[wagglebee]

This is so very sad.

[68skylark]

There's not much good to say about this situation. Except I've got to admire the Argentine military troops mentioned in the article -- they sound like real heroes.

[68skylark]

Let me ask freepers a question. Suppose you read tomorrow that the U.S. military is sending 1,000 to 2,000 troops into Haiti to help with the disaster. How would you feel about that -- positive or negative?

(I'd feel both, but more positive than negative.)

[Veto!]

Successive Haitian governments, greedy and corrupt, never have provided fundamental services for Haitians, who always managed to fend for themselves in the informal sector that accounts for 80 percent of the economy.

And that's the heart of the problem. Greedy and corrupt government officials keeping aid money for themselves for decades while the people in the "informal sector" (a peculiar term) live like stray dogs.

And Voodoo doesn't help; everyone seems to be cursing everyone else, fear rules the land.

For an interesting and horrifying look at Haitian life, read The Serpent and the Rainbow, A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey into the Secret Society of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis and Magic. by Wade Davis, which describes in detail the Voodoo practices which hold a large percentage of the population hostage to fear.

On a nightly news show I saw bags of rice and other supplies marked with huge USA labels being distributed in Haiti this week. But of course we get no credit for anything.