Breaking News: 7.0 Earthquake in Haiti

[Admiral Yi]

How so? The bottom line is the same, roles and priorities have to be clarified.

I'm looking for an English language source about this, but I only find snippets. IIRC, the problem arouse after a French cargo plane carrying an emergency field hospital was diverted to the Dominican Republic last saturday because the US military were taking up all the slots, or something.

If you complain that the US is monopolizing the airport and giving priority to military planes, that means you think it should be otherwise.  That's a different message than asking for clarification of roles and responsibilities.

[The Larch]

How so? The bottom line is the same, roles and priorities have to be clarified.

I'm looking for an English language source about this, but I only find snippets. IIRC, the problem arouse after a French cargo plane carrying an emergency field hospital was diverted to the Dominican Republic last saturday because the US military were taking up all the slots, or something.

If you complain that the US is monopolizing the airport and giving priority to military planes, that means you think it should be otherwise.  That's a different message than asking for clarification of roles and responsibilities.

The implication is that some of the military flights should have been given lower priority, and that some of the planes that had been diverted given a higher one. Globally, it can be summed up in a call for better coordination. I found this on the issue, from the Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/18/haiti-aid-distribution-confusion-warning

Haiti aid agencies warn: chaotic and confusing relief effort is costing lives
Operations delayed as vital supplies fail to get through at Port-au-Prince airport

International aid agencies have warned that Haitians are dying needlessly amid "utter chaos" in the organisation of relief efforts after last week's devastating ­earthquake. Some have called for the US to take direct control over the rescue ­operation, while others have said the Americans are part of the problem.

A week into the disaster, aid has failed to reach most Haitians amid logistical confusion and disputes over priorities as the population grows ever more desperate.

Médecins sans Frontières says confusion over who is running the relief effort – the US which controls the main airport, or the UN which says it is overseeing distribution – may have led to hundreds of avoidable deaths because it has not been able to get essential supplies in to the country. "The co-ordination ... is not existing or not functioning at this stage," said Benoit Leduc, MSF's operations manager in Port-au-Prince. "I don't really know who is in charge. Between the two systems (the US and the UN) I don't think there is smooth liaison [over] who decides what."

John O'Shea , the head of the Irish medical charity, Goal, echoed the criticism. He said the Haitian earthquake was one of the most difficult disasters his agency had dealt with but at least there were no political obstacles to aid deliveries, as in Burma and Sudan.

"That means there is only one thing stopping a massive and prodigious aid effort being rolled out and that is leadership and co-ordination. You have neither in Haiti at the moment," he said.

"You have the US military doing their thing at the airport. You have the United Nations saying we're in control of food distribution but the United Nations is not taking the pro-active role that they should be taking.

"And you have a Haitian president saying he's in charge and the Americans being politically correct and saying they will work under him. This is all going to lead to a situation of utter chaos. I can't get all my trucks in from the Dominican Republic because I have no guarantee that the people driving them are not going to be macheted to death on the way down. I can't let my doctors and nurses out on the street of Port-au-Prince."

Aid agencies say the US and the UN pay lip service to being under the authority of the Haitian government but President René Préval has little real control.

Préval's role has largely been limited to appealing for assistance and meeting visitors such as the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and the UN's secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. He has yet to visit the refugee camps packed with his ­desperate compatriots.

The Haitian prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, told the Washington Post the government was "overwhelmed" by the crisis.

That is widely recognised by aid agencies. O'Shea called on the Americans to take charge of the whole operation.

"Obama has to say: I'm in charge lads. Everybody would row in behind him. Like or lump the Americans, they're people who have the ability to get a job done. Somebody, somewhere has to grab this thing by the balls," he said.

A major US aid agency, which declined to be named for political reasons, said it agreed with O'Shea. "It's quite apparent that the Haitian system can't handle this and I don't think there's a lot of confidence in the UN to provide security. It's clear the Americans are the ones to do this. There are of course political sensitivities but I think we're beyond that at the moment. Look at the reaction of ordinary Haitians. They are welcoming the Americans with open arms," said an official with the agency.

