Agreed! I am an optimist in these things, and doubt if anyone there is being nasty...though one can never tell!
The first colonization landing on Mars will need to entirely crewless.
First off, a large photovoltaic array (probably a number of smaller but still large ones) will have to set itself up to run everything else.
Second will be autonomous landscaping vehicles to bulldoze a flat area surrounded by a protective dyke.
Next a bag style greenhouse; the watering will require local water (eh? ;^) and trickle irrigation.
Autonomous boring machines will be needed to construct habitats in adjacent hills.
And whatever machinery needed to collect or synthesize methane fuel for return trips will have to sited near needed resources.
That mission needs to be done during the next launch window (I think they're two years apart) before the first probably crewless return. Time's a wastin'. :^)