As If Haitians Didn't Have Enough On Their Plate - Or Too Little On Their Plate

[Seil]

Haiti Aid Shifts To High Gear; Food Violence Persists (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305284,haiti-aid-shifts-to-high-gear-food-violence-persists--summary.html)
Haitian Police Kill A Man Over Stolen Rice (http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/21/haiti.police.shooting/index.html)
Us Troops Boost Haitian Aid As Looters Swarm (http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/stories/01/18/us-troops-to-help-haiti-security/)

So Haiti, with all its problems - even before the earthquake - might erupt into civil war. For a nation that was ranked "Most Corrupt" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Haiti) in 2006, something's gonna go down. Straight out of Batman (http://www.torontosun.com/news/haiti/2010/01/19/12525071.html), gang members escape prison via earthquake. Starcing Haitians are storming food warehouses. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1245347/Haiti-earthquake-miracle-boy-Kiki-describes-moment-plucked-rubble.html) Meanwhile, some parts of Haiti are still under gang law. (http://www.karachinews.net/story/590330)

Something's going to explode at some point.

[Bells]

This is actually a very awkward situation because the goverment in there is pretty much non existent. The president is... well... a name in a book right now.

So, there are what? 100k Troops from various countries in there right now?

This seem to go worst on a daily basis right now... at what point can you say "Yep, we're done" and withdrawal and at what point do you have to go "Nop, we need to take over this country right now..." ?

[Azisien]

Things could go real bad yeah, but can we really say we couldn't see it coming a hundred miles off?

Powerful earthquake hits capital of country that barely functions under optimal conditions.

People get hungry.

Hungry people will kill/rob/steal/raid for food.

We're no different, we just have food.

[Preturbed]

So the solution is to bomb them with food until absolutely everyone is too stuffed to fight?

[Pip Boy]

Its a good thing we sent all those soldiers over there to help keep the rioting and looting under control invade their country, as that was obviously our plan from the start.

[Bard The 5th LW]

I'm not trying to be a smartass, I just don't know much about the country, but is there anything in Haiti that we'd want to invade them to get? I assume it would be oil, but do they have much of that?

Heck if another country does invade it during this time, things may be better for Haiti if by a small margin, if said country were to atleast keep order in the place.

And while this may seem like morbid thing to say, and probably not the case, this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSp2KGMQEk8) is the vibe I got when I heard about the earthquake.

[Viridis]

I'm not trying to be a smartass, I just don't know much about the country, but is there anything in Haiti that we'd want to invade them to get? I assume it would be oil, but do they have much of that?

According to the CIA World Factbook Haiti has "Natural resources: bauxite, copper, calcium carbonate, gold, marble, hydropower." But the place is mostly a desert (extensive deforestation) and slightly smaller than Maryland. No mention of oil from what I see.

[Bells]

the US military is the most effective and coordinated in the planet, they can coordinate massive operations, establish huge base camps and are the best at deploying hardware and manpower in beaches and from air. That's why they are there.

Right now they are seizing the central areas of conflict and coordinating the deployment of materials and people while the other armies are doing more expecific duties in expecific zones.

[32bit-RedMage]

gang members escape prison via earthquake.

I got a story.....
The U.S. is granting temporary asylum to some of the Haitians living in the States. Well ... somehow one of the gang members managed to enter the U.S.
Then he asked for asylum, but he got arrested and deported.
End of story.

I saw it on the news today.... I think it happened 2 or 3 days ago.

[Ugainius]

I'm not trying to be a smartass, I just don't know much about the country, but is there anything in Haiti that we'd want to invade them to get?

Influence mostly. What with the aid coming from other countries in that part of the world ( a few of whom wouldn't be too fond of the US) and a non to happy population there's a good chance that there could be a radical change in government when the situation bottoms out. Something that could be viewed as a threat to US "Law and Order." Have to remember that Haiti was always one of the few bastions of the west in the area, dating back to the Cold War.