How about Two Cheers for USAID

The coordinator for the American humanitarian relief effort in Haiti is the 36-year old Rajiv Shah, the new head of USAID who gets to save a country while only on the job for five days. In the last 48 hours, the United States effort has been superb and is a model of such efforts. Yes, the logistics are a nightmare, the entire Haitian government is non-existent, a population without water and food for three days is restive. But this effort should be studied as it goes forward for its attention to detail. Appearing on the Rachel Maddow show last night, former Gov.Vilsack, who is the present Secretary of Agriculture, laid out his department's plans not only for food relief but also to assist the Haitian farmers to plant for their upcoming season. The administration received fly-over permission from Cuba to save about 90 minutes in air travel time. The administration froze deportation hearings of Haitian illegals here in the States and is preparing Gitmo for a possible influx of Haitian refugees.

About 10,000 of our troops have landed already to provide security to aid convoys, who might face the machete-wielding bandits who have started foraging for food. Haitians angry with what they perceive as a slowness in aid have created roadblocks out of corpses, which have begun to deteriorate after 48-hours. Streets are now filled with dead bodies and emergency medical teams have set up makeshift hospitals to operate on the injured.

We have not even gotten to the long-term prospects for Haiti, although planning has begun by the United States and other countries. France has asked that the country's foreign debt be forgiven so as to enable the country to recovery more quickly. But we are dealing here with a situation where the entire government and the aid agencies have collapsed. The United Nations has experienced its worse death toll in all its history.

The international response coordinated by the United States has been awesome in its scale and the resources countries are bringing to the situation. The Red Cross said it was stunned by the web contributions it has received--some $30 million in two days. American television stations have solicited contributions and corporations have been matching employee donations. This is all the more remarkable because the world sits at the bottom of a recession. Efforts are being made to get donations to local medical posts outside of Port-au-Prince that are still functioning and to help the food warehouses that are in rural areas.

I expect we will see some of the worst aspects of the catastrophe in the next few days. Already the morgue has been filled and mass graves have been dug but we still lack a total death toll. The Red Cross estimates about 50,000. While aid workers and our military make headway, we are apt to see the true extent of the disaster.

From a distance, it's very hard to say what more could be done in such a difficult situation. But one has to commend USAID for its 24/7 efforts on behalf of the Haitian people. And if you can, donate to the aid agency of your choice.