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Frustration Mounts Over Haiti Aid
Tensions are rising on the streets of Haiti as the bulk of earthquake survivors continue to go without food, medicine or proper shelter.
Desperately needed aid is still not reaching large swathes of the population (Reuters) Aid organizations continued to struggle to reach them with supplies
on Sunday, six nights after the devastating earthquake that killed tens
of thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
A bottleneck at the capital's small airport - the main entry point for the massive assistance pledged by world leaders following the disaster - means little help has reached the many people waiting for help in makeshift camps on streets strewn with debris and decomposing bodies.
Airport bottleneck
Some aid agencies have complained about a lack of co-ordination at the Port-au-Prince airport, where the US military has taken over operations.
Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, (MSF) said an aircraft carrying a mobile hospital was denied permission to land at the airport on Saturday and diverted to neighboring Dominican Republic, where it would take a further 24 hours to deliver supplies by road.
"Priority must be given immediately to planes carrying lifesaving equipment and medical personnel," MSF said in a statement.
Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, reporting from Port-au-Prince, said quake survivors in the capital were growing increasingly frustrated over what appeared to be the mismanagement or miscommunication that was holding up the aid.
In the absence of large scale foreign help, Haitians were trying to help each other, our correspondent said, with some turning homes into hospitals to treat the wounded and others giving away food, but food supplies and other resources were running out.
People could see helicopters flying overhead, US military vehicles in the city and airplanes arriving at the airport with supplies, so it was difficult to understand why little aid appeared to be reaching the people, she said.
Meanwhile the European Union pledged over $575m in emergency and long-term aid, the bloc said on Monday.
The union is also moving towards sending 150 people to assist the police force and help beef up security, as tensions in the Caribbean nation rise.
US defends position
The US military said on Sunday that it was doing its best to get as many aircraft as possible into Port-au-Prince.
The airport's control tower was knocked out by the quake and US military air controllers were operating from a radio post on the airfield grass, he said.
"What we set up here would be similar to running a major airport ... without any communications, electricity or computers," Colonel Buck Elton, the US commander at the airport, told reporters by telephone.
He said there had been 600 take-offs and landings since his crew took over operations at the one-runway airport's traffic on Wednesday, and 50 flights had been diverted.
But the flow of air traffic was improving, he said, with only three of 67 incoming flights being rerouted on Saturday, and only two flights diverted on Sunday.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, PJ Crowley, a spokesman for the US state department, defended the US handling of Haiti's airport and international aid.
He said changes in airport procedures "to increase efficiency and effectiveness", as well as "a technical reason", were possible reasons why some airplanes were not allowed to land.
Pointing out that the US military had, by adding to the infrastructure of the airport, increased flights from 20 a day to 60 a day, he said whatever limited infrastructure Haiti had before the quake was devastated by the quake and it had taken time to "maximize the flow of everything that Haiti needs".
On claims that military airplanes with troops were being allowed to land while those carrying aid supplies were not, he said that was "absolutely not true".
"They are bringing in aid, communications gear for the Haitian government so they can begin to operate and function once again," he said.
Not only food, water, healthcare, he said, but also "the kinds of gear that allows us to save lives, to bring in capacity so that they can establish an effective network to distribute food among the three million people in the city".
Signs of progress
There were some signs of progress on Sunday as international medical teams took over damaged hospitals and clinics where injured and sick people had lain untreated for days.
A few street markets had begun selling vegetables and charcoal in the capital and US officials said international search teams had rescued at least 61 people alive so far.Hundreds of trucks carrying aid and guarded by armed UN patrols streamed from the airport and UN headquarters out into the city on Sunday but they were soon obstructed on streets clogged with people, debris and vans carrying coffins and bodies.
There were also scrums for food and water as UN trucks distributed food packets and US military helicopters dropped boxes of water bottles and rations.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, who visited Port-au-Prince on Sunday, said the situation in the country was "one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades".
Amid shouts of "where is the food? Where is the help?" from survivors and asked if he feared riots over the delays in aid, Ban appealed to the Haitian people "to be more patient".
