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| Letters From London |
| Humorous Views on London Culture, Royals, Gossip and Politics |
"Are They All Dead Yet?" - 21 January 2010
So is it ‘health and safety’ or imperialism or historic racism or total ineptitude on a grand scale?
US marines: “I’m scart of them kids.” “Yeah. Ya know. They’re hungry and they could turn on us
ya know.” “Yeah, man. Let’s just stay in the plane.” “Yeah. Pass the vitamin water.” “Ya know.
It's just like when we were sent to not help after Katrina.” “Right on, man. Ya know, it’s like one
of those new sci-fi end o’ the world flicks out there.” “Yeah. Where’s the potato chips?”
16,000 troops to help distribute aid and supplies hiding from amputees dehydrated, starving,
dying from gangrene. Isn’t it their job to be bags of testosterone: the big, the bad, the bold and
the brave? Haitians have taken to organising themselves into popular committees to clear up, to
drag bodies out from under the rubble, to build refugee camps, to set up their security, to
distribute any aid they find in an orderly fashion. The US defence secretary said if those
hundreds of supply planes were to drop food, water, medicines - “air drops will simply lead to
riots.” The US forces are in Haiti to ‘secure the country’….
US religious leader, Pat Robertson, speaking for millions of his followers had a message directly
from Jesus. Those ex-slaves who gained their freedom 200 years ago – the only successful
slave revolution in history - had made a pact with the devil and this earthquake is god taking
revenge on those upstarts.
But no worries. So far, Mormons in Utah have secured the release of 100 ‘orphans’ to become
part of their religious communities. Girls dressed in frontier attire, married at 12 to old men,
growing up to be treated like chattel and controlled by bible-spewing husbands. Oh joy. The
fewer inhabitants, the fewer rebels. Adoption by religious fanatics or death under rubble. That’s a
difficult one.
Naturally the state of Haiti - pre god’s retribution – was already dire due to the US puppet
president and US backed privatisation begun years ago. No agenda in Washington then. Twice
US ousted elected President Aristide, who rejected the continuing privatisation, wants to return,
but the US controls the airports. Clever.
What a tragic mess when a scratch means amputation (the favoured method used by the
Cubans), when doctors can see stockpiles of desperately needed supplies yards away, when
military specialists give the most ridiculous responses to probing questions. “Um, we’ll have to
check into that…um, we have more troops with AK47s arriving next week…um, two thousand
soldiers will be stationed off shore wearing desert fatigues…ummmm.”
Brits are sending £116 a minute adding up to £31.5m so far. Americans are sending 200 food
flights a day for the US military. “What? No Big Mac today? I’m an American. I deserve the best,
ya know.”
So is it ‘health and safety’ or imperialism or historic racism or total ineptitude on a grand scale?
US marines: “I’m scart of them kids.” “Yeah. Ya know. They’re hungry and they could turn on us
ya know.” “Yeah, man. Let’s just stay in the plane.” “Yeah. Pass the vitamin water.” “Ya know.
It's just like when we were sent to not help after Katrina.” “Right on, man. Ya know, it’s like one
of those new sci-fi end o’ the world flicks out there.” “Yeah. Where’s the potato chips?”
16,000 troops to help distribute aid and supplies hiding from amputees dehydrated, starving,
dying from gangrene. Isn’t it their job to be bags of testosterone: the big, the bad, the bold and
the brave? Haitians have taken to organising themselves into popular committees to clear up, to
drag bodies out from under the rubble, to build refugee camps, to set up their security, to
distribute any aid they find in an orderly fashion. The US defence secretary said if those
hundreds of supply planes were to drop food, water, medicines - “air drops will simply lead to
riots.” The US forces are in Haiti to ‘secure the country’….
US religious leader, Pat Robertson, speaking for millions of his followers had a message directly
from Jesus. Those ex-slaves who gained their freedom 200 years ago – the only successful
slave revolution in history - had made a pact with the devil and this earthquake is god taking
revenge on those upstarts.
But no worries. So far, Mormons in Utah have secured the release of 100 ‘orphans’ to become
part of their religious communities. Girls dressed in frontier attire, married at 12 to old men,
growing up to be treated like chattel and controlled by bible-spewing husbands. Oh joy. The
fewer inhabitants, the fewer rebels. Adoption by religious fanatics or death under rubble. That’s a
difficult one.
Naturally the state of Haiti - pre god’s retribution – was already dire due to the US puppet
president and US backed privatisation begun years ago. No agenda in Washington then. Twice
US ousted elected President Aristide, who rejected the continuing privatisation, wants to return,
but the US controls the airports. Clever.
What a tragic mess when a scratch means amputation (the favoured method used by the
Cubans), when doctors can see stockpiles of desperately needed supplies yards away, when
military specialists give the most ridiculous responses to probing questions. “Um, we’ll have to
check into that…um, we have more troops with AK47s arriving next week…um, two thousand
soldiers will be stationed off shore wearing desert fatigues…ummmm.”
Brits are sending £116 a minute adding up to £31.5m so far. Americans are sending 200 food
flights a day for the US military. “What? No Big Mac today? I’m an American. I deserve the best,
ya know.”
