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US accused of 'occupying' Haiti as troops flood in

zimmer

zimmer

Educating the Ignorant
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Heh.

Well, that's weird. Swiss newspapers were reporting yesterday that the arrival of US military and especially their taking over of operations at the airport had improved the chaotic situation enormously. Apparently the UN was totally overwhelmed and incapable of efficiently organizing the various humanitarian relief operations until the US showed up.
 
Damned if ya do, damneed if ya don't.......;)
What could we possibly want with that useless turd, when we still haven't been able to scrape Puerto Rico off of our boot........;)
 
Ridiculous.
 
Arcana XV said:
Heh.

Well, that's weird. Swiss newspapers were reporting yesterday that the arrival of US military and especially their taking over of operations at the airport had improved the chaotic situation enormously. Apparently the UN was totally overwhelmed and incapable of efficiently organizing the various humanitarian relief operations until the US showed up.
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Yea however there are also comments about bias by the US military, which can easily lead to people claiming "occupation" and worse. If you have noticed that the first few days, it was "the US has taken over" bla bla.. and now it is more "the US is working under the authority of the Hatian national government and the UN" or something similar. That is a mark change in attitude for some reason.

But much of it is due to frustration and lack of communication. For example, the French sent a plane with a mobile hospital but was at first denied landing permission in Haiti. They did get it in the next day but why was it denied in the first place no one can explain. I also know that the British have complained over the fact that their search and resuce teams cant get their equipment into Haiti.. the plane carrying the equipment has been turned away 4+ times and what could be more important than a hospital and heavy lifting gear? Another example was flights from the US where supposedly the US denied non American aid workers access to US military flights at first. Situations like this only works right into the sceptics hands especially when they go unexplained.

Plus like it or not the US (or France) does not have the best reputation in Haiti due to its past meddling in its politics so having US troops pour in as they are could easily by the locals be seen as an invasion.
 
PeteEU said:
But much of it is due to frustration and lack of communication. For example, the French sent a plane with a mobile hospital but was at first denied landing permission in Haiti. They did get it in the next day but why was it denied in the first place no one can explain. I also know that the British have complained over the fact that their search and resuce teams cant get their equipment into Haiti.. the plane carrying the equipment has been turned away 4+ times and what could be more important than a hospital and heavy lifting gear? Another example was flights from the US where supposedly the US denied non American aid workers access to US military flights at first. Situations like this only works right into the sceptics hands especially when they go unexplained.
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Not to mention how many people have died as a result of aid being delayed.
 
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CrusaderRabbit08 said:
Not to mention how many people have died as a result of aid being delayed.
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That is unavoidable considering the infrastructure issues in Haiti. One runway with no tower, no harbour and clogged roads does not help the situation one bit. But that does not stop the critics of course.
 
PeteEU said:
That is unavoidable considering the infrastructure issues in Haiti. One runway with no tower, no harbour and clogged roads does not help the situation one bit. But that does not stop the critics of course.
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I was referring to the examples you cited, not these.
 
Apocalypse said:
I'm afraid that a lot of the world's nations have decided to take their time.
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And you base this on what? The RNC talking points memo? Or you nationalistic ego?
 
PeteEU said:
And you base this on what? The RNC talking points memo? Or you nationalistic ego?
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Pete, STFU with your RNC talking points okay? That's bull**** and you know it. They only have one freaking airport and I doubt it's the size of Atlanta. They can only get so many planes in, and they were concerned about people getting hurt trying to drop cargo from a C-130. Well apparently they ironed that out and are finally doing it now. The problem with some people is they expect a rehearsed rescue operation to occur in Haiti. There are a lot of problems, the biggest being the screwed up roads which apparently can't handle the weight of some vehicles.
 
We must be after those rich Haiti oilfields...


Is Fred Phelps French by the way?
 
American said:
Pete, STFU with your RNC talking points okay? That's bull**** and you know it. They only have one freaking airport and I doubt it's the size of Atlanta. They can only get so many planes in, and they were concerned about people getting hurt trying to drop cargo from a C-130. Well apparently they ironed that out and are finally doing it now. The problem with some people is they expect a rehearsed rescue operation to occur in Haiti. There are a lot of problems, the biggest being the screwed up roads which apparently can't handle the weight of some vehicles.
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Hey I aint the one coming with comments like other countries were "slow". That was what the RNC talking points comment was about. We constantly hear this crap over and over again by among others you but zero facts to back up the accusation. Hence it must come from somewhere and RNC talking points is a very valid suggestion considering the last 10 years of American right wing politics.

