Wednesday - April 21, 2010

That Ain’t Right

The United Nations has quietly upped this year’s peacekeeping budget for earthquake-shattered Haiti to $732.4 million, with two-thirds of that amount going for the salary, perks and upkeep of its own personnel, not residents of the devastated island.

The world organization plans to spend the money on an expanded force of some 12,675 soldiers and police, plus some 479 international staffers, 669 international contract personnel, and 1,300 local workers, just for the 12 months ending June 30, 2010.

Some $495.8 million goes for salaries, benefits, hazard pay, mandatory R&R allowances and upkeep for the peacekeepers and their international staff support. Only about $33.9 million, or 4.6 percent, of that salary total is going to what the U.N. calls “national staff” attached to the peacekeeping effort.

Presumably, the budget also includes at least part of some $10 million that the U.N. has spent on renting two passenger vessels, the Sea Voyager (known to some U.N. staffers as the “Love Boat") and the Ola Esmeralda, for a minimum of 90 days each, as highly subsidized housing for some of its peacekeepers and humanitarian staff. The tab for the two vessels, which offer catered food, linen service and comfortable staterooms and lounges, is about $112,500 per day.

Under a cost-sharing formula, the U.S. pays a 27 percent share of the entire $732.4 million peacekeeping tab for Haiti during this 12 month period, or about $197.7 million.

That adds up to more than 15,000 “peacekeepers”. That’s an army. I think that’s more troops than we had in Afghanistan a year ago, and we’re fighting a war there.

I think we should all be referring to the place as “occupied Haiti”. Not that anyone in or out of their right mind would want to invade the place. Not a chance. So these “peacekeepers” are doing what then? Protecting the Haitians from themselves? In their own country?? Or perhaps they are protecting all the pushy aid workers from the Haitians that might not like the way that these tens of thousands of foreigners are doing whatever they want to, in rebuilding and changing their country? Somebody explain to me why Haiti needs any peacekeepers at all.

I’ll be the first to speak the obvious: Haiti is a mess. A world of hurt. A rolling, never ending disaster, largely self-inflicted. But I didn’t think they needed saving from themselves by an army of occupation. This rather looks like the Imperial UN to me.

Free Haiti!

Posted by Drew458     on 04/21/2010 at 10:32 AM   
Filed Under: • International • United-Nations •  
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