Obama Taking Better Care of Haitians Than Bush Did the People of New Orleans

[Bodybuilding Related]

Obama to Haiti: ‘You will not be forsaken’
Rescuers report using trucks as ambulances and doors as stretchers



PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Desperately needed aid from around the world began arriving Thursday in quake-stunned Haiti, while rescuers struggled frantically to save the trapped and injured, using trucks as ambulances and doors as stretchers.

President Barack Obama said "one of the largest relief efforts in our recent history" is moving toward Haiti, with thousands of troops and a broad array of civilian rescue workers deployed to aid the stricken country — backed by more than $100 million in relief funds.

"To the people of Haiti, we say clearly and with conviction, you will not be forsaken. You will not be forgotten. In this, your hour of greatest need, America stands with you. The world stands with you," Obama said.

At the same time, officials close to former President George W. Bush said that he and former President Bill Clinton, who is already a United Nations special envoy for Haiti, had agreed to help the quake relief effort.

One source familiar with the situation said Obama had talked by phone with Bush on Wednesday night about helping out.

Clinton and Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, joined in a huge international relief effort to help the recovery from the 2004 tsunami that swept South Asia and killed 226,000 in 13 countries after an earthquake in Indonesia.

'It's chaos'

As rescue workers and relief goods started pouring into Haiti from around the world, aid groups ran into huge challenges trying to reach quake survivors trapped in the rubble or wandering homeless and hungry in the streets.

Ship deliveries were impossible to Port-au-Prince because the Haitian capital's port was closed by damage. The airport was open but it struggled to handle a flurry of incoming flights carrying experts and aid.

Fearful of going near scores of quake-damaged buildings, Haitians stood or rested in the roads, slowing the transport of food and other crucial aid.

"It's chaos," U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told The Associated Press. "It's a logistical nightmare."

Byrs said 40 search-and-rescue teams from around the world had started arriving in Haiti to look for survivors trapped inside collapsed buildings. But to find and save people, the rescuers will need heavy equipment to lift tons of rubble. Some teams have that equipment — including ones from Britain and Iceland — but many don't.

Although impoverished Haiti has virtually none of those machines, the neighboring Dominican Republic does and can help meet the need, said Charles Vincent of the World Food Program.

"We'll have to see how that works out over the coming days," said Vincent. "The U.S. military will also be bringing in some equipment."

Some rescuers were bringing their own lifting equipment.

Severe damage to at least eight Port-au-Prince hospitals made it nearly impossible to treat the thousands of injured or prevent outbreaks of disease, said Paul Garwood, spokesman for the World Health Organization.

The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was expected to arrive off the coast Thursday and the Navy said the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan had been ordered to sail as soon as possible with a 2,000-member Marine unit.

'Long-term effort'

In an appearance on NBC's TODAY show, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged long-term assistance to help Haiti recover from this week's devastating earthquake.

"This is going to be a long-term effort. We have the immediate crisis of trying to save those lives that can be saved, to deal with the injured ... to try to provide food, water, medical supplies, some semblance of shelter," Clinton said.

She said the U.S. government was also prepared to work with the Haitian government and other international partners to begin rebuilding the stricken country.

"This calamity has affected 3 million people. It has caused the collapse of ten of thousands of buildings. We know that there will be tens of thousands of casualties," Clinton added without providing specific numbers on fatalities.

Clinton said a 7,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force was helping to maintain order and would receive help controlling looting and other violence from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division later on Thursday.

"The peacekeeping force ... is out on the streets, they're clearing streets, they're bringing law and order," Clinton said.

To ease the crushing burden on Haiti's flimsy government and police apparatus, the U.S. announced it had suspended deportation of Haitians in the United States illegally.

The United Nations has released $10 million from its emergency funds, even as U.N. workers and peacekeeping troops on the island nation at the time of the quake struggled with their own losses. The U.N. headquarters building collapsed, and the reported death toll there was mounting.

"We'll be using whatever roads are passable to get aid to Port-au-Prince, and if possible we'll bring helicopters in," said Emilia Casella, a spokeswoman for the U.N. food agency in Geneva. Its 200 staff in Haiti were trying to deliver high-energy biscuits and other supplies, despite looting and the threat of violence in a nation long plagued by lawlessness.

Red Cross in need

The American Red Cross ran out of medical supplies on the ground in Haiti, a spokesman said Wednesday. The small amount of medical equipment and supplies that were available to Haiti had been distributed, spokesman Eric Porterfield said. More were being sent, but he said he did not know when they would be arriving.

The sheer number of dead bodies was expected to pose a problem. The World Health Organization said it had sent specialists to help clear the city of corpses, and the International Red Cross was sending a plane Thursday loaded mainly with body bags.

Sixty-five rubble-clearing specialists and six sniffer dogs left France on Wednesday, while Spain dispatched three planeloads of rescuers and 100 tons of tents, blankets and cooking kits. Israel was sending in an elite Army rescue unit of engineers and doctors.

A military reconnaissance team from Canada was arriving aboard a C-130 transport plane to assess the need for mosquito nets, basic household goods, tents and sanitation packages.

One of the first teams expected to arrive in Haiti was a 37-member search-and-rescue unit from Iceland, along with 10 tons of rescue equipment.

