US air force takes over Haiti airport

US air force takes over Haiti airport

online.wsj.com

A major obstacle to delivering aid to Haiti began to be cleared Friday, as the U.S. Air Force brought order to the chaotic Port-au-Prince airport.

In another sign of progress, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson took up position off Haiti's coast and began to fly water and other badly needed supplies to land. Despite these and other advances, hundreds of thousands of Haitians remain stranded in dire conditions.

(visit the link for the full news article)

"U.S State Department has signed an agreement with Haiti giving full control of the airport and air space to the US "Indefinitely"" this was on CNN

The US has now shown that it is the "leader" when it comes to helping poor countries. It has now taken over the Haiti airport. And navy ships are on thier way to Haiti too.

It makes it more easy to operate in Haiti, and so the Haiti govt also gave the airport control to US govt.

Does the US have any long term interests in Haiti? And I am sure it is not just the earthquake, there must be other reasons to take over the airports, ports and cities in Haiti, also 10000 troops

Why is this effort bigger than Hurricane Katrina?

online.wsj.com
(visit the link for the full news article)


[edit on 16-1-2010 by sunny_2008ny]

Originally posted by sunny_2008ny
there must be other reasons to take over the airports, ports and cities in Haiti, also 10000 troops

Why must there be other reasons? The reason the USA is in charge of the airport is the ATC tower collapsed, and they are running the ATC with equipment that they flew in
www.aviationnews.net...

And for a airport you need a ATC system, especially one as busy as Toussaint L'Ouverture

reply to post by dereks

Why must there be other reasons?

They have not just given the ATC and the airport control, they have given control of the Haiti airspace to US. Anyone who wants to fly over Haiti will now have to take permission of the US air force.

The Dutch and French have sent ships and they too will be under US control



[edit on 16-1-2010 by sunny_2008ny]

Seeing how Haiti was prepared for emergencies and how it all is well-controlled-there (NOT) and that hospitals that work - are only foreign field hospitals, search and rescue groups that work - are foreign groups - you wonder why air space is controlled by foreigners?
From what i hear most of government ministers cannot be located. Central government is not functioning. There is one awful catastrophic chaos.
Hope for Haitians that it all will get better soon now, when at least foreign aid started to flow in. Trust me - wounded people without water shelter and food do not care about conspiracies involving who operates the airspace - as long as it gets things done.

Trust me - wounded people without water shelter and food do not care about conspiracies involving who operates the airspace - as long as it gets things done.

The Militarization of the Caribbean Basin has been a US dream for a long time.

I came across this article "US Sponsored Coup d'Etat - The destabilization of Haiti". It is history that US sponsored the coup in Haiti some years back.

How about this? - Washington seeks to reinstate Haiti as a full-fledged US colony, with all the appearances of a functioning democracy. The objective is to impose a puppet regime in Port-au-Prince and establish a permanent US military presence in Haiti.

The armed insurrection which contributed to unseating President Aristide on February 29th 2004 was the result of a carefully staged military-intelligence operation.

The Rebel paramilitary army crossed the border from the Dominican Republic in early February. It constitutes a well armed, trained and equipped paramilitary unit integrated by former members of Le Front pour l'avancement et le progrès d'Haiti (FRAPH), the "plain clothes" death squadrons, involved in mass killings of civilians and political assassinations during the CIA sponsored 1991 military coup, which led to the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Jean Bertrand Aristide

Source: www.globalresearch.ca...


[edit on 16-1-2010 by sunny_2008ny]

From what I have read, it appears as though the central government in Haiti have vanished in the midst of such a calamity. However, as such a case, who gave consent to the US to commandeer the airport if the country's President is nowhere to be found? I saw the word "indefinite," attached to the role of the United States in association with control of the airport and a Haitian airspace.

I have my reservations with such a term being used to categorize the United States' use of he airport and the duration? Perhaps, it should have said the United States will take over the airport until some semblance of government is restored and disaster relief concludes?

I just don't like the word "indefinite," as shown in the article. However, we can't have planes crashing upon landing or colliding in mid air either. So, lets wait and see what the true intentions of the world are with generous overtures being made to the pauper island of the Caribbean, Haiti?

I wonder what they are going to do about the thousands of escaped murderers from the prison?

The ties between US and Haiti have been troubled since both gained independance from British.

The BBC has an article today:

In 1868, President Andrew Johnson suggested the annexation of the whole island of Hispaniola - present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic - to secure a US presence in the Caribbean.

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson took control of the Haitian National Bank by sending in marines, who removed $500,000 of its reserves "for safe-keeping" in New York.

Faced with increasing chaos just south of its shores and an ever-growing stream of refugees arriving on - and often sinking off - Florida's shores, President Bill Clinton sent a US-led intervention force to Haiti in 1994.

Source: The long history of troubled ties between US and Haiti

All these troops, aircraft, navy etc.... wouldn't such a response be more the remit of the corps of engineers, not combat troops?