Haitian government officials say 70,000 bodies have already been buried in mass graves and estimate the total death toll to be between 100,000 and 200,000.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies- Posted in
54 Comments so far
Show AllObama, right-wing tool, will secure Haiti with the military to assure continued depredations of the country by Halliburton, KBR, Xe (formerly Blackwater) and others. The military will, as previously, summarily dispatch any Haitians frisky enough to protest.
Any EVIDENCE of private contractors in Haiti? Just asking.
Meanwhile the dying goes on...
American Friends Service Committee http://www.afsc.org/
American Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/
Artists for Peace and Justice: http://www.artistsforpeaceandjustice.com/
NetHope: http://www.nethope.org/
Lambi Fund for Haiti: http://www.lambifund.org/
Save the Children: http://www.savethechildren.org/
World Vision International: http://wvi.org/wvi/wviweb.nsf
Care: http://www.care.org/index.asp
MercyCorps: http://www.mercycorps.org/
Partners in Health: http://twitter.com/PIH_org
Unicef: http://www.unicef.org/
Doctors Without Borders: http://doctorswithoutborders.org/
Parners in Health: http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti
Ofram: http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2010-01-13/large-earthquake-haiti
RN Response Network: https://secure.ga1.org/05/rnrn_relief_fund
National Nurses United has launched a relief effort to send over 7,000 registered nurses to Haiti. There's just one problem: the cost of sending them. Please donate today at www.SendaNurse.org. Every dollar you donate goes toward the resources nurses need to care for the survivors of this tragedy.
Pass it on.
Gary
"Pass it on."
How does copying and pasting links to aid agencies help the people of Haiti?
Is this more or less effective than joining a Facebook group or twittering your feelings on this issue as you drive?
Millions in donations from a text message number already.The links help people who don't have cell phones or know the best aid orgs.Consciousness raising for people unsure how to help.What is wrong with that?
peace
qatzelok
It certainly helped me. I found a resource from this list where all of our donation goes to Haitians rather than a portion.
Joining a facebook group or Twittering your feelings as you drive? How does that help Haitians at all? You are joking, right?
Thanks Gary!
Good there are signs of progress but it has taken 6 days to get that miserable "green shoot". Also no matter what the confusion the story that will be remembered is the one with the US diverting planes carrying life saving equipment. The usual suspects who defend authority at every turn will ooze out of the woodwork to defend the military but the fact is they diverted a plane carrying a field hospital and that will be a lasting impression and image in lots or the world and definitely in South America where some country's aid has also been diverted by high hand Yankee nonsense.
I'm slowly getting the impression that the USA and maybe the West in its entirety are showing real signs of decay in the ability to handle large scale events. All the great marvels of our supposed modern civilization now just appear to fail when actually needed. Better go back to reread Simon Winchester's Crack in the Edge of the World to remind myself that at one time 103 years ago less modern countries could actually deal with large castratophes better damn well.
Apparently, there were two field hospitals on the staging area of the airport, packed and waiting for transport out into the field when the MSF plane tried to land with a third hospital that couldn't be delivered. Seems to me that diverting that plane for 24 hours might have been a good idea to get some transport into the airport to deliver the existing two hospitals to areas where they could be set up. This airport is small, once things are on the ground, they have to get moved to where they are needed on roads that are damaged by trucks that are not there.
Everyone wants to see deliveries go faster, but there is a physical limit to what can arrive and be sent out to the streets in a given period of time.
Just to do a little math, on Sunday, a plane landed at the one-runway airport with no physical control tower and no refueling facilities, every 12 1/2 minutes. We're complaining about that? Sounds amazing to me.
Your naive and superficial understanding of our plundering Empire,
most embarrassing to read.
I'm gonna jump in her and agree with John Shade.
Lemme explain this logistic problem in a way Americans might understand. Imagine the line in front of Walmart at 5AM one day after Thanksgiving. Now imagine that multiplied by 10,000. How easy do you think it is to keep those people happy and organized and not have them kill each other?
The fact that the US military secured the airport and provided approach control. power etc is a really major thing. That's about the only lifeline to the rest of the world.
Please read my comparison with the Berlin Airlift above. That may change your mind.
The pathetic performance of the US military in Haiti is due to 1 of 2 reasons:
1) The US military are indeed pathetic, or;
2) The US military have not been ordered to take off their white gloves and get serious.
