Twitter This Commentary In The News: "What matters the most is the creation of new forms of cooperation, so much in need by this selfish world. The UN agencies can attest to the fact... ...Nothing can be improvised in Haiti, and nothing will result from the philanthropic spirit of any institution." --Fidel Castro, May 25 2009, Nothing can be improvised in Haiti A history of US involvement in Haiti, and the results of those actions at historycommons. On Haiti NGOs scramble to get non-combat 'boots on the ground' and the 82nd Airborne is on it's way... That may or may not be a good thing, as the Pentagon goes into 'assessment mode' and sends an aircraft carrier, a hospital ship, and a group of amphibious ships with a Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard. Details. Today the World Bank says it's allocating $100 million dollars to Haiti for recovery and reconstruction costs, but will that even make a dent when more than 50% the Haitian population lives on less than $1 a day? More on America's dysfunctional relationship with Haiti at the bottom of today's synopsis. Yemen's army claims it has killed or captured one of the leaders of 'Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula' even as the House Intelligence committee claims it has information that AQ-AP is planning another attack. "We don't do body counts"(General Tommy Franks) - A US drone strike targeting a Talib leader in Waziristan MISSED it's intended target but DID destroy the school where he wasn't. No word on who was in class at the time. More in regard to the indiscriminate bombings of schools and children...

"Ignoring or downplaying Western crimes is a standard feature of the corporate Western media. On rare occasions when a broadcaster or newspaper breaks ranks and reports 'our' crimes honestly, it is instructive to observe the response from the rest of the media. Do they follow suit, perhaps digging deeper for details, devoting space to profiles of the victims and interviews with grieving relatives, humanising all concerned? Do they put the crimes in perspective as the inevitable consequence of rapacious Western power? Or do they look away? One such case is a report that American-led troops dragged Afghan children from their beds and shot them during a night raid on December 27 last year, leaving ten people dead. Afghan government investigators said that eight of the dead were schoolchildren, and that some of them had been handcuffed before being killed. Kabul-based Times correspondent Jerome Starkey reported the shocking accusations about the joint US-Afghan operation. But the rest of the UK news media have buried the report." [In Full]

The White House meeting yesterday in regard to the Health Care Reform bill potentially settles a tax on union related collectively bargained health care plans. [After the Commentary Paul Thorn has a question. Courtesy of the respective artists and KPIG radio Freedom California Earth] In regard to the situation in Haiti: FIRST, If anyone can help locate, or provide information on anyone missing in Haiti or their relatives elsewhere, these linked Twitter 'hashtags' are broadcasts of the names of the #haitimissing. Also see : #ireport Now... the BIG question at this juncture in US-Haitian history is: What Has America Done To, With, Or For Haiti Anyway? It started about two years into their independence from France... US-Haiti (1804-2005) Project: History of US Interventions Open-Content project managed by Derek, blackmax

1806: US Places Embargo on Trade with Haiti Fearful that the Haitian revolution might inspire enslaved Africans in other parts of the world to rebel, US Congress bans trade with Haiti joining French and Spanish boycotts. The embargoes cripple Haiti’s economy, already weakened by 12 years of civil war. The embargo will be renewed in 1807 and 1809. [DUNKEL, 1994] The embargo is accompanied by a threat of recolonization and re-enslavement if Haiti fails to compensate France for losses incurred when French plantation owners lost access to Haiti’s slave labor.

But if that's too historically remote for your taste in history of US foreign policy, how about...

(Mid-2001): US Convinces Europeans to Suspend Credit for Haiti The US convinces several European countries to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in credit and aid and provide the IMF, World Bank, and European Union with “vague instructions” to deny other lines of credit to the impoverished Caribbean country of Haiti.

That economic measure was part of a larger destabilization campaign targeting Haiti

(2001-2004): US Trains Anti-Aristide Army in Dominican Republic. [A full history @ historycommons.org]

Another good resource on US foreign policy towards Haiti and the Americas is Making The World Safe For Hypocricy Also see: "Our role in Haiti's plight - If we are serious about assisting this devastated land we must stop trying to control and exploit it" @ Guardian UK -30-
Creative Commons Copyright Courtesy of Cabale News Service, KPIG Radio, and KVMR Radio. Listen to KPIG, Listen to KVMR Recorded & transcribed by The Buffalo Amongst Wolves @ Razed By Wolves In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, the news clippings and images used in this posting are made available without profit for research and educational purposes.

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