Our Moral Obligation To Take Haiti In Hand

It is time to put aside such comparative frivolities as the travails of Tiger Woods or the machinations of the lobbying around health insurance in the U.S. and address an issue that should concern us all.

Haiti should have been a paradise - a tropical island, full of natural beauty and charm. But Haiti for too many decades has been, for most of its inhabitants, a poisoned fruit. This is inevitable when one per cent of its elite owns half the resources and its late dictator, "Papa Doc" Duvalier, used voodoo and the brutal not-so-secret police, the Tonton Macoute, to keep people in line.

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that has effectively destroyed Haiti should be seen as some sort of cosmic warning - for the religious, perhaps a smiting by the hand of God. This may sound harsh and heartless, given the unimaginable suffering of the population, particularly the poor, who have neither food nor shelter nor family nor - in far too many cases - the use of all their limbs. Medicins sans frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) is appalled by the number of amputations its surgeons are being required to perform, in many instances without anesthesia, as it is a race against time and gangrene.

Even when supplies have arrived at the still-functioning airport at Port au Prince, now under control of the U.S., there are almost insurmountable obstacles to delivering the supplies where needed. And when the United Nations asked the U.S. to take control of the airport two things happened that are indicative of the problems that lie ahead.

Flights increased from one or perhaps two a day, thanks to American air traffic controllers.

And a great wave of anger rose against the Americans for usurping Haitian controllers, and telling Haitians what to do or not. Riots have broken out and it is safe to say that, if by now it has not yet done so, the country soon will slide into anarchy.

Haiti should be everyone's concern, that is to say, every country's concern, not just in the sense of sending off some aid and - once a seemingly stable rhythm has redeveloped - leaving it to "soldier on". It is how things normally go after a major disaster. But Haiti is not a normal case. There is neither a functioning infrastructure nor an effective social structure. Gangs are undoubtedly going to jockey for position and grow in the aftermath, the elite will use whatever means required to keep a grip on itself, and the poorest of the poor will continue to pay the price.

The country is in such abject condition that the United Nations should step in and appoint an international armed force to keep order and rebuild. But in order to do it properly, the United Nations must leave its blue berets - symbols of peacekeeping - at home. Haiti is not in condition to behave with any normalcy; force will be required in many an instance, and the right to use force, lethal force, when needed, must be given to whoever contributes to UN operation for the rebuilding.

The Canadian Lieutenant-General The Honourable Roméo A. Dallaire - O.C., C.M.M., G.O.C, M.S.C., C.D., (Retired), Senator - suffered great mental anguish when, wearing the blue beret of the UN peacekeeper, he had to sit by and remain immobile while Rwanda became the scene of a bloodbath that has had few equals. As a "peacekeeper" Lt.-Gen. Dallaire could do nothing as eight hundred thousand Hutu and Tutsi individuals were reduced to bleeding lumps of flesh in a frenzy of genocidal hatred. The admirable Dallaire became suicidal; his experience is detailed in his book, Shake Hands with the Devil.

Lt.-Gen. Dallaire's experience should suffice as a warning never again to put soldiers into a position where they must be spectators to such a crime. Soldiers are trained to keep order, to kill if necessary in their duties. The force that is needed to keep order in Haiti, during the many years that its rebuilding will require, also must have the authority to kill, if necessary. One supposes that the major complaints against this idea will come - in Haiti - from those who have most to lose: the gangs, the secret criminal forces, the elite (though they might look favourably upon anyone who will keep the hungry from their stoop.)

This begs the question: Who should lead this force? Anticipating great howls of protest, one nevertheless feels obligated to say that this force should be led by the United States, as it is best able to act, has the greatest access to military and civilian resources, and has never hesitated to make the unpopular decision. In the interest of impeccable behaviour the UN could appoint an overseer, so that there can be no question of US soldiers acting improperly.

(We can all thank Dubya and Dick - if you have been away, ex-president George W. Bush and ex-Vice-President Dick Cheney - for the disdain and hatred that is being levelled at Americans these days. In their wanton, arrogant, criminal disregard for the law, for the truth, they poisoned the well for a very long time to come. Let neither them nor ex-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld have any occasion to travel outside the country, for they will surely be arrested and charged with war crimes. Or so they should.)

The rebuilding of Haiti will require an effort that will take many decades. From reforestation to road building, sewer installation, house building, school building, hospital building, creation of a modern infrastructure and development of a proper educational curriculum that will free all Haitians from the prison of illiteracy and superstition, this effort will have to remain focused. We cannot walk away this time, a few months later, in the supposition that, now that the worst is over, the Haitians can look after their own.

In the past, we built the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids. We sailed around the planet in rickety ships, populated continents, deciphered the Rosetta Stone. We went to the moon, developed superb telescopes and microscopes that show the infinite progression from the very tiny to the truly unimaginably immense. We built railroads, developed tiny computers capable of extremely intricate calculations. We have extended greater rights to animals than the Haitians, and some other poor nations, give their own citizens.

Sometimes we don't remember this, as we are caught up in the amusing or the banal. But we should remember that we all have it within us to focus, to develop new ways of thinking about a problem, to maintain the will to carry it out.

We cannot stand by this time and watch the misery that is Haiti. We have a duty to our fellow man. We must step in.

(c) 2010 bluemlein.blogspot.com