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Marines to aid Haitian earthquake relief. UN thinks it should be in command.
Some 5,700 US marines and soldiers are expected to join Haitian earthquake relief efforts this weekend. The UN says its peacekeeping force should be in command. The US says no.The marines are about to hit the shores of Port-au-Prince -- an arrival that would almost certainly send shivers up spines anywhere else in Latin America. Perhaps they'd rather have the other budding superpowers run the show. You know, Iran and Venezuela?
Yet the dispatch of some 2,200 marines -- as well as 3,500 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division -- is raising some command and assignment questions. When the troops arrive, perhaps this weekend, who will be in charge, given that the Haitian government is almost disintegrated and the 9,000-strong UN peacekeeping force, MINUSTAH, is dealing with its own losses? Is this a trick question? Will the 5,500 US military personnel be part of an international, or an American, security effort? It might be, if the UN ever gets anything substantial in place before everyone dies of starvation. Who's the boss? "It's fully desirable that all these forces should be coordinated with the UN MINUSTAH commander there," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday. Pound sand, Ban. Your motivations are as clear as The One's administration is murky, and you can't even handle the Norks or Lebanese or the Iranians. Stand over there and try not to get in the way again like you always do. US officials, on the other hand, say that while the US may "coordinate" with the peacekeeping operation's leadership, US troops will be under American command. Let your blue-helmeted ones come and get take it from us. We only let Brit or Aussie generals command our troops in these situations. "We'll be under US command supporting a UN mission on behalf of the Haitian government and the Haitian people," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley, when asked Thursday to clarify the command structure for what is expected to be a three-month deployment of US forces. Learning from the tsunami You mean the learnings of W's administration? The command question may cause some initial confusion, but it is likely to be quickly ironed out -- especially given the recent experience the US has in dispatching the military to disaster zones, say US security and international relief experts. "We sent 8,000 marines to Indonesia after the tsunami, and that intervention stands out as one of the best examples of use of the US military in a disaster," says Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense who is now an analyst at the Center for American Progress in Washington. Not only did the Marines accomplish significant humanitarian objectives, Mr. Korb notes, but America's image in Indonesia -- the world's largest Muslim country -- shot up as a result. "The use of the military in this way really undermines the Al Qaeda narrative," he says. Can't have a repeat of that in Haiti or the UN might look more like the posh bystander club it has become. It's a fair point though: our prompt, smart response in Indonesia did us a lot of good. Wouldn't hurt to be prompt and smart again in Haiti, particularly if the UN is its usual feckless self. Haiti: a country without a government The Haiti case is different, however, in part because the Haitian government is so weak, and in some estimations practically nonexistent, after the earthquake. So what changed from before the earthquake? President René Préval is alive, but the Parliament and several ministry buildings collapsed, taking the lives of as-yet uncertain numbers of legislators and government officials. Now they'll never find the money they were planning on absconding with. The US says it is coordinating with the Haitian government -- by which it appears to mean a little-seen President Préval -- but acknowledges that in the short-term there will be little government to deal with. Kindly put. "There's no question that the Haitian Government is challenged," the State Department's Mr. Crowley says. "They have received a very serious blow." But he adds that the US objective is "not only to provide lifesaving support to the Haitian people but to rebuild the capacity of the Haitian Government." I wouldn't do that. Throw those bums out, too. Oh I don't know, depends on who is the 'capacity' we're talking about ... Help wanted, calling Cuba? Anybody there? Hello? Hello? The US needs to remember that it is part of an international effort, something Korb says the US sometimes forgets. In the case of Haiti, "We'll be the first among equals, because of our size and proximity and our capabilities," he says, "but we shouldn't limit our approach to just what we can do." Also a fair statement, but we should be working with Brazil, not Cuba, as our main partner. Brazil after all had the largest contingent in the UN peace-keeping force in Haiti. In that vein, Korb offers a I guess with a name like "Korb" you're probably an idiot of some kind. ;-) And Cuba can volunteer their services all it wants. We shouldn't have to ask. And if Haiti's government is only "challenged", why are we having to speak for them? "We should stop and think that Cuba right next door has some of the best doctors in the world," he says. "We should see about flying them in." Better yet, have Fidel row them over. Cuba has some of the worst docs in the world. They're poorly trained. It's not their fault, they'd like to be better, but they don't have what it takes in Cuba to train them. At the same time, the US must be careful not to run roughshod over historical sensitivities in the region about US military interventions. Right now I don't think anyone cares. Unless they are trying to make a job for themselves. Either you want our help or you don't. Our help comes through and via the US armed forces. Live with it. "We're not taking over Haiti," said Crowley. "We are helping to stabilize Haiti. We're helping to provide them lifesaving support and material, and we're going to be there over the long term to help Haiti rebuild." Who wants Haiti other than the Haitians? STFU and get to work, pansy. If this had been 1930 we'd be done by now and you'd be hanging from a rope. We have to help them rebuild or else we'll have a half-million Haitian boat people headed for Miami. Posted by: gorb 2010-01-16 |
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