Comments

1
Or a certain island in South Korea.
2
Cholera can introduce itself. Don't even entertain the idea that the UN would do such a thing.
3
Someone needs to bring civilization to these people. The Japanese had the trains running the day after Hiroshima but these people can't dig latrines 10 months after the earthquake and not shit in their own drinking water? Welcome to welfare culture run amok.
4
Only one thing causes cholera: Contamination of food or water by raw sewage. They have no-one to blame but themselves.
5
There is enough medicine to treat everyone in Haiti for cholera sitting in docks not yet released by Haitian officials.
Hell is Man's handiwork....
6
The UN DID bring cholera to Haiti. The strain has been identified as Nepalese, where they had an outbreak last year and was brought by Nepalese UN workers. Prior to this, Haiti hadn't had a cholera outbreak for a century.

@4, you're a clod. Do you understand the conditions in Haiti since the earthquake?
7
@6 conditions? What, like the cultural condition where 10 months is not enough time to dig latrines for yourselves? The Japanese had the trains running a day after Hiroshima.
8
Just heartbreaking. I've been following this. Thank you for posting it here, Brendan.
9
actually 5280 you're not entirely right. There was a story on All Things Considered this evening that addressed this issue (not posted at their website yet). Epidemics are spread via contamination. But the cause is a bacterium, which can exist in locales for decades without outbreaks.
10
If Haitians, so irritated with the poor state of their own nation, should wish international peace-keepers and aid-providers to leave, then why should we begrudge them?

But I'm sure this doesn't reflect a majority opinion.

But if people really desire to live in misery, that is their own issue. That said, I think there is not much the international community can really do for Haiti, beyond providing meager aid in a more poignant crisis; Haitians will have to stand up for themselves and demand better government and services; it is not something that we internationals can really be a part of.
11
Haiti was a dysfunctional hellhole* before the earthquake.
It hasn't improved since....

.

*see also 'New Orleans'
12
@10: "people really desire to live in misery." For fuck's sake, do you know anything at all about the history of Haiti? I've seen some stupid ass comments on Slog over the years, but you're headed into top ten ranking.
13
"For fuck's sake, do you know anything at all about the history of Haiti?"

Plenty actually, I suggest reading 'Silencing the Past' by Michel-Rolph Trouillot.

Also, I've been to haiti and have spent over a month there for several trips, nicest people in the world.

Having said  that, the  people are not exactly...ahem....the hardest working or most motivated folks I've ever come across. It's a sh*t hole for a reason and turning to foreigners every time and expecting them to come dig a latrine for you, 10 months after the earthquake, is a big part of the problem. Haiti needs to get off the UN/NGO teet and take care of  itself.
14
"Haitians, have a destiny to suffer." Papa Doc Duvalier

And as someone stated above, I believe the strain of cholera has been traced to Nepalese UN workers.

Of course I'm not saying it was intentional on the part of the UN, and SOMEONE is obviously fanning the flames to some end, but there is a nugget of truth...
15
@14: the report on NPR tonight largely refutes the Nepalese connection.
16
Brendan,
I chose not to view the graphic video. It will genuinely serve no purpose. Haiti is hell on earth. It is extraordinarily difficult to believe but Haiti has been independant of France for over 200 years. Essentially sharing a little less than one half of the island of Hispanola, Haiti's half is denuded and eroded. It is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere by any standard. It has experienced dictatorships, natural disasters, gang-related terror (recall the Tonton Macoutes) and now epidemic. It is virtually impossible to imagine anything worse short of genocide.

It begs the hotly politically incorrect question of whether Haiti would be better off with a qualified re-colonization by France or a co-administration with America.

Yeah, I know I'll catch hell just posing the question on SLOG but seriously hell is Haiti. Damn pity, Haiti.

BTW, I've read greatly conflicting stories regarding the source of the epidemic. I'm not sure Nepalese UN Peacekeepers are to blame. However, Haitians remain a greatly superstitous (?) people. Bad communications by the UN precipitated this scapegoating.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewa…

17
Haitians are no more superstitious than many other peoples who are members of major religions and believe, for instance, in things like holy water and exorcism. As far as scapegoating, the Holocaust was an extreme example of scapegoating of many different peoples and was carried out by a technologically advanced European civilization. Commentary is an extremely conservative magazine, not a neutral historical journal.

All that being said, I wish the population of Haiti could be sheltered somewhere else where they'd have a chance at survival.
18
I'm a humanitarian worker in Haiti now. I'm not going to bother refuting all the ignorance and racism in these comments, even anonymous "It's the culture's" "I've been there over a month" claim to authority. I will say that NGOs here have all been told to prepare for the UN's announcement that it is responsible for the cholera outbreak here but is waiting until after the presidential election this Sunday, which is already predicted to cause turmoil.
19
@17 Are you really comparing your average Haitian to your run of the mill American Christmas and Easter Catholic?!?!
20
Clean water is not optional.
21
unless you're in the Congo.

think about that when you use your cellphone to buy a drink.
22
the bottom line is this: massive global takeovers of other countries to small third world nations! and now the Priq (Barak Hussein Obama) wants the same global takeover here in the U.S. everyone who voted for the Priq doesn't realize they just started the end of days for the U.S. oh yeah just dismiss me as a crackpot/nutjob looney, BUT, when martial law is implemented by the Priq then don't complain about anything because YOU saw it coming and cared not to believe..........
Sincerely,
the LUNATIC

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