I suspect reason #2.
WTF
The comparison is a good starting place. I would differ in these respects:
1. You are supplying less than 2 million give or take.
2. No medical supplies
3. A lot of what they were flying in was coal.
4. The distance was minimal
5. If a plane missed its landing slot it was sent back the full route before landing again.
6. The people of Berlin were organized and had a government and police force in place. They were also under martial law.
7. The war was over and we had the troops, supplies and personnel on hand to do the job.
8. We have Bush's two wars that have our military strained to the breaking point
All in all, I'd say they aren't doing too bad a job. And it is a hard job.
Good points. Let me follow up:
1) 1948 was 60 years ago. Germany had lost most of it's young men and infrastructure.
2) No helicopters were used.
3) There was one narrow corridor allowed for aircraft to fly into Tempelhof. Holding patterns were not allowed.
4) Miami to Port-au-Prince flight time is 1.5 hours. The flight time from Frankfurt to Berlin in a loaded C47 was slightly longer.
5) Berlin was surrounded by a half million armored Soviet troops. To state that the Berlin Airlift was undertaken during a very sensitive time is an understatement.
6) The population of Berlin was 2.8M at the time of the Airlift.
7) I should not forget the contribution of the Brits, Canadians and Aussies, who used Gatow as their distribution point.
8) The first day of the airlift saw 32 C47s fly in 80 tons of milk, flour, and medicine. One week later the daily total exceeded 1,000 tons/day.
Agreed, it is a tough job. But the US today is on a full war alert with more than 3 million active serving Americans and a largely idle navy spending some $1.2T/year, something that was not the case in 1948. We should, and can do better. I still contend that our efforts are pathetic, at best.
WTF
And there you go with good points right back!
"7. I should not forget the contribution of the Brits, Canadians and Aussies, who used Gatow as their distribution point."
Absolutely!
Regarding that narrow corrider, I was always impressed that when they were having hell with planes stacking up because the one in front was slow getting down, some absolute genius took the simple solution of, "if they miss, send them around again"
Regarding our military today, most of our equipment has been used up during Bush's follies, sand is hell on avaionics. Rumsfield got rid of a lot of stuff before 2001. Most of our guys are tired. We have about 1.4 to 1.5 million on active service with about 7-800 thousand more in reserve units. Where did you get the 3 million number.? Just curious, I don't see that 1.4 or 3 million really would make a difference here.
From what I have been able to find out I think we are doing better than you think, but we will all know soon enough. As soon as they stop digging people out, aid delivery should get faster too.
The logistics of this are indeed very challanging. With no distribution facilities in place its very difficult to move aid in any case and the highways are clogged.
But that doesn't make these people feel any better. They just know they are hurting and need help. The story of the nursing hopme makes you want to bang your head against the wall.
But I'm sure every country and everyone there is doing the best they can.
Berlin Airlift, 1948. Tempelhof Airport had 2 runways. Berlin had no power or running water and so all coal/gas/water had to be airlifted. The day after the Soviets cut power/water to Berlin (the official start of the crisis), the US Army flew 60 flights into Tempelhof. At the peak of the airlift, Tempelhof received aircraft every 4 minutes. The entire US military at that time was less than 1/6th of today's US military in terms of personnel and equipment. Then, C47s could carry about 3.5 tons. Berlin was still a mess from continuous bombing from 1940 through 1945, and the firebombing of 1943.
In 1948, there were no satellites. Radio communication was poor. No EWACS. Lousy weather forecasting was de rigour. Aircraft used a LOT more fuel/ton. Aircraft were loaded and unloaded by hand. BY HAND.
Do the math.
The Berlin Airlift was a shining example of American "can do" spirit.
The Haiti airlift is an embarrassment, and a shining example of the incompetence of today's US military. This is nothing to be proud of.
Bringing relief supplies and digging people out of rubble etc. are good uses of the armed forces. I wish all that hardware and those healthy and well-conditioned young people could be put to such tasks more of the time. Gary has a good list and I urge people to space donations over the coming months as the problems will persist long after Haiti is out of the spotlight.
