HAITI SITREP, 3/11/04 (One Marine's Perspective)

Letter to a Marine's family and friends | March 11, 2004 | A fine young Warrior!

[Perseverando]

040311/1800

To My Family and Friends,

I hope this letter finds you all in good health and enjoying the many blessings our Lord has provided for you each. Though I cannot remember the last time I felt homesick, I do miss each of you uniquely. I greatly look forward to such a time that we may all be reunited in fellowship, though as I await that joyous day I receive comfort in knowing that I am guarded with prayer and my strength is bolstered through my pursuit of and surrender to the infallible will of God.

Work here is routine, our purpose in Haiti is to help protect the people while trying to identify and neutralize an ambiguous enemy threat.

Up to this point we have been very reserved in our approach. I have been volunteering to participate in many vehicular patrols, usually at least one or two per day. Patrols have been receiving enemy fire on a daily basis and one of the companies had to fight through an ambush two nights ago.

We have received no casualties as of yet, though I was very nearly run over at a roadblock on Monday. We had just finished dispersing a large mob and we were to occupy the street for one hour to ensure the mob did not re-form.

The vehicle patrol I was with set up a roadblock to keep the street clear in case there was more violence. About twenty minutes later I was able to stop two gang-banger types from dragging a fourteen-year-old girl down an alley, likely to rape her.

Shortly afterwards we had one vehicle, out of all that were stopping and turning around because of the roadblock, decided we would move for him. Ignoring the warnings, headlights flashing at him, Marines waving their arms, showing their weapons and commanding the vehicle to stop, he came straight for us.

At about 15 meters we opened fire on the car and having never hit the brakes until then, the car came to a stop ten feet away from my legs. A Marine to my left had shot both front tires and the engine in an attempt to disable the vehicle and I, being directly in the car's path, put seven rounds into the driver. Our corpsman ran up to the scene after we had secured the vehicle and detained the passenger, and he administered medical aid to the driver, but he was unable to stabilize him. The next morning another mob burned the body and then flipped and burned several cars.

There is Anarchy over here, police kill as many civilians as the criminals do, there are miles of dilapidated shanties everywhere, sewage runs through the streets, and mountains of trash spread disease and filth as they pile higher and higher at every street corner.

So far, my Battalion has been taking a reactive approach, patrolling around hoping to see visible weapons, riots or crime in progress, or have shots taken at us then we react and hope to catch or neutralize the threat. We could be here for ten years and accomplish nothing with that approach.

Thankfully, it seems they have realized this and the powers-that-be are sending us out tonight to set ambush for the enemy in their own backyard. More dangerous? Probably, but I believe it will be more effective and we will be able to sooner focus on the task of helping the Haitians.

My request for all of you is that when you decide to say a prayer for me, please include the people here, they need all the help and intercession they can get.

Never take for granted the blessings and freedoms we have as American Citizens, I love you all and I hope to be home within the next couple months.

(Name deleted for privacy reasons))

[Perseverando]

No this is not another ubiquitous internet hoax/chain letter. This letter was typed from the original letter received by his family on 3/22, and was sent as an e-mail to me by the Marine's father. Yes, I know the Marine well, and he is an outstanding young man.

(P.S. I took the liberty of breaking up paragraphs for easier reading.)

Semper Fi!

[eleni121]

What can one say in the face of such heroism and perseverance. MAy God protect and bless him.

Let me add this: I do have several fine Haitian student immigrants and this is what two of them told me in the past few days: "We wish the US could just take over our country...like Iraq."

One of them is returning to Haiti next week for a funeral and he promised to give me a full report about conditions there when he returns.

[luvbach1]

We wish the US could just take over our country...like Iraq.

No thanks. We don't need another third-word (fourth-world?) hellhole for our brave soldiers to patrol while they are picked off by criminals and malcontents.

[eleni121]

We don't need another third-word (fourth-world?) hellhole for our brave soldiers to patrol while they are picked off by criminals and malcontents.

Of course not. And I told them so. I think they were expressing their frustrations with their own inability to govern themselves.

[onedoug]

"My request for all of you is that when you decide to say a prayer for me, please include the people here, they need all the help and intercession they can get."

But...but...but...it's all about oil, empire and Bush as a "miserable failure".

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

So far, my Battalion has been taking a reactive approach, patrolling around hoping to see visible weapons, riots or crime in progress, or have shots taken at us then we react and hope to catch or neutralize the threat. We could be here for ten years and accomplish nothing with that approach.

Thankfully, it seems they have realized this and the powers-that-be are sending us out tonight to set ambush for the enemy in their own backyard. More dangerous? Probably, but I believe it will be more effective and we will be able to sooner focus on the task of helping the Haitians.

My request for all of you is that when you decide to say a prayer for me, please include the people here, they need all the help and intercession they can get.

Never take for granted the blessings and freedoms we have as American Citizens, I love you all and I hope to be home within the next couple months. 

~ Letter to a Marine's family and friends | 3/11/04 | "A fine young Warrior!" ~ posted by Perseverando 

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Mar 27, 2:36 AM EST

Caribbean Leaders Withhold Haiti Backing

By BERT WILKINSON
Associated Press Writer

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (AP) -- The 15-nation Caribbean Community withheld recognition from Haiti's U.S.-backed interim government Saturday as leaders closed a summit renewing calls for a U.N. investigation into the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Leaders said they would take up the issue of whether to recognize the government again at a summit in July in Grenada.

"We can't determine this issue at this meeting," Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning said. He added that discussions were "quite tense."

Several officials said the regional bloc was under enormous U.S. pressure to recognize the new government, which was appointed after Aristide fled on Feb. 29 amid a popular uprising.

"Right now we are not satisfied," St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said at the close of the two-day summit. "We are going to watch and see a number of things as they evolve."