And I agree fully with the above comment as you would know if you have read this thread. There are huge problems in Haiti so I disagree fully with the "occupying" crap but I understand why some might think so and have point out why.
 
PeteEU said:
That was what the RNC talking points comment was about. .
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Coulda fooled me.

I figured it was just cheap shot polemics at work.
 
PeteEU said:
Yea however there are also comments about bias by the US military, which can easily lead to people claiming "occupation" and worse. If you have noticed that the first few days, it was "the US has taken over" bla bla.. and now it is more "the US is working under the authority of the Hatian national government and the UN" or something similar. That is a mark change in attitude for some reason.

But much of it is due to frustration and lack of communication. For example, the French sent a plane with a mobile hospital but was at first denied landing permission in Haiti. They did get it in the next day but why was it denied in the first place no one can explain. I also know that the British have complained over the fact that their search and resuce teams cant get their equipment into Haiti.. the plane carrying the equipment has been turned away 4+ times and what could be more important than a hospital and heavy lifting gear? Another example was flights from the US where supposedly the US denied non American aid workers access to US military flights at first. Situations like this only works right into the sceptics hands especially when they go unexplained.

Plus like it or not the US (or France) does not have the best reputation in Haiti due to its past meddling in its politics so having US troops pour in as they are could easily by the locals be seen as an invasion.
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They didn't properly coordinate their arrival. There might have been other gear that was of a higher priority. Perhaps there just wasn't anywhere to put them once they landed. The reasons are endless.

Right now, food and water are priority one. Looking for dead people is probably last on the list.

But, hey, it don't matter what the US does, someone's going to cry about it.
 
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To suggest that the US would use this disaster as an excuse to occupy Haiti is ridiculous, unless there is some shortage of chicken feet that I am not aware of.
 
PeteEU said:
Yea however there are also comments about bias by the US military, which can easily lead to people claiming "occupation" and worse. If you have noticed that the first few days, it was "the US has taken over" bla bla.. and now it is more "the US is working under the authority of the Hatian national government and the UN" or something similar. That is a mark change in attitude for some reason.

But much of it is due to frustration and lack of communication. For example, the French sent a plane with a mobile hospital but was at first denied landing permission in Haiti. They did get it in the next day but why was it denied in the first place no one can explain. I also know that the British have complained over the fact that their search and resuce teams cant get their equipment into Haiti.. the plane carrying the equipment has been turned away 4+ times and what could be more important than a hospital and heavy lifting gear? Another example was flights from the US where supposedly the US denied non American aid workers access to US military flights at first. Situations like this only works right into the sceptics hands especially when they go unexplained.

Plus like it or not the US (or France) does not have the best reputation in Haiti due to its past meddling in its politics so having US troops pour in as they are could easily by the locals be seen as an invasion.
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I think you're right about the frustration and lack of communication. They're all dealing with a logistical nightmare over there and I'm not surprised tempers are flaring. I don't think the French official really meant what he said, he was probably just fed up and venting. The only one who's seriously said anything about the US "occupying" Haiti was the lunatic in Venezuela. But does anyone really care what Chavez says anymore? :lol:
 
Ikari said:
Why the **** would we want that ****hole?
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And why the **** do we care what some guy from France says? Oh, I know, it's a chance to take a cheap political shot.
 
It appears to me that it was just a case of a bruised (albeit still inflated) ego.

The French minister in charge of humanitarian relief called on the UN to "clarify" the American role amid claims the military build up was hampering aid efforts.

Alain Joyandet admitted he had been involved in a scuffle with a US commander in the airport's control tower over the flight plan for a French evacuation flight.
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Martin_Kaine said:
To suggest that the US would use this disaster as an excuse to occupy Haiti is ridiculous, unless there is some shortage of chicken feet that I am not aware of.
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Don't say that too loud or you'll have China coming to Haiti to show us Americans how a real occupation goes ...
 
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