At the same time, suspicions of the delays, our motives and activities are natural outgrowths of our lengthy malevolent history in Haiti. In addition there was a statement by the Heritage Foundation about using this situation for some purpose other than relief. The citation was yanked from the Heritage Foundation site and the Common Dreams article shows up in a search but the link does not appear to work, so specifics are no longer available.
Joe
jclientelle
"Bringing relief supplies and digging people out of rubble etc. are good uses of the armed forces. I wish all that hardware and those healthy and well-conditioned young people could be put to such tasks more of the time."
Amen! We all do, including miost of those young people Joe.
The Heritage Foundation is a group of dedicated radical right wingers, so what else is new???? A lot of these foundations are radical right or left. Brainless lot!
On Her web site, Klein headlines a "Haiti Disaster Capitalism Alert: Stop Them Before They Shock Again," then quotes the extremist Heritage Foundation saying:
"In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the US response to the tragic Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti's long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region."
Heritage notes "Things to Remember While Helping Haiti," itemized briefly below:
• Be bold and decisive;
• Mobilize US civilian and military capabilities "for short-term rescue and relief and long-term recovery and reform;"
• US military forces should play an active role interdicting "cocaine to Haiti and Dominican Republic from the Venezuelan coast and counter ongoing efforts of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to destabilize the island of Hispaniola;"
• US Coast Guard vessels should stop Haitians from trying "to enter the US illegally;"
• Congress should authorize "assistance, trade and reconstruction efforts;" and
• US diplomacy should "counter the negative propaganda certain to emanate from the Castro-Chavez camp (to) demonstrate that the US's involvement in the Caribbean remains a powerful force for good in the Americas and around the globe."
Heritage is an imperial tool advocating predation, exploitation, and Haitian redevelopment for profit, not for desperate people to repair their lives. It disdains democratic freedoms, social justice, and envisions a global economy "where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish" solely for the privileged, the chosen few, not the disadvantaged or greater majority.
by Stephen Lendman
Monday, 18 January 2010
John Ellis
"US Coast Guard vessels should stop Haitians from trying "to enter the US illegally;"
The guy is an idiot. A number of our US Coast Guard vessels have been in Haiti since the start. Among the first to get there and have been rendering medical aid as well as they could. They are too busy to worry about stopping Haitians from coming to the U.S.
And how would they get here anyway. The place is a mess and the airports a bit busy.
God, some people were indeed behind the door when brains were issued.
Over 130,000 illegal Haitians now in the U.S.
So how do you suppose they got here?
"Over 130,000 illegal Haitians now in the U.S.
So how do you suppose they got here?"
On fishing boats and power boats that there are none of in Haiti at the moment. They sure can't get on a plane, so I'd say none of them can get here like the ones before did at this time. I think its about 190,000 actually and I believe they just granted them legal status for 18 months.
AL JAZEERA VIDEO
Haitians ---- Oppose US Militarization of Aid
A full three minutes of excellent insight:
http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/
Any bets Haiti will become a US 'protectorate' ala Puerto Rico?
Once the US Military sets up a major presence anywhere, it's the hells own time dislodging them again.
No way. There's no point officially owning something if you can suck the juice out of it and spit it back in its owner's lap anyway.
So, for example, Iraq is not a US protectorate in the sense that Puerto Rico is because 0bama's employers don't want to admit they own it.
Honduras is not a US protectorate as Puerto Rico is because 0bama's employers prefer to deny involvement in the coup and its whitewashing.
Colombia is not a US protectorate because the US government does not wish to advertise its involvement in the cocaine trade, among other things.
No, Haiti will not become a protectorate in that sense because the US acquired Haiti at a different point in history --- after ongoing imperial control.
It means a greater active troop presence until compliance can be established at lower expense.
So instead of Puerto Rico they get to be a new Afghanistan?
Greaaat. Wonderful.
All they need now is Xe/Blackwater, the CIA, and a declared 'terrorist' nation status to complete the rape of what's left of their nation.
Maybe Haiti can become the new Thailand, a 'vacation' destination for all the well heeled and politically connected pedophiles who jet off to exotic locations to indulge their tastes for underage prostitutes.
