Video Footage of Immediate Aftermath of Earthquake in Port au Prince, Haiti

I would be interested in hearing from Ansel (after he returns, of course, for his safety) what the actual impact of the US soldiers in Haiti has been - relief or invasion?  Chussodovsky of Global Research has some nasty suspicions.  I think he *might* be correct, but it would be interesting to read the impressions of someone who has been on the ground in Haiti.

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17000

While I enjoy a good conspiracy theory, it is always wise to check its validity first hand.  I would honestly rather believe that our American kids are there to help.

Kate

Kate - I don't know Michael Chussodovsky. My only contact with him was in an email I sent to him last summer after he stole one of my Field essays and put it up on his website, changing the headline and the photos in it in ways that constituted a kind of censorship of its intent. I asked him to remove the stolen text. He did not respond, nor did he oblige my request. So I confess that my first impression of him is as a bottom feeding shady character who engages in theft.

That said, where is Chussodovsky's poutrage over the aid brought to Haiti by the Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana (FANB, the Venezuelan Navy)? If his point is really that armed forces should not be bringing the aid, how, logistically, does he propose or think it can be done under the emergency conditions that exist?

He does not speak to that. He offers some lip service to ask aloud why FEMA (the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, the same agency that so botched the response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans) isn't doing the relief instead. But last I checked, FEMA didn't count with an armada of ships to transport the massive amount of food, water, medical and other supplies that are right now a matter of life or death for so many thousands.

The Port au Prince airport's control tower was destroyed by the earthquake, severely slowing the amount of air traffic that can come in or out of the country. Transport by sea seems the only alternative route. My question to Chussodovsky would be: If not the US Navy, who or what is logistically capable of getting the life saving aid there faster?

Just to back up your point on logistics.

Here's a link to a post on the Seabees going to Haiti - they're the Navy's construction brigade. I've seen them in action. They're amazing. I don't know of any civilian organization that can mobilize this much material and know how this quickly.

http://www.navy.mil/search/haiti_display.asp?story_id=50537

Yup, the military has also occupied Haiti. But history does not have to repeat itself in this case.

I think we need to give it a few days to see how the situation of US troops once again in Haiti develops. I don't want to jump to any conclusions just yet, but as with Honduras, one must be clear-headed. The Honduras Oye blog had this interesting article by Shirley Pate, a Haitian solidarity activist who makes some interesting points without getting into too much speculation surrounding what type of US ships are being deployed, like in the article mentioned in previous posts.

http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/us-fearing-political-tsunami-in-haiti-rolls-in-the-troops-and-media-propaganda-haitians-are-not-fooled/

I guess a real test of US intentions will be if Aristide does indeed decide to attempt to return, the stakes are higher now considering the US controls the airport.