ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style3 { height: 68px; } .MsoNormal {} h1 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style4 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style5 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } .style6 { text-decoration: underline; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> &nbsp;<table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="133" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="300" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="2"> <td width="133" height="2">&nbsp;</td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style4">Obama&#39;s Haiti Response</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright Jan..13, 2010<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <bAbout the Author</u> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style5">&nbsp;L</span>eaping to Haiti s rescue after a devastating Jan. 10, 7.0 quake, President Barack Obama proved he s worthy of his Oct.9, 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, given for setting the right tone on the world stage and expectations for the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Sending ships, planes, helicopters and 2,000 U.S marines for emergency services, Obama proved he s no George W. Bush, whose weak response to 2005 Hurricane Katrina, led by Federal Emergency Management Director Michael Brown, let New Orleans and Gulf Coast residents twist in the wind. Obama s response signals that he intends to do things differently, mobilizing U.S. assets to thousands of Haiti s quake victims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Calling the disaster a  cruel and incomprehensible tragedy, Obama ordered Gen. Douglas Fraser, head of the U.S. Southern Command, to make thousands of more troops available for rescue operations.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Promising an all-out humanitarian effort, Barack sends a loud signal to the international community that the U.S. remains the world s best hope for responding to global crises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Two thousand U.S. marines together with U.N. peacekeepers expect to arrive in Haiti in the next few days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Fraser indicated that the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Vinson was on its way from Norfolk, Va, expected to arrive Thursday afternoon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Haiti s U.N. services were decimated in Port-au-Prince, where U.N. peacekeeping headquarters collapsed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Up to 100 U.N. personnel were believe dead or trapped in the building s rubble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> We don t know precisely what the situation is on the ground, said Fraser.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> So we re leaning forward to provide as much as capability as quickly as we can to respond to whatever the need is when we get there, knowing that time is short to manage emergency disaster-relief situations.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Hurricane Katrina taught some bitter lessons in 2005, where victims were perched on rooftops for days before rescued by emergency personnel because of extreme flooding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Haiti s situation is far worse, where a lack of communication, infrastructure and resources plague the most impoverished island-nation in the Western Hemisphere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, the Jan. 10 temblor leveled the 2 million-inhabitant Port-au-Prince.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Hospitals, schools, prisons and the city s Roman Catholic cathedral collapsed, killing 63-year-old Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> This is worse than a hurricane, said doctors assistant Jimitre Coquillon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> There s no water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>There s nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Thirsty people are going to die, characterizing the dire conditions confronting survivors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Haiti s President Rene Preval said it s the worst catastrophe in the last 200 years, exclaiming,  It s incredible. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Estimating up to 500,000 missing or dead, Haiti s leading Sen. Yourin Latorture, expressed shock over the magnitude of the disaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Already ravaged by hurricanes, floods, mudslides, poverty, substandard construction and occasional civil wars, the poor island-nation doesn t have the resources to weather major natural disasters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While 3,000 Haitian police and international peacekeepers provide emergency services, the International Red Cross estimated that up to one-third of the island s 9.million residents could be affected by the disaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> We have to be there for them in their hour of need, said Obama, reassuring Haitians that the U.S. would respond as quickly as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>UCLA public health and infectious disease expert Kimberly Shoaf warned about dengue fever, typhoid, malaria and measles hampering relief efforts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Rapid cleanups are essential to preventing communicable disease.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Cuba and Doctors Without Borders pledged medical support to manage the thousands of injured victims awaiting treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>At least 150 persons were mission from the U.N. mission after the building collapsed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said the U.N s Tunisian mission chief Hedi Annabi was missing along with numerous other U.N. staff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>U.S. authorities reported no known deaths of its 40,000-45,000 Haiti personnel, though impossible to verify.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Haiti s disaster resembles the 2004 South Asian tsunami that killed over 200,000, prompting a forceful international response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Lessons from the tsunami and Katrina showed that before clearing out debris from collapsed buildings it s difficult to estimate casualties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Rapid response of rescue teams can help prevent transmittable disease associated with rising bacterial levels from corpses and stagnant sewage.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>President Barack Obama responded heroically to Haiti s crisis, coordinating with the U.N. and international community a coherent disaster response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> We are reminded of the common humanity that we all share, said Obama at a White House press conference from the Diplomatic Reception Room with Vice President Joe Biden by his side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He also stressed the priority of when the U.S. Southern Fleet arrives in the next 24 hours, the world will witness one of the most compassionate and sweeping relief operations in world history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama cancelled his normal schedule to help direct the government s emergency response, especially tracking down U.S. diplomatic personnel currently missing in Port-au-Prince.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>White House officials set up a Web site, www. whitehouse.gov for U.S. citizens who wish to contribute time, energy and money to the relief operation.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span class="style6">About the Author </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author <i>of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a></i> and <i><a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a></i>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td width="133" height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="133" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>