PEACEFUL SLAVES ---- AGGRESSIVE SLAVE-DRIVERS
When plantation owners went down to the slave market, top dollar were they willing to pay for the slaves with the most pacifist, agreeable and gentle spirit. A fact well known by slave traders and in selecting their next boat load of victims, virtually all were smiling and friendly until put in chains and packed like sardines below deck.
And as evidence by most all in Haiti being most smiley and friendly, this aspect of our mind, character and personality passes from father to son.
So, the police in Haiti that have since the CIA coup dictatorship of 2004 been executing over 2,000 Aristide supporters a year, they are the aggressive sons of the aggressive slave-drivers of old.
And so, if we want freedom for the slaves in Haiti, organize we must and get down to Haiti in force, as the gentle slaves of Haiti have no desire to oppose anyone.
so as not to ignore the real agenda: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/49345
60 flights a day is only 2.5/hour, or one every 24 minutes. There is no reason why there aren't AT LEAST 4 times that many, if this is true. On a dirt strip with no electronics during the Vietnam war we put down more than that. 60 aircraft loads/day is quite a bit - what was it and where did it go?
And what about the 400,000 gallons of fresh water/day the Vinson can produce? Is it and where is it going?
PAP-Toussant L'Ouverture Airport is not designed for much air traffic volume - it has a just a single narrow runway with no taxiway, or even turn-arounds at the ends of the runway (check it out on google maps). And ramp space is tiny. Except for the ample runway length for large planes, it would be substandard airport for even, say, London, Kentucky.
Just the same, there is no need for even one single precious space at the airport going to the military.
How long do you think it would take the US military to carve out a taxiway, apron and turn-arounds? I'm guessing it would take one C17, two D7s, 10 men and 24 hours. USAF air-transport is designed to operate out of the weeds.
Afterwards, the D7s could be put to work clearing streets.
You can land a depart a lot of flghts on one runway, just look at Lindbergh Fiels (KSAN) in San Diego. The problem is unloading and moving out the cargo. Othertwise you'll be stuck with with an aiport full of crap and no space to put more crap that's coming in.
Let's put US federal aid contributions into perspective.
The $100M in aid promised so far by Obomber would keep 100 US soldiers in AfPak for 12 months.
I politely suggest that Obomber is taking "the Haiti thing" as seriously as King George did New Orleans in 2005.
Beware of Americans bearing gifts.
Victims can't wait for anal-retentive conservatives to distribute emergency aid in orderly fashion. If airdropping boxes of stuff will cause food riots, then airdrop thousands of small packets so that everyone has a chance to get one, until the trucks arrive.
Video: Haiti food aid: crackers with “bugs and worms”
Never know what our satanic Empire might do next, but it looks like a starvation genocide going down and it could be an effort to draw Venezuela and Bolivia into a military confrontation.
http://insidedisaster.com/video-haiti-food-aid/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv7oc99y2Ro
Inside A Failed State - Haiti
You may be right. I wouldn't put it past them.
"Let's put US federal aid contributions into perspective."
Well Canada has promised $50 million, to match Canadian donations to eligible charitable organizations. In addition our government has relaxed immigration requirements for immediate kin of Canadians of Haitian origin, spouses, parents and children under 18.
"People could see helicopters flying overhead, US military vehicles in the city and airplanes arriving at the airport with supplies, so it was difficult to understand why little aid appeared to be reaching the people, she said."
This'd be why:
US paratroopers set up bases beyond Haitian capital (AFP)
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_paratroopers_set_up_bases_beyond_01182010.html
Obama's mega-Katrina, PLUS Bush and the Clintons -- time for some exact change: General Honore, Jesse Jackson, Aristide ... ANYbody but Oblabla and USAID point person Lucke. Let Obama stick to drones and landmines.
What a horror, over-reaching flim-flam.
FICTION AID ---- STARVATION GENOCIDE
(1) From the beginning our military knew that aid through the little airport could not even keep 5% of the survivors alive.
(2) No organization is better trained and equipped for beach landings then the U.S. Marines.
(3) Obama stated that our military was there primarily to bring food, water and medical aid. But today our military announced that 80% of the troops would not be allowed off the boats and only two military doctors were treating the victims.
