Why Is The United States in Haiti?

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class thug for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents." Smedley Butler, Maj. Gen., USMC

Why has the United States government been sending troops to Haiti while at the same time preventing aid workers from being able to get to the injured workers? For example, a French plane with an emergency field hospital was turned back Friday. Doctors Without Borders said that its cargo plane with 12 tons of medical supplies had been turned away from Port-au-Prince airport 3 times since Sunday.

Since I was a teenager, I've known about the U.S. foreign policy aims particularly in Central and South America. Troops have been sent to Guatemala on behalf of the American Fruit Company (now Chiquita), Standard Oil Company in Venezuela, the CIA has staged coups and funded death squads, not to mention involvement in Cuba, The Philippines, Tonga, and numerous other places around the world going back to 1800. This is not something you would read about in your school textbooks.

Which brings us to Haiti. Troops were first sent there in 1915 and the government has been involved in its affairs on and off since that time. In a nutshell, it is due to oil. There will be some who claim that the military is there to stabilize the situation on the ground and open the roads for aid workers. The military is trained for a very specific purpose and it isn't to render aid to people. As many as 20,000 people are dying per day while what is being uploaded are military supplies and troops. Very little humanitarian aid has been let in. This should disturb those who have a conscience. As the saying goes, "Never let a crisis go to waste".