Saturday, January 16, 2010

Haiti 2010 = Somalia 1993?


No infrastructure, minimal food, water, and authority. American military forces deployed to distribute aid and enforce order. A local population that expects aid quickly, and seems to be getting more violent as those expectations aren't, and probably cannot, be met.

At some point, there will be riots when food isn't handed out quickly or widely enough. A bad situation when those handing out the food are armed; someone will try to push their way through, or take a weapon during a riot, and shots will be fired.

I don't believe this will end with happy locals smiling while they open the MREs on camera in the end. And we'll be lucky to exit that sad nation without losses of our own.

5 comments:

cmblake6 said...

*SIGH* Truth.

Ambulance Driver said...

You forgot a Commander In Chief who will second guess his military commanders at every turn, and saddle his troops with unreasonable expectations and weak political support, just like in 1993.

MauserMedic said...

AD, well said.

NotClauswitz said...

The main advantage for us is that Haitians are mainly Catholics and not predisposed to Islam and the butchery THAT always entails, and currently they don't have a bunch of warlords and warlord-political parties dividing up a country that has ONLY about 10% arable land. It WAS politically more like that in 1911 until 1915. We occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934 and that was one if it's more prosperous periods. Smedley Butler was there with the Marines. Hoover started the withdrawal in 1932 and it was completed by Roosevelt in 1934.

MauserMedic said...

DC,
Interesting history. I haven't read anything on our occupation there during that period. I'd like to look into that when there's more time.