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Blocking Doctors? Let the Aid to Haiti Go Through
Jan 20, 2010
The TV story seems to be that aid from America is pouring in to
Haiti. But on the ground the US military is blocking doctors and
American aid workers with longstanding relationships in Haiti from
bringing in desperately needed aid, and the US is also being slow to
expand airdrops of water, water purification tablets, and food. Where is the United States Congress? Because the US military is involved, does that mean no-one can say anything?
Yesterday, Doctors Without Borders reported that
A Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
cargo plane carrying 12 tons of medical equipment, including drugs,
surgical supplies and two dialysis machines, was turned away three
times from Port-au-Prince airport since Sunday night despite repeated
assurances of its ability to land there...Since January 14, MSF has had
five planes diverted from the original destination of Port-au-Prince to
the Dominican Republic. These planes carried a total of 85 tons of
medical and relief supplies.
One of their staff members said,
"We have had five patients in Martissant health center die
for lack of the medical supplies that this plane was carrying....
Today, there are 12 people who need lifesaving amputations at Choscal
Hospital. We were forced to buy a saw in the market to continue
amputations."
Groups ready to deliver aid to Jacmel - the fourth-largest city in
Haiti - were told they would receive no clearance to land there from
the U.S. military, even though they already had both aid supplies and
the means for distributing them. This aid is only now being delivered -
thanks to assistance from the Dominican Republic, not the U.S.
Finally, the US has started to airdrop water and food. AP reported that
"The U.S. military has airdropped water and food into Haiti after
earlier ruling out such a delivery method as too risky." But the
airdrop AP reported was merely a test, not an effort to distribute
supplies widely.
The risk cited earlier by Defense Secretary Gates was that airdrops
might trigger riots if there were no infrastructure on the ground to
distribute the supplies. But the primary driver of potential violence
is shortage: if there is plenty to go around, there is no reason to
fight. The US corporate media are obsessed with images of looting and
conflict, slavishly devoted as they are to their "Lord of the Flies"
meta-narrative that human beings are beasts who must be constantly
supervised by Men With Guns, but so what? Any marginal increase in the
probability of conflict has to be weighed against the certainty that
people will die if they don't have clean water.
That's why these airdrops of food and water - including water
purification tablets, because in some places people have access to
water, but not clean water - should be immediately expanded.
The US operation has been putting "security concerns" above all else
- at a high cost in Haitian lives. Perhaps that's not a surprising
consequence of putting the military in charge, but that's why Congress
needs to get engaged. You can write to your representatives in Congress
here.
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Robert Naiman
Robert Naiman is Policy Director at Just Foreign Policy. Naiman has worked as a policy analyst and researcher at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. He has masters degrees in economics and mathematics from the University of Illinois and has studied and worked in the Middle East.
The TV story seems to be that aid from America is pouring in to
Haiti. But on the ground the US military is blocking doctors and
American aid workers with longstanding relationships in Haiti from
bringing in desperately needed aid, and the US is also being slow to
expand airdrops of water, water purification tablets, and food. Where is the United States Congress? Because the US military is involved, does that mean no-one can say anything?
Yesterday, Doctors Without Borders reported that
A Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
cargo plane carrying 12 tons of medical equipment, including drugs,
surgical supplies and two dialysis machines, was turned away three
times from Port-au-Prince airport since Sunday night despite repeated
assurances of its ability to land there...Since January 14, MSF has had
five planes diverted from the original destination of Port-au-Prince to
the Dominican Republic. These planes carried a total of 85 tons of
medical and relief supplies.
One of their staff members said,
"We have had five patients in Martissant health center die
for lack of the medical supplies that this plane was carrying....
Today, there are 12 people who need lifesaving amputations at Choscal
Hospital. We were forced to buy a saw in the market to continue
amputations."
Groups ready to deliver aid to Jacmel - the fourth-largest city in
Haiti - were told they would receive no clearance to land there from
the U.S. military, even though they already had both aid supplies and
the means for distributing them. This aid is only now being delivered -
thanks to assistance from the Dominican Republic, not the U.S.
