.

● In March 2004, Aristide was airlifted out of the country by the U.S.
● Bush's Policy Returns the Predators to Haiti

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

.
The U.S. Air Force is in control of the Port-au-Prince airport, the function of control tower, runway lights and basic logistics have been restored. Difficulty is to priortize incoming flights. An aircraft with international journalists and television crews was able to land, a plane with 8 rescue teams from The Netherlands totaling 60 persons, fully self-supporting, was diverted to Curacao, a nearby Caribbean island of The Netherlands north of Venezuela. After a one day delay, the group have been rescheduled for landing early Friday morning. Their estimate is the rescue mission wll continue for 7 more days with a chance of locating survivors. USAR

● Urban Search And Rescue (USAR)
● Response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

indeed economic miseries on top of political chaos now complete with enormous tragedy caused by earthquake. what are the difficulties in making a sort of Marhsall plan for such places like Haiti?

I think IMF and WB should be held responsible for perpetuation of poverty and misery in some places where they could work but did not wanted (maybe they would love to work in Afghanistan or Somalia but it's hardly possible).

.
If there are more morons like David Brooks anywhere near policymaking in our government, no wonder U.S. foreign policy has been a wasteland creating a greater mess with any intervention worldwide these past 100 years.

"The first of those truths is that we don't know how to use aid to reduce poverty. Over the past few decades, the world has spent trillions of dollars to generate growth in the developing world. The countries that have not received much aid, like China, have seen tremendous growth and tremendous poverty reductions. The countries that have received aid, like Haiti, have not."

This is the same ignorance expecting the development in Afghanistan to follow the example of Vietnam. To have a chance of development, the people need to be literate and well educated. Socialism and Communism have done a better job in many nations than the "liberal economies" in Africa and South America that were being looted by the former colonial democracies of the West. The arrogance matches the ignorance in these statements. His remark "the world has spent trillions of dollars" is false. Perhaps nations like Iraq, Iran, India, Korea, Vietnam and China do profit from being civilized for thousands of years. Haiti and the Dominican Republic are connected by a common border. Haiti has a link to the great civilization "The United States of America" and a history of cruel dictators, the Dominican Republic has been a protectorate of the socialists of France. The proof lies in the pudding.

Literacy rate per country from CIA Factbook: Afghanistan (28%) - Albania (99%) - Iran (77%) - Indonesia (90%) - Vietnam (90%) ; Haiti (53%) - Domincan Republic (87%).

≈ Cross-posted from BooMan's fp story with excellent comment by -- Frank Schnittger ≈

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

Time to send in the EU battlegroups.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

For the poorest country in the Western hemisphere to get hit with this catastrophe is unjust. Where are the Gods?

That is why the likes of Pat Robertson say the things they say.

When you believe against all evidence that there is a personal God that cares and something awful happens, you go into all kinds of contortions - such as blaming the victims of random acts of nature - to safeguard the Personal God That Cares from the evidence.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma