THE U.S. RESPONSE TO HAITI (TO AMERICA?)

14/01/10

Since Wednesday President Obama has told the people of Haiti and of the world that help is on its way. From the very beginning he said to the people of Haiti, “You will not be forsaken.” But there are some questions that the United States should consider.

Why was China able to get a rescue crew into Haiti faster than the U.S.? (Is my mental map of the world screwed up? I thought Beijing was about as far away from Haiti as you could get.)

And why was Venezuela able to get aid and rescue workers there the morning after the tragedy—even a day earlier than China? (Not much news coverage about that).

And isn’t it interesting that Cuba had three hundred Cuban medical personnel already there to serve the Haitians, was thus able to respond immediately, and was sending more medical assistance?

In Cheyenne, Wyoming, I was once told that at least two police cars could be at the site of any emergency within one minute. Why has it taken a couple of days to send rescue people a short distance from U.S. shores? Is that the best the U.S. can do? And, is that the same amount of time it would take the federal government to respond to an emergency within the U.S.? Maybe so.

In light of this reality, it seems amazing that an Associate Press story could say, “The U.S. dispatched troops and ships along with aid to Haiti, and other nations were joining the effort to help….” It should have said that the U.S. was joining other nations who were already responding to the need.

According to the Associated Press, the U.S. announced on Thursday that C-130s “airlifted 42 American officials and their families and another 72 private citizens to safety.” Iceland Air took out another 50 private citizens. (Iceland also got rescue workers in faster than the U.S. government).

Of course it seems logical that concern for American citizens should be on the mind of the U.S. government. President Obama went so far as to say, ”We will not rest until we account for our fellow Americans in harm’s way.” I wonder if he realizes that all Haitians are Americans—in fact some of the earliest to be called such. Christopher Columbus arrived there in 1492 on his first trip to the new world—“discovering” America. I wonder how many Haitians (=Americans) will be airlifted out?

There is another question that is going to have to be raised in the weeks and months ahead, as had to be confronted after Katrina’s destruction in New Orleans: could much of this tragedy have been avoided? An article by Peter Hallward in the Guardian could be a starting point for the discussion.

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