Finally, the US has started to airdrop water and food. AP reported that
"The U.S. military has airdropped water and food into Haiti after
earlier ruling out such a delivery method as too risky." But the
airdrop AP reported was merely a test, not an effort to distribute
supplies widely.
The risk cited earlier by Defense Secretary Gates was that airdrops
might trigger riots if there were no infrastructure on the ground to
distribute the supplies. But the primary driver of potential violence
is shortage: if there is plenty to go around, there is no reason to
fight. The US corporate media are obsessed with images of looting and
conflict, slavishly devoted as they are to their "Lord of the Flies"
meta-narrative that human beings are beasts who must be constantly
supervised by Men With Guns, but so what? Any marginal increase in the
probability of conflict has to be weighed against the certainty that
people will die if they don't have clean water.
That's why these airdrops of food and water - including water
purification tablets, because in some places people have access to
water, but not clean water - should be immediately expanded.
The US operation has been putting "security concerns" above all else
- at a high cost in Haitian lives. Perhaps that's not a surprising
consequence of putting the military in charge, but that's why Congress
needs to get engaged. You can write to your representatives in Congress
here.
Robert Naiman
Robert Naiman is Policy Director at Just Foreign Policy. Naiman has worked as a policy analyst and researcher at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. He has masters degrees in economics and mathematics from the University of Illinois and has studied and worked in the Middle East.
The TV story seems to be that aid from America is pouring in to
Haiti. But on the ground the US military is blocking doctors and
American aid workers with longstanding relationships in Haiti from
bringing in desperately needed aid, and the US is also being slow to
expand airdrops of water, water purification tablets, and food. Where is the United States Congress? Because the US military is involved, does that mean no-one can say anything?
Yesterday, Doctors Without Borders reported that
A Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
cargo plane carrying 12 tons of medical equipment, including drugs,
surgical supplies and two dialysis machines, was turned away three
times from Port-au-Prince airport since Sunday night despite repeated
assurances of its ability to land there...Since January 14, MSF has had
five planes diverted from the original destination of Port-au-Prince to
the Dominican Republic. These planes carried a total of 85 tons of
medical and relief supplies.
One of their staff members said,
"We have had five patients in Martissant health center die
for lack of the medical supplies that this plane was carrying....
Today, there are 12 people who need lifesaving amputations at Choscal
Hospital. We were forced to buy a saw in the market to continue
amputations."
Groups ready to deliver aid to Jacmel - the fourth-largest city in
Haiti - were told they would receive no clearance to land there from
the U.S. military, even though they already had both aid supplies and
the means for distributing them. This aid is only now being delivered -
thanks to assistance from the Dominican Republic, not the U.S.
Finally, the US has started to airdrop water and food. AP reported that
"The U.S. military has airdropped water and food into Haiti after
earlier ruling out such a delivery method as too risky." But the
airdrop AP reported was merely a test, not an effort to distribute
supplies widely.
The risk cited earlier by Defense Secretary Gates was that airdrops
might trigger riots if there were no infrastructure on the ground to
distribute the supplies. But the primary driver of potential violence
is shortage: if there is plenty to go around, there is no reason to
fight. The US corporate media are obsessed with images of looting and
conflict, slavishly devoted as they are to their "Lord of the Flies"
meta-narrative that human beings are beasts who must be constantly
supervised by Men With Guns, but so what? Any marginal increase in the
probability of conflict has to be weighed against the certainty that
people will die if they don't have clean water.
That's why these airdrops of food and water - including water
purification tablets, because in some places people have access to
water, but not clean water - should be immediately expanded.
The US operation has been putting "security concerns" above all else
- at a high cost in Haitian lives. Perhaps that's not a surprising
consequence of putting the military in charge, but that's why Congress
needs to get engaged. You can write to your representatives in Congress
here.
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