(4) In the videos we see U.S. troops all carrying weapons, all doing nothing but pointing weapons.
(5) Large crowds of starving unemployed victims gather at the entrances to the airport. Surely they would be most happy to work delivering the aid for $2 a day, the minimum wage for Haiti.
>>>John Ellis wrote: Large crowds of starving unemployed victims gather at the entrances to the airport. Surely they would be most happy to work delivering the aid for $2 a day, the minimum wage for Haiti.
Good points. There MUST be some aid workers already there who should know where are how to recruit such help.
What a pre-emptive capital opportunity, an Earthquake nation fete!
Just send in the troops, and the long victory is made.
Haiti native national control is now a cityless state.
After sanctions, neglect and collapse, the very best aid blockade.
It could have not been much better, had the quake been in Gaza.
Keeping help out is a well practised response to enemy disaster.
If situations are allowed to stew, the worst prognostication becomes right.
When you leave out help long enough, military might can quell the desperate plight.
Distribution of aid is the very least reason for the final invasion.
All the costs are in shock and awe for the brigades most highly paid.
Trained for obedience and killing, not for giving assistance or persuasion.
The worlds least generous forces begin another nation stopping raid.
"With President Aristide, the man the US considers too radical for its tastes, anxious to return, there is fear that a possible revolt against the lack of help could turn angry and political ... Aristide's Lavalas party is the most popular in Haiti and wants a more profound transformation than the US wants to allow. It had been banned from taking part in scheduled elections next month, that are likely to be canceled now."
Is the Haiti Rescue Effort Failing? / Danny Schechter
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Is-the-Haiti-Rescue-Effort-by-Danny-Schechter-100118-932.html
Free in spirit Haitians, here is your assignment should you choose wisely, proudly, and courageously to accept it:
1. Leave Port-au-Prince and what was pre-earthquake already a dead end economy run by right wing, greedy foreigners.
2. Stand up a new government in North Haiti with Aristide's party or a brand new party.
3. Declare independence for "New Haiti," make plans for a constitution to be established by the end of 2010.
4. All foreign debts and contracts are cancelled.
5. New Haiti shall be a non-right wing country free of international domination.
A boy can dream, especially since #1 has already come to pass. Haitians are responding to Bill and Hillary Clinton's promises of aid and a better Haiti for all by leaving Port-au-Prince, an obvious and deserved embarrassment for the former President and his wife.
Any American who in the 1990's decided to leave America rather than stay for the aftermath of Clinton's orgy of program cuts and subservience to globalism is today considered to be a genius. I, for one, am hoping that the Haitians leaving Port-au-Prince today will eventually be considered to be geniuses.
Our hearts have broken for you and we wish you sweet victory.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/world/americas/19haiti.html
I'm no genius, but I left America in 1991.
UH-oh:
Obama mobilises reservists for Haiti
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/18/2794583.htm?section=world
"For Haiti", huh? Guess He'll seize the US airwaves to blabla about this one AFTER the Massachusetts election ...
Found this line in an article on Haiti at the Huffington Post:
"France occupied Haiti for more than 100 years, from 1697 to independence in 1804 after the world's first successful slave uprising. More recently, U.S. Marines occupied the country from 1915 to 1934 to quiet political turmoil."...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/18/french-minister-rips-us-t_n_427366.html
** Yes, we were there to "quiet politcal turmoil". What can you expect from the blog that gives columns to hard-hitting truthtellers like Katie Couric and Alyssa Milano.
The USA "Quiets Political Turmoil" lots of places these days....at least in the places it is not actively creating political turmoil, so that it can occupy and quiet the political political turmoil it just finished creating.
Take Iran for a current example. Or Honderas. Or Pakistan. Or Colombia. Or Yemen. Or Cuba. Or .......
New estimates claim 200,000 dead, 1.5 million homeless.
Let this, and Katrina, and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami be a lesson to everyone. No matter where you are in the world, when the shit hits the fan, you are essentially on your own. If you are not prepared, you and your family will probably die.
Take a look at downtown Detroit or any other American city in the 'Rustbelt'. Downtown Baghdad doesn't look much different.
The US population that doesn't serve the Elite will be abandoned.