I'm watching CNN in an airport hotel, waiting for a flight out to cover Haiti earthquake relief. Anderson Cooper, it seems, is already back in the studio. Yesterday morning, the head of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) released the carrier USS Carl Vinson from Haiti relief operations. Crisis over, right?
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Not by a long shot. While the departure of the carrier marked the end of one phase -- the immediate response to the Jan. 12 earthquake and its aftermath -- the U.S. military involvement in Haiti is far from over. Speaking on Monday to reporters, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the departure of the *Vinson *"does not mean the beginning of the end of our engagement." One of the main assets the ship brought to relief operations, he noted, was helicopters. Nearly all of those aircraft are staying in Haiti.
So this is still shaping up as a major military operation, with a pretty serious burn rate. The Navy's top budget official said yesterday the Pentagon has shifted $400 million in stopgap funds to SOUTHCOM to pay for the ongoing operation. That's chump change by Pentagon standards, but it far outstrips what the U.S. Agency for International Development spends on most countries in a year.
Over the next couple of days, I'll be following the military side of things: The backbone of a massive logistics operation involving the UN, international relief agencies and other organizations. After that, I'll be on the ground in Haiti, trying to get a fix on a longer-term, and more complex story: Rebuilding the country.
Aid has failed Haiti in the past, dramatically. Will this be another exercise in top-down solutions, imposed by well-meaning (and well-compensated) outsiders? Or will this be a chance to reboot the way foreign aid is done? I don't expect to find any easy answers, but it's essential to start looking this nation-building mission with a critical eye.
[PHOTO: U.S. Department of Defense]
