03/16/10
From Big Government <- Original article has some imbedded links with additional information.
Obama Orders Army NOT To Fly U.S. Flag in Haiti
by Warner Todd Huston
It’s bad enough that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is giving short shrift
to American manufacturers and our economy by ordering extravagant new crystal
stemware from Sweden to make the crystal cabinets in America’s embassies sparkle
impressively, but now we learn that Barack Obama has told the U.S. relief forces
in Haiti not to fly the U.S. flag over its own military compounds. He says that
it will “send the wrong message.”
Never mind that all the other nations have their flags proudly flying above
their military relief installations in Haiti. Even Croatia has its coat of arms
flying outside its base. Yet not the U.S. Army. No U.S. flag flies anywhere
despite the fact that we are far and away the largest force and have supplied
the most relief supplies and money to the earthquake recovery effort.
According to USAID, as of January 19, 2010 the U.S. had spent $130,864,571 on
aid to the Haitian people to help them recover from the devastating earthquake.
By Jan. 25 that number had already increased to $179,883,065. It is only going
up from there.
So why did the Obama administration forbid flying our own flag in Haiti?
“We are not here as an occupation force, but as an international partner
committed to supporting the government of Haiti on the road to recovery,” the
U.S. government’s Haiti Joint Information Center said in response to a query
about the flag.
If it is so important to be seen as just another member of that international
force, then why are all the other nations still flying their flags? Oh, I
remember now… unlike the U.S. they don’t have a president that is more
comfortable apologizing for his country than being proud of it, even when it is
engaged in saving lives through relief work.
As far as Obama is concerned, we should be ashamed of our nation even when we
are digging children and the aged out of mounds of crumbled ruins, even when we
are feeding the hungry, and administering life saving medicines — all for free
mind you. Even those efforts aren’t good enough for us to be proud to fly our
flag above them, apparently.
The NavyTimes.com report reveals a craven attempt by the Obama Administration to
pin this no-flag decision on our troops, too. Obama’s Army flak, Colonel Billy
Buckner, spokesman for Joint Task Force-Haiti — “a group representing various
Obama administration agency heads” the NavyTimes.com report tells us — says that
our commanders are “smart” not to fly the flag.
“Our commanders are smart and intuitively understand their mission here in
Haiti, and clearly the sensitivities that come with supporting the mission,”
Buckner said.A U.S. flag went up at a temporary consular station set up in the
first few days on the airport tarmac, according to Charles Luoma-Overstreet, a
State Department spokesman in Haiti.
“Apparently, the prime minister (Jean-Max Bellerive) saw this” and thought it
appeared as if the United States were taking over the airport, Luoma-Overstreet
said.
He said Bellerive said something to U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten, who agreed
that flying the flag wasn’t a good idea and told the consular officials to take
it down.
Notice how it went from “the commanders” being “smart” enough to understand the
situation to Obama’s Ambassador to Haiti ordