VETERANS REJECT MILITARY "AID" TO HAITI
In Haiti, the U.S. should immediately shift its policy from being the predominant military power to a partner providing long term humanitarian assistance and debt relief.
The U.S. military takeover of Haiti relief operations is a cause for great anxiety, especially among Haitians. American forces have long intruded in that sad nation since its independence in 1804, right up to the present. A Marine occupying force was the de facto government from 1915 through 1934. More recently U.S. forces twice helped depose elected former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
This current experience offers little hope for improvement. Our soldiers run the airport, giving higher priority to military traffic than to relief missions. All traffic there was shut down for several hours surrounding the visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Importation of provisions has been largely to supply our own troops rather than the population. Emphasis has been placed on "security" rather than relief, though security has not been a problem. Naval and air units arrived at the island with negligible inventory to benefit the victims of the tragedy. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has expressed his expectation of a long-term occupation.
Veterans For Peace is highly suspicious of these events. It comes as no surprise that petroleum experts recently announced the likelihood of vast new oil reserves beneath the sea not far offshore. Former President Bill Clinton is orchestrating the creation of a large new corporation-run sweatshop economy with a $3-a-day wage rate to challenge China's current competitive trade advantage. The United States is currently building its fifth largest foreign embassy in Port-au-Prince.
As veterans we call upon our government to withdraw our military presence, replacing it as necessary with civilian agencies and disaster-trained units of the National Guard. The United Nations is already providing adequate armed security; the United States should be providing humanitarian aid as others are doing.
The further U.S. militarization of Haiti will only benefit corporate investors, world power brokers, and officials charged with planning future actions toward such recalcitrant nations as Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. As with our presence in so many other lands, it is time to bring the troops home now.