France & Venezuela Accuse Obama Of Occupying Haiti

[Lyle]

Haha...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6992809.ece

The international effort to deliver humanitarian aid to the victims of last week's Port-au-Prince earthquake was hit by bickering today as a French government minister accused the Americans of trying to occupy Haiti instead of helping it.

Thousands of American soldiers have poured in to Port-au-Prince airport since President Obama announced that he was ordering a "swift and aggressive" campaign to help millions of Haitians left homeless by last week's 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

Six days after the quake, however, precious little aid is getting beyond the airport perimeters - largely because of security concerns - and aid agencies with long experience of operating in disaster zones have complained that their flights in are being blocked unnecessarily.

Among the aircraft turned back by American air traffic controllers who have assumed control at Port-au-Prince airport was a French government Airbus carrying a field hospital.
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The plane was able to land the following day but the decision to turn it back prompted an official complaint from Alain Joyandet, the French Minister for Co-operation who is overseeing the French aid effort.

Speaking to Europe 1 radio from an EU ministerial meeting in Brussels this morning, Mr Joyandet said that the UN would have to clarify the role of the US in the Haitian aid effort. "It's a matter of helping Haiti, not occupying Haiti," he said.

Venezuela (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/01/18/2010-01-18_hugo_chavez.html):

Speaking on his weekly television show, Chavez opined that the U.S. mission in Haiti was a ruse to initiate military occupation.

“I read that 3,000 soldiers are arriving, Marines armed as if they were going to war,” Chavez said. “They are occupying Haiti undercover.”

President Obama signed an executive order to send 7,000 U.S. troops to the ravaged country as aid organizations attempt to distribute food and water to the survivors.

Chavez, a frequent critic of American intervention, praised the humanitarian effort in Haiti but questioned the need for so many troops.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/01/18/2010-01-18_hugo_chavez.html#ixzz0czqW1wgD


I hope all you Chavez loving Leftists remember this the next time you praise him. You're not trying to help Haiti, you're trying to occupy it. Haha.

[Lyle]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/haiti/7020908/US-accused-of-occupying-Haiti-as-troops-flood-in.html

France accused the US of "occupying" Haiti on Monday as thousands of American troops flooded into the country to take charge of aid efforts and security.

[Lyle]

Der Spiegel (http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,672510,00.html):

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"In this catastrophe the United States is showing its best side. Helping its neighbors in their hour of need is one of America's primary virtues. Washington is reacting to the crisis in Haiti with a kind of general mobilization, even an invasion of mercy."

"The humanitarian superiority of the US has already raised suspicions. France has criticized the abrasive way the Americans at the airport have taken command, as the completely helpless government in Port-au-Prince abandons control to the US soldiers. This kind of criticism will only increase as soon as thousands of GIs go on patrol in order to provide temporary security. America must tread carefully in Haiti -- after decades of interference and occupation. No one can help more at the moment than the superpower. Later, however, many will claim to know how things could have been done better. The good deed of today can in the long term become a terrible curse."

The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"The frustration of the foreign aid workers' and the helpless people in the face of a humanitarian disaster is understandable. However, the bottlenecks occurring in Haiti are unavoidable and the criticism is unfair. When an earthquake completely destroys the already weak infrastructure of a poor country, then blockages are unavoidable."

"It is also an illusion that it is foreign aid workers who save the most people after a disaster. No matter how well organized the operation is, it takes a few days to assemble the colonies of aid and get them to their target. And it is exactly during these first few days that the injured are brought out of the rubble and treated -- by the people affected themselves, who are not just helpless victims."

"That does not mean that the international disaster aid has reached its maximum in efficiency. And everything must be done to improve it."

"One thing is striking about the operation in Haiti: The US has taken a leading role. Not only is it sending an enormous amount of material and personnel, it is also coordinating much of the aid coming from other countries. However, it would be negligent if the international community were to depend on the US or other big powers to do the same in future disasters -- the US reacted far too late in the case of the tsunami five years ago."

"The cumbersome structures of the UN seem little suited to providing rapid aid. What is required is a coordination point for disaster relief, a kind of global fire brigade. ... What must not be allowed to happen is that national vanities and the desire to seem particularly generous get in the way of improving aid."

"The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: "As if the international aid organizations didn't have better things to be doing, a narrow-minded rivalry has begun over the 'leadership.' Mexico has already called for a session of the UN Security Council with the aim of strengthening the role of the US in handling the relief effort. And in Europe, too, people are seeking the limelight by attacking the US, which is putting in motion the massive capabilities of its forces, providing huge amounts of money and mobilizing prominent fundraisers. No power in the world is better placed to get things off the ground." "That is the political truth: Nothing works without the America's determined involvement, no matter how generous other providers of aid may be. Without Washington's long-term engagement, Haiti has no future. Survivors in Haiti do not interpret any corresponding declaration by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a threat, but as a way out of the misery. And perhaps as making up for previous indifference.""]The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: "As if the international aid organizations didn't have better things to be doing, a narrow-minded rivalry has begun over the 'leadership.' Mexico has already called for a session of the UN Security Council with the aim of strengthening the role of the US in handling the relief effort. And in Europe, too, people are seeking the limelight by attacking the US, which is putting in motion the massive capabilities of its forces, providing huge amounts of money and mobilizing prominent fundraisers. No power in the world is better placed to get things off the ground." "That is the political truth: Nothing works without the America's determined involvement, no matter how generous other providers of aid may be. Without Washington's long-term engagement, Haiti has no future. Survivors in Haiti do not interpret any corresponding declaration by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a threat, but as a way out of the misery. And perhaps as making up for previous indifference."

In summation, Germany says... everyone, get the fuck out of America's way.