[bigbobs]

And your username is "Bodybuilding Related" LOL - the irony!

[Mars]

yeah but bush didnt gave a shit about anything.

[uberman09]

since when is haiti an american state exactly...

[Stark]

lets calm down a little

$100 million is pocket money for the US

[Coach is Back!]

Discuss. 

Obama takes care of other countries better than he does his own (I'm talking about the US not Kenya)!

[El Diablo Blanco]

It's an IOU.  Haiti will owe the US for the rest of its existence.  This will allow the US to deport haitans at will without the haiti gov opening their mouths about it.  What little exports that haiti may have like sugar will be sent on the cheap.  It's one big fuck fuck.

[Bodybuilding Related]

And your username is "Bodybuilding Related" LOL - the irony!

I don't know if that's sarcasm I detect or not but I really do try to keep it bodybuilding related on here lately...but with such a big deal going down in Haiti right now maybe I felt bad about spending the morning talking about Christian Arnoldo and The Situation's abs, alright?  

BTW, I hope you know Nasser is now texting Alex on the side...have a nice day Bobs.  

[Coach is Back!]

yeah but bush didnt gave a shit about anything.

Absurd and naive' statement.

[Bodybuilding Related]

Absurd and naive' statement.

LOL  There he is.   

[Coach is Back!]

LOL  There he is.   

I knew you baited this thread just for me!

[emn1964]

Obama takes care of other countries better than he does his own (I'm talking about the US not Kenya)!

you don't care to get into a debate about how bush and brownie basically abandoned new orleans?  yet mobilized a massive relief effort for the tsunami victims?  hmmmm...

[Coach is Back!]

you don't care to get into a debate about how bush and brownie basically abandoned new orleans?  yet mobilized a massive relief effort for the tsunami victims?  hmmmm...

Oh...you must be talking about all of the aid that was sent and that fuckhead Ray Nagin just bascially sat on his ass and did nothing until everything got worse and then blamed Bush for not responding? You want to REALLY go there?

[Stark]

you don't care to get into a debate about how bush and brownie basically abandoned new orleans?  yet mobilized a massive relief effort for the tsunami victims?  hmmmm...

GEORGE BUSH DOES NOT LIKE BLACK PEOPLE

[emn1964]

Oh...you must be talking about all of the aid that was sent and that fuckhead Ray Nagin just bascially sat on his ass and did nothing until everything got worse and then blamed Bush for not responding? You want to REALLY go there?

please, bush was using nagin as a scapegoat...NOTHING was sent to New Orleans until more than 4 days afterwards.  And NO did not have the equipment to get in there...once again apologizing for bush...drink the kool aid joe...

[Coach is Back!]

GEORGE BUSH DOES NOT LIKE BLACK PEOPLE

Yes, that must be it

Then in that case neither does Obama.

[kiwiol]

Oh...you must be talking about all of the aid that was sent and that fuckhead Ray Nagin just bascially sat on his ass and did nothing until everything got worse and then blamed Bush for not responding? You want to REALLY go there?

The glass is half-full if it's Bush but half-empty if it's Obama huh, Coach?

[Coach is Back!]

please, bush was using nagin as a scapegoat...NOTHING was sent to New Orleans until more than 4 days afterwards.  And NO did not have the equipment to get in there...once again apologizing for bush...drink the kool aid joe...

Hey, I'm not going to apologize for his last 2-3 months in office but other than that and for the most I will apologize for him. You guys voted someone in that may actually make Carter look good when this is all said and done. The Kool Aid drinkers are the one's that bought into Obamas bullshit and now they're starting to realize they've been duped.

[Bodybuilding Related]

Hey, I'm not going to apologize for his last 2-3 months in office but other than that and for the most I will apologize for him. You guys voted someone in that may actually make Carter look good when this is all said and done. The Kool Aid drinkers are the one's that bought into Obamas bullshit and now they're starting to realize they've been duped.

Racist post reported.

[Dr. Fist]

Blacks support blacks, whites support whites.

It was like that too when I was in jail. I was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood.

[Dr. Fist]

Racist post reported.

Guys like you don't last long in jail. I remember a guy like you, they made him suck every black cock that was there. He killed himself in the end.

[Lumberjack88]

Hey, I'm not going to apologize for his last 2-3 months in office but other than that and for the most I will apologize for him. You guys voted someone in that may actually make Carter look good when this is all said and done. The Kool Aid drinkers are the one's that bought into Obamas bullshit and now they're starting to realize they've been duped.

You voted for McCain/Palin huh? They would've done a much better job... Democrats and Republicans are the same behind closed doors... they're makin special contracts with banksters against the people of america, yet you still don't notice even though it's all over the news channels.

[emn1964]

Guys like you don't last long in jail. I remember a guy like you, they made him suck every black cock that was there. He killed himself in the end.

So what were you in for Dr. Fist?

[Lumberjack88]

Guys like you don't last long in jail. I remember a guy like you, they made him suck every black cock that was there. He killed himself in the end.

What did you do to get there Hells Angel?

[Dr. Fist]

So what were you in for Dr. Fist?

I was a small time drugdealer affiliated with the hells angels.