Interestingly, the US has just been given the green light by the Netherlands to use it's Caribbean dependencies as naval and airforce operating bases. with this is mind, it seems like a big ramping up of US militarisation of the Caribbean rather than a disaster response.
It's also worth remembering that the reson Haiti is so poor is by design through foreign intervention. After all, can't have them earning living wages when producing consumer goods for the US markets.

It pains me to see the politicians stand there, all solemn faced and speaking about aiding these people, when it is their kind that have historically been behind the suffering and hardship suffered by these people.

Originally posted by sunny_2008ny

Why is this effort bigger than Hurricane Katrina?

1. No early warning with accurate prediction timeline like you would have with a hurricane.
a. no early evacuation before the disaster like Katrina had
b. no stockpiling of goods by resdents like you would see before a hurricane
c. no large number of emergency aid vehicles and supplies parked just out of the expected impacted area before the disaster hits like you see with hurricanes
2. People are trapped on a small part of an island with sealed borders
a. People can't easily move to other cities like they did in Katrina
b. no access by land for relief supplies
c. violence will escalate due to limited supplies without quick intervention
3. Injuries are more numerous due to the above factors
4. Existing aid infrastructure heavily damaged or destroyed in the quake

Really instead of comparing it to Katrina, you should compare it to the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California, but amp up the damage by ten times. Even that smaller quake required a huge rescue effort to free people trapped under buildings.

reply to post by Britguy


EXACTLY! The military response to this disaster is MONUMENTAL! And very alarming. It goes to show you just how efficient it would be to use a "natural disaster" as an excuse to take over and invade other countries. Who knows what's going on...............but I think there is something VERY fishy about Haiti, this earthquake an the military response that is going on.

Interestingly, the US has just been given the green light by the Netherlands to use it's Caribbean dependencies as naval and airforce operating bases.

A USAF forward operating base has been deployed to Aruba's Queen Beatrix International Airport since like 2004. It's nothing new. They operate alongside the Royal Netherlands Air Force squadron stationed there.

Wow. Some of you people blow my mind. Either you are way too young to 'get it' or look for any opportunity to spin things into some dark agenda. The military is the only organization available with:

1. Immediate manpower
2. Near immediate ability to mobilize
3. Necessary equipment
4. Training to operate in hostile (not necessarily combat) situations

As musch as anyone they know what they are doing. As far as airspace is concerned you cannot have more than one cook i that kitchen or the results are catastrophic. The Air Force dfoes this kind of thing routinely. They are equipped and know what they are doing.

Troops currently on the ground include everything needed in a situation like this: logistics, engineering, medical, communications, support and more than anything manpower. Once on-the-ground assessments are made other specifically needed units will be dropped in.

The biggest problem right now is security. As we saw in Katrina, you might get 48hrs of relative calm while people recover from the shock. But after that things will unravel quickly. People become desperate and survival instincts/predation kicks-in. We've already seen it start to happen.

Sitting here in front of our PC's all nice and comfy makes it easy to second-guess what responders should be doing. But they are doing the very best they can and as quickly as they can given the enormity of the situation. This is going to get much, much worse quickly. Let's hope we're able to do enough to help these people.

And you can tell Rush for me to shove another pill...

jtma508, agreed. Many people don't understand that the military plays a major role in disaster response for the exact reasons you listed.

I know for a fact it's not just the US. For example, I know that a few years back when the British firefighters went on strike the British Army immediately stepped in and sent soldiers from nearby garrisons to perform firefighting duties.

Does it have to be an evil act, with an evil plan by the US everytime? Geesh, next we will be responsible for something else just as ridiculous as some of the claims on here.......maybe, just maybe things are as they are being stated.

reply to post by jtma508


Most of us understand that. That's not the point we are making. The point is the US military is a WORLD POWER all on its own. It just goes to show how much power the US government NOT THE PEOPLE actually have. This same power you see will very easily turn on you in the near future. This same power is what keeps the people in check. Why isn't there a PRIVATE response just as powerful and just as efficient as the US government? That's what I'd like to know.

reply to post by Zosynspiracy


Why no private power? Easy, how do you pay for it? It's exceedingly expensive to maintain all that manpower and all that equipment and infrastructure just to wait for a situation where it is needed. Show me any kind of business model where that would work.

Arguably we need the military for defense. Since all the equipment etc. is already there multitasking in the event of disaster is a no-brainer.

I certainly think the USAF deserves a round of applause for helping with the disaster relief effort in Haiti. The RAAF does similar duties in Indonesia & East Timor.

Why isn't there a PRIVATE response just as powerful and just as efficient as the US government?

If there was I'm sure members would complain about it - calling it Corporatist (etc) because ATS has a propensity to whine about anything and everything. Whining is what's "cool" on this website. How does the US military assisting in humanitarian efforts prove how evil the US military is and how little power the people have?

[edit on 16/1/2010 by C0bzz]

Being an aircraft maintainer on C-17's at Travis AFB (the USAF's largest Air Mobility Command base, and also a major hospital) I can personally attest to the fact that the humanitarian effort going on there is really quite amazing. I won't go into any specifics, but believe me when I say that we're throwing a lot of medical and mobility resources into this.