They're telling me the Haitian people are dangerous and require ministration from the American military and the United Nations' military, and the Canadian military, and the rest of the coalition of willing militaries: Help from the same actors known well by the people of the man-made disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Palestine, and Louisiana.

They're telling me it is reasonable to accept that the survivors of slavery, European and American imperialism, the Docs Duvalier, coups d'Etat, sweatshop capitalism, a handful of hurricanes last year, and now the most disastrous earthquake in living memory be left to die of hunger and thirst and their festering injuries until such time the Pentagon deems the disaster zone "safe."

As the sun of the ninth day since the earthquake readies its rise, the U.S. Army has claimed Haiti as its own in all effective matters. But, while the Pentagon claims control, it does not accept responsibility for the well-being of Haitians, homeless, hungry, injured and miserable. The soldiers march through the streets of Port-au-Prince, armed to the teeth, barking orders in English to the still-stunned local populations, rehearsing it seems for a soon-coming greater disaster.

 

All the while, the "mainstream" media can't stop extolling Haitian's amazing "resilience." They're telling me, it's okay to keep them waiting for food and drink in the streets; okay to hog tie and shoot at starving "looters."

So much for what they say. What's left out of the evening newscast is the who, what, and why the militarized response to mass tragedy is to be accepted as the new humanitarian normal. Lori Price of  CLG News, one of the many citizen internet journalists routinely dismissed with contempt by the "real" media informs, America's SOUTHCOM (Southern Command) was preparing a disaster drill for Haiti when the earthquake struck. Jean Demay, technical manager for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) says SOUTHCOM decided to "Go live" with their disaster drill. Price writes;

"On Monday, Jean Demay, DISA's [Defense Information Systems Agency] technical manager for the agency's Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation project, happened to be at the headquarters of the U.S. Southern Command in Miami preparing for a test of the system in a scenario that involved providing relief to Haiti in the wake of a hurricane. After the earthquake hit on Tuesday, Demay said SOUTHCOM decided to go live with the system. On Wednesday, DISA opened up its All Partners Access Network, supported by the Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation project, to any organization supporting Haiti relief efforts. The information sharing project, developed with backing from both SOUTHCOM and the Defense Department's European Command, has been in development for three years." 

The next phase of the "drill" will be the addition of a further 4,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors, and marines into the "theater of operations." Perhaps then Haiti will finally be safe enough to save. How many will be left alive to save by then is an open question; doctors for Medicins Sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders) told Democracy Now, the syndicated radio and internet news program, as many as 20,000 people per day are dying unnecessarily in Haiti because food, medicine, and supplies are being held up at the commandeered international airport by the various militaries.

Translated to a population the size of the United States, that 20,000 would be more than 600,000 Americans dying needlessly per day. As day nine begins, that means 180,000 dead Haitians, or 5.5 million Americans. Makes even the Hurricane Katrina rescue fiasco pale in comparison.

 

And this preview of what "humanitarian aid" has come to mean in the 21st century should make all of us living in the new age of disaster quake.