The leaders also lamented recent statements by Haiti's Prime Minister Gerard Latortue hailing rebels as "freedom fighters" and saying he was freezing participation in the regional bloc for its stance in bringing Aristide to Jamaica for temporary exile.

The participating Caribbean leaders issued a statement early Saturday saying "no action should be taken to legitimize the rebel forces."

They said while Haiti remains a "welcome partner" in the Caribbean Community, "there has been an interruption of the democratic process."

The leaders said they would ask the U.N. General Assembly or Secretary-General Kofi Annan to oversee an investigation into Aristide's claims he was abducted at gunpoint by U.S. agents when he left Feb. 29 as rebels threatened to attack Haiti's capital.

The 11 heads of government attending said it is in the international community's "compelling interest" to fully investigate the circumstances of Aristide's departure.

Delegates said the bloc wants the General Assembly to investigate Aristide's departure rather than the Security Council, where the United States or France could veto the proposal.

U.S. officials say they organized his departure on a charter to Central African Republic at his own request and probably saved his life.

The Caribbean Community stressed "the importance of holding free and fair elections to ensure a return to constitutional democracy in an acceptable time frame" in Haiti.

Latortue has said he hopes to organize legislative elections in six to eight months; it was unclear whether that would be acceptable.

St. Kitts Prime Minister Denzil Douglas said the community plans to deal directly with "the Haitian people" through the United Nations and other agencies.

Caribbean leaders declined to participate in the current U.S.-led international force, angry that the Security Council refused their urgent plea to send troops in time to save Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected leader. (Saddam got 100% of the vote in Iraq).

Nevertheless, Manning said Trinidad will send 121 soldiers to join a separate U.N. humanitarian force in about two months. Other Caribbean countries are expected to follow.

In Haiti, meanwhile, the interim government announced it will block dozens of ex-members of Aristide's government from leaving the country, including former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune.

New Justice Minister Bernard Gousse told The Associated Press the move was an "insurance policy" that will make sure the officials are available for investigations into embezzlement and other alleged crimes.

"This does not mean that they are guilty. It will be for the justice system to decide," Gousse said.

Neptune has said he intends to remain and is in hiding due to threats against his life.

Some Caribbean leaders said they were angry with Latortue, who was not invited to the summit, because he was allowing rebels who include convicted assassins to walk free.

"We do not give comfort to thugs and rebels," Gonsalves said. "What we have done is to recognize a state, but we do not recognize governments and interim administrations."

On Friday morning Latortue faxed a conciliatory letter to Caribbean leaders, officials said. The letter was not made public, but officials said in it Latortue said his previous statements about the community and the rebels were misconstrued.

"Maybe if we had that letter from Mr. Latortue before he might have been here at this meeting," Douglas said. "The letter certainly changed the tone of our discussions, but the letter could have come before."

In Haiti, Latortue declined comment.

The leaders also decided that Antigua's newly elected leader, Baldwin Spencer, would head a team of leaders to consider Haiti's crisis and agreed to set up a task force to coordinate Caribbean assistance.

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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 Eternal Father

 

  ~ Eternal Father, grant, we pray,
To all Marines, both night and day,
The courage, honor, strength, and skill
Their land to serve, thy law fulfill;
Be thou the shield forevermore
From every peril to the Corps.
          ~ J. E. Seim (alternative verses, 1966)
 ~  ~

[GrandEagle]

My request for all of you is that when you decide to say a prayer for me, please include the people here, they need all the help and intercession they can get.
DONE
Any will continue!

[Pegita]

Heavenly Father, we return to give You thanks that the finest young men and women have gone forth from this country in the cause of liberty and freedom. You have blessed this nation as no other, and we praise You that these sons and daughters are Your greatest blessing. Watch over them where they are ... grant them success in their missions, for they seek to liberate and not to enslave. Equip them with the greatest courage, yet with the most tender of hearts, that others might be drawn to their resolve and their compassion. Return them safely to their families, we pray ... yet we know that some will return to You before they again see their families. Mark this grief upon our hearts, that we never forget that liberty is etched in blood. In the Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen ...

[SandRat]

....the powers-that-be are sending us out tonight to set ambush for the enemy in their own backyard. More dangerous? Probably, but I believe it will be more effective and we will be able to sooner focus on the task of helping the Haitians.

Wait, what's that sound I hear? The c-BS, p-BS, etc. and the Congressional (anti-American pro-Socialist) Caucus yelling that we are picking on the poor innocents only trying to move under the safety of the night's blanket of darkness and are guilty of war-crimes.

[Soaring Feather]

bump

[cyborg]

Then you are for the US coming home from Iraq right?

[luvbach1]

Then you are for the US coming home from Iraq right?

Eventually, of course. Hopefully when some stability is achieved. If it isn't, in the near future we should let them stew in their own juices. But I am sure we aren't leaving any time soon .After the effort, expense, and blood sacrifice in Iraq it will not be fair to say we have not done what we can. Failure of Iraqi democracy, if that happens, will not be solely America's (or Bush's) fault, although many are sure to make that assessment. At some point the Iraqis must assume control and responsibility. All I said in my original post is that we didn't need another hellhole to patrol.

[cyborg]

Okay fair enough. I think it's better not to get involved in the first place but in this day and age, I don't know if that's realistic. US went to Kosovo which is not really a third world hellhole but from the news, it's getting there. Now that I think about it, I thinl US will be going back there pretty soon.

More clean up after the Klintoon administration.

[windchime]

Bump!

[cyn]

thanks for the ping -- keeping them & that country in my prayers.

eleni, please ping me if/when you post an account when he returns from Haiti -- thanks.

[eleni121]

I sure will.
I too am looking forward to a report.