2004 ~ Imperialist-Engineered Coup Backed by the U.N. U.S. and France Impose New Colonial Occupation ~ Throw the Imperialists Out of Haiti! 2004 ~ http://www.internationalist.org/haitiusfranceout010304.html
Jan 18, 2010
UN chief wants 1,500 more police and 2,000 more troops for Haiti
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he wants to beef up the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti with 1,500 additional police and 2,000 troops to better respond to the massive earthquake.
Ban says he asked the U.N. Security Council on Monday to raise the ceiling for the force, which currently has about 7,000 troops and 2,100 police. He says the extra troops would be needed for six months.
France's U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud says he expects the council to approve a resolution Tuesday raising the ceiling.
Ban told reporters after briefing the council on his trip Sunday to the Haitian capital that two challenges stand out — unclogging bottlenecks to deliver aid quickly and coordination.
Source: AP News
UN chief wants 1,500 more police and 2,000 more troops for Haiti
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he wants to beef up the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti with 1,500 additional police and 2,000 troops to better respond to the massive earthquake.
Ban says he asked the U.N. Security Council on Monday to raise the ceiling for the force, which currently has about 7,000 troops and 2,100 police. He says the extra troops would be needed for six months.
France's U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud says he expects the council to approve a resolution Tuesday raising the ceiling.
Ban told reporters after briefing the council on his trip Sunday to the Haitian capital that two challenges stand out — unclogging bottlenecks to deliver aid quickly and coordination.
Source: AP News
~snip
The military component of the US mission, however, tends to overshadow the civilian functions of rescuing a desperate and impoverished population. The overall humanitarian operation is not being led by civilian governmental agencies such as FEMA or USAID, but by the Pentagon.
The dominant decision making role has been entrusted to US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM).
A massive deployment of military hardware personnel is contemplated. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen has confirmed that the US will be sending nine to ten thousand troops to Haiti, including 2000 marines. (American Forces Press Service, January 14, 2010
Aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson and its complement of supporting ships has already arrived in Port au Prince. (January 15, 2010). The 2,000-member Marine Amphibious Unit as well as and soldiers from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne division "are trained in a wide variety of missions including security and riot-control in addition to humanitarian tasks."
In contrast to rescue and relief teams dispatched by various civilian teams and organizations, the humanitarian mandate of the US military is not clearly defined:
"Marines are definitely warriors first, and that is what the world knows the Marines for,... [but] we're equally as compassionate when we need to be, and this is a role that we'd like to show -- that compassionate warrior, reaching out with a helping hand for those who need it. We are very excited about this." (Marines' Spokesman, Marines Embark on Haiti Response Mission, Army Forces Press Services, January 14, 2010)
While presidents Obama and Préval spoke on the phone, there were no reports of negotiations between the two governments regarding the entry and deployment of US troops on Haitian soil. The decision was taken and imposed unilaterally by Washington. The total lack of a functioning government in Haiti was used to legitimize, on humanitarian grounds, the sending in of a powerful military force, which has de facto taken over several governmental functions.
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