Five years ago, American military response to a natural disaster in another country populated by people with a different skin color gave us pause...

TIME Magazine,  January 18, 2005   When Aid Breeds Suspicion

But three weeks into the tsunami-relief operation, the U.S. is realizing the limits of its good intentions. The sight of American boots and hardware on Indonesian soil has fueled nationalist fears and stirred suspicions about the U.S. Indonesian newspapers reported last week that a text message was being forwarded around the country that reads, "After Iraq, will Indonesia be the next U.S. target?"

TIME Magazine,  January 16, 2010   The U.S. Military in Haiti: A Compassionate Invasion

Louisiana became the 18th of the United States back in 1812, but you'd never have known it watching the Federal government's ham-fisted response to 2005's Hurricane Katrina. The Obama Administration is doing things differently: Haiti, for all intents and purposes, became the 51st state at 4:53 p.m. Tuesday in the wake of its deadly earthquake. If not a state, then at least a ward of the state — the United States — as Washington mobilized national resources to rush urgent aid to Haiti's stricken people.

Prediction:  Sir John Holmes (no relation...I think...) bites his tongue and does not go all Jan Egeland on us. 


UPDATE (1/18/2010):  France protests Obamas naked aggression against calamity ravaged Haiti.