PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

The police forces, and military, in Haiti have always been used to repress the population, sometimes with a brutality that rivals any (bad) place in the world. Now that Port au Prince is ripped to shreds, the police, what few there are, seem to be confused about what their role should be. They are aiming their rifles at civilians trying to get necessities to survive.

This is a vast misunderstanding of the situation. The role of civil authorities ought to be to safely open (break into) stores and make the goods available to everyone. Why? Survival is at stake. Only a fool in Haiti is trying to steal a television set today. What’s anyone going to do with that, besides sell it, if they live long enough?

Taking what little supplies there are to survive is not looting. It does represent selfishness, of course, because an orderly distribution can not take place if all the stores are emptied out by the first who come. Selfishness, however, in a time of life and death struggle takes on a different meaning. This ain’t no church picnic.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Port au Prince had little or no money to buy goods in the stores when they were open. Now that most of the city is in ruins, getting access to food is a basic human right that superceedes any others.

The American military is now on the scene, bit by bit, and they will likely be confused, also, just as they were when they first went into New Orleans. Gen. Honore ordered the troops to stop pointing their weapons at the public and start helping. For that act alone, he deserved the metal he won for helping New Orleans.

The effort in Haiti needs strong, clear headed leadership and the American government appears to be the only place from which it can come. Let’s hope we see some of that in the coming days.

Doug Terry 1.16.10

A photo on the LA Times website shows a man almost face down in the street being arrested. The caption says he was looting, stealing a can of evaporated milk. What? Can this really be? How stupid can the “authorities” in Haiti be? Someone one taking something to survive, because that is the only means of getting anything, in the aftermath of a disaster is not looting. During the New Orleans disaster, some pictures with whites were labeled as “people taking goods to survive” while photos with blacks were labeled looters.

Looting after a disaster is taking things you don’t need, such as luxury items. Taking to survive is something the police should be assisting the population in doing.

7:43 PM. 1.16.10

(link to LA Times photos below)

http://tinyurl.com/yhxpjcc

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