Others were more sceptical, saying the oversight of aid operations belongs with the UN. On Monday, France's cooperation minister, Alain Joyandet, criticised the US by saying that aid efforts were supposed to be about helping Haiti, not "occupying" it.

But there is general agreement that someone needs to take charge.

The US has about 1,000 troops in Haiti and another 2,000 are on their way. There are also 9,000 UN peacekeepers and international police officers in the country.

There has been criticism from some aid agencies of the Americans for giving priority to military flights at the airport while planes carrying relief supplies are unable to land. MSF has had five planes turned back from the airport in recent days, three carrying essential medical supplies and two with expert surgical personnel.

"We lost 48 hours because of these access problems," said Leduc. "Of course it is a small airport, but this is clearly a matter of defining priorities."

Asked how many avoidable deaths had been caused by the delays, he said that hundreds of critical lifesaving operations had been delayed by two days.

"We are talking about septicaemia. The morgues in the hospitals are full," he said.

The World Food Programme said today that agreement had been reached that its flights would receive priority landing at Port-au-Prince airport.

Greg Barrow, a WFP spokesman, said the organisation has only been able to distribute with protection from US or UN troops. "We do need security to carry out distributions," he said.

But Barrow said the more immediate obstacle to delivering aid was the logistical difficulty of getting large amounts of food to Haiti because its main airport is small and main port severely damaged. "What we're looking at the moment is opening up as many air, land and sea corridors as possible even to the point of chartering landing vessels and trucks can just drive off on to the beach, a sort of roll-on roll-off mechanism," he said. US officials have made contingency plans to deal with refugees from Haiti although they say there is no sign that a seaborne exodus is imminent.

The homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, appealed to Haitians to remain at home.

"Please: If any Haitians are watching, there may be an impulse to leave the island and to come here," she said. "This is a very dangerous crossing. Lives are lost every time people try to make this crossing. Please do not have us divert our necessary rescue and relief efforts that are going into Haiti by trying to leave at this point."

Thousands of Haitians have fled their country and tens of thousands more have been rescued at sea by the US coast guard over the past 20 years.

Bill Clinton, the former president, visited Haiti today in response to a request from Obama for help in fundraising.

[HisMajestyBOB]

The other problem is you have 3 dozen different relief agencies from 10+ countries who all think they need immediate access, as well as various celebrities, media and reporters, and politicians all flying in to do nothing more than talk about how oh-so-sad everything is (and, not coincidentally, get their faces plastered all over the headlines).

[Razgovory]

What do you think is on these military flights?  I imagine that most if not all of it is important cargo or personnel as well.

[Admiral Yi]

The implication is that some of the military flights should have been given lower priority, and that some of the planes that had been diverted given a higher one. Globally, it can be summed up in a call for better coordination.

Right, that's complaining.  Which I think is petty unless it turns out that the US air traffic controllers are fucking over the French and Brazilians out of spite.

[HisMajestyBOB]

The implication is that some of the military flights should have been given lower priority, and that some of the planes that had been diverted given a higher one. Globally, it can be summed up in a call for better coordination.

Right, that's complaining.  Which I think is petty unless it turns out that the US air traffic controllers are fucking over the French and Brazilians out of spite.

Fucking over the French is always justifiable.

[Admiral Yi]

Fucking over the French is always justifiable.

Business before pleasure.

[Neil]

Fucking over the French is always justifiable.

Business before pleasure.

Fucking over the French is a strong national priority.  Aid to Haiti is a minor vanity project.

[Martinus]

Speaking of right-wing douchebags, surprised noone has quote Limbaugh yet:

Bush Pushes Back Against Limbaugh's Obama-Haiti Remark

Former President George W. Bush pushed back Sunday against criticism -- levied most prominently by talk radio host Rush Limbaugh -- that his successor, President Barack Obama, was somehow politicizing the disastrous earthquake in Haiti.

"I don't know if -- what they're talking about," Bush declared during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I've been briefed by the President about the response. And as I said in my opening comment, I appreciate the president's quick response to this disaster."

