster aid has failed to reach most Haitians due to a logistical blockage and considerable confusion. Whilst back at the PauP airport where the majority of US troops are stationed, the US army franchised McDonalds and Pizza Hut are in business supplying US troops with their favourite food. Whilst Black Hawk helicopters fly in and out, which makes it reminiscent of similar scenes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Why the US army feels the need to use such formidable weaponry when they claim their main task is to move large quantities of aid to the stricken people of PauP and the surrounding area is not clear. However Naomi Klein points out on her website that by issuing the statement below, the Heritage Foundation is up to its old game of encouraging the US government to exploit peoples misery to gain a toe hold in other peoples land, whilst at the same time improving the USA's image internationally.

"In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti’s long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region."

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Doctors Without Borders Cargo Plane With Full Hospital and Staff Blocked From Landing in Port-au-Prince

Demands Deployment of Lifesaving Medical Equipment Given Priority

Port-au-Prince/Paris /New York, 17 January 2009—Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) urges that its cargo planes carrying essential medical and surgical material be allowed to land in Port-au-Prince in order to treat thousands of wounded waiting for vital surgical operations. Priority must be given immediately to planes carrying lifesaving equipment and medical personnel.

Despite guarantees, given by the United Nations and the US Defense Department, an MSF cargo plane carrying an inflatable surgical hospital was blocked from landing in Port-au-Prince on Saturday, and was re-routed to Samana, in Dominican Republic. All material from the cargo is now being sent by truck from Samana, but this has added a 24-hour delay for the arrival of the hospital.

A second MSF plane is currently on its way and scheduled to land today in Port- au-Prince at around 10 am local time with additional lifesaving medical material and the rest of the equipment for the hospital. If this plane is also rerouted then the installation of the hospital will be further delayed, in a situation where thousands of wounded are still in need of life saving treatment.

The inflatable hospital includes 2 operating theaters, an intensive care unit, 100-bed hospitalization capacity, an emergency room and all the necessary equipment needed for sterilizing material.

MSF teams are currently working around the clock in 5 different hospitals in Port-au-Prince, but only 2 operating theaters are fully functional, while a third operating theater has been improvised for minor surgery due to the massive influx of wounded and lack of functional referral structures.

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Haiti police ill-equipped to handle crisis

A crowd plunders buildings crumbled by last week's earthquake, hauling off water, food, candles and anything else recoverable. Suddenly, a pickup truck hauling a half dozen armed policemen squeals to a halt.

The mob scatters as the police officers in military style camouflage fire shots in the air and apprehend a few stragglers, some with a kick or a punch.

Such scenes occurred with increased frequency Monday in Port-au-Prince, the devastated Haitian capital, as frustrated survivors resorted to scrounging and looting due to a lack of relief aid. The rising tension raised questions about the ability of the Haitian National Police to maintain order and its tactics in doing so.

While the United States is sending thousands of troops to assist in relief efforts, U.S. officials say the Haitian police are responsible for security on the streets, with backing from U.N. peacekeepers.

"The first line of law and order here is, number one, the Haitian police, number two, the U.N. forces," U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten said Monday. "The U.S. forces are standing by to provide security as needed."

That seems to be an overwhelming task for the Haitian National Police (HNP), a force of about 9,000 that is the impoverished Caribbean nation's lone security apparatus.

National Police Chief Mario Andresol told CNN Monday that the department has been severely affected by the earthquake, with thousands of officers injured, killed or unaccounted for. The Port-au-Prince force of 4,000 has dropped to about 1,500, he said.

Complicating matters even further, roughly another 4,000 "bad guys" are on the run, Andresol added, after the 95-year-old, badly overcrowded National Penitentiary in the capital collapsed and the inmates escaped.

"Today, we have double work," Andresol said, adding that the police department is bring in troops from other parts of the country. "There are not enough, so we are trying."

Bill Clinton, the former U.S. president who is the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, said Sunday that 40 percent of the Haitian police force has reported for duty since the January 12 temblor. It was unclear how many other police officers died and how many were struggling with the overwhelming hardships from such widespread destruction.

First formed in 1995, the civilian police force took over security from a disbanded military known for loyalty to dictators instead of the state, noted Brian Concannon Jr., director of the non-profit Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

A lack of money and other resources over the years, along with continued instability including a 2004 coup, has left the police force under-funded, under-trained and full of former soldiers prone to operating outside the law, Concannon said.

For example, he cited summary executions of suspected criminals as a problem since the 2004 coup, along with police involvement in gangs or other criminal activity.

In addition, a dysfunctional judicial system undermines the ability of the police force to deal with chronic crime problems in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere, according to Concannon.

Progress has occurred in recent years, as the government simultaneously tried to remove "bad apples" from the police force while expanding the number of policemen on the streets, Concannon said.

"Although the HNP's efforts resulted in significantly increased levels of physical security and policing effectiveness, in many cases the HNP could not prevent or respond to gang-related and other societal violence due to an insufficient number of officers and inadequate equipment or training," said a 2008 report on Haiti by Concannon's group.

Now the earthquake will set back the reform effort.

"There's no doubt the Haitian national police took a significant blow in this disaster," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State P.J. Crowley said Monday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told CNN on Monday that he would ask for an additional 2,000 U.N. troops and 1,500 U.N. police officers to bolster the 3,000 U.N. police and soldiers currently deployed in Port-au-Prince -- among the 9,000 U.N. troops in Haiti.

According to Ban, the additional forces would "help humanitarian assistance be delivered in a safe way."

Concannon said Haitians coping with the disaster will be patient as long as they see aid arriving. He worried that excessive concerns about security was slowing the aid.

"I am afraid you're going to have an escalating spiral where people who were willing to be patient lose their patience due to supplies being withheld for security reasons," Concannon said. "And then that impatience escalates and brings increased security, which further cuts the flow of supplies."

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How does the U.S. military support Haiti without looking like occupiers?

In the midst of the looting, violence and chaos that is engulfing Haiti, the U.S. military is trying to strike a delicate balance – reaching out and providing aid, while signaling to the Haitians it has no interest in occupying their country.

It is a challenging task. While the United States has been Haiti’s largest foreign aid contributor for decades, it's also been its most frequent occupier. It's a role the U.S. would like not to repeat.

The U.S. military has said that it wants the Haitian people to see troops passing out food, water and other needed items. En route to India today, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates addressed concerns that the U.S. presence could look like an occupation, telling reporters that while U.S. forces would provide some security, “I haven't heard of us playing a policing role at any point." U.N. forces would take the lead he said, adding: "We are there in support of them and the government of Haiti."

But that might be difficult. The Haitian government is weak, its infrastructure frail and its security situation so precarious that it demands a show of force. On Monday, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon asked the Security Council immediately to send 3,500 security officers to address the security problem.

So how does the U.S. military support a weak government without looking like occupiers? That is, to properly support this government, the U.S. may have to step in and be the government because Haitian officials simply cannot do the job. And what are the consequences of looking like an occupation force?

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