This past week, Limbaugh insisted that the Obama White House would use the catastrophe in Haiti to "burnish" the president's standing and credibility "with the black community, in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community, in this country."

"It's made-to-order for 'em," Limbaugh said. "That's why he couldn't wait to get out there. Could not wait to get out there."
Joined by former President Bill Clinton during a series of interviews on the Sunday shows, Bush also touted the need to get relief to the Haitian people, in both a streamlined and responsible way. Asked by host David Gregory if he drew any lessons from the recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina (widely regarded as tragically bungled), Bush replied:

"First of all, it takes time to get the supplies in place. That shouldn't deter them. In other words, there's an expectation-- amongst people that things are going to happen quickly. And sometimes it's hard to make things happen quickly. Secondly, there is a great reservoir of good will that wants to help. And that's why he asked us to help, and we're glad to do it."

Seriously, for someone who has just had a heart attack, this guy should really care a bit more about his karma. What an asshole.

On the side note Bush's response confirms two things I've always suspected about him: (i) he is a complete doofus who is unable to build a proper sentence, and (ii) he is not a complete douchebag. It's really a pity he was used as a puppet by the likes of Cheney and Rove, and will end up as one of the most reviled men in recent American history.

[DGuller]

Bush is a decent guy, just a horrific president.  He also realizes that he won't rehabilitate his image by attacking his successor, especially when his successor took over when he had approval ratings down to just nutjobs.

[The Minsky Moment]

The implication is that some of the military flights should have been given lower priority, and that some of the planes that had been diverted given a higher one. Globally, it can be summed up in a call for better coordination. I found this on the issue, from the Guardian:

That doesn't make a lot of sense though.  I thought the military was being brought in to help clear up the roads and get some organization in place on the ground.  Doesn't make sense to fly in an entire field hospital before that task is done; otherwise the hospital just takes up a lot of space on the tarmac.

[Mr.Penguin]

What do you think is on these military flights?  I imagine that most if not all of it is important cargo or personnel as well.

The short answer: the Clintons. First Hillary, later Bill + daughter, all there to pat the Haitian President Rene Preval on the shoulder...   

[KRonn]

So we can add Danny Glover to the nut jobs as well, along with Pat Robertson. So I guess Glover is a left wing nut job, who supports and respects Chavez as well.

A video of what he says is in the link, at the bottom.

http://jonathanturley.org/2010/01/16/glover-haiti-earthquake-is-the-result-of-failure-to-deal-with-global-warming/

Glover: Haiti Earthquake is the Result of Failure to Deal with Global Warming

First we had Pat Robertson saying that the Haitian earthquake was punishment from God for a pact with the devil. Now Danny Glover seems to say that it is the response for failing to reach a pact on global warming.

Glover told the media:

    "What happened in Haiti could happen to anywhere in the Caribbean because all these island nations are in peril because of global warming. When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I'm sayin'?"

No, Danny, I honestly do not know what you are saying. While credible theories abound on the wide array of environmental impacts from global warming, earthquakes are not included in those theories . . . any more than attracting asteroid hits.

In fairness to Glover, he was being rush at the end of an interview. (Though I am a bit perplexed by the suggestion that we are not doing enough given a pledge of $100 million personnel and ships from the U.S.) Glover may have been making a different point that the "response" will likely be needed by more island nations in light of global warming. If that is his point, this is a terrible mangling of words. It is certainly true that, with global warming, we are likely to face greater floods and natural disasters (often not calculated in the costs of dealing with pollution). It is not likely, however, to be like Haiti with an entire city leveled in an earthquake. Still, if that is his meaning, it is a commendable point made in a curious way.

He is being lambasted on both liberal and conservative blogs, so here is the full interview to better understand the meaning in context:
[\quote]

[crazy canuck]

Doesn't make sense to fly in an entire field hospital before that task is done; otherwise the hospital just takes up a lot of space on the tarmac.

Catch 22, by the time the field hospital does get set up many people who could have been saved if the hospital had been set up first will have already died.

[garbon]

Speaking of right-wing douchebags, surprised noone has quote Limbaugh yet:

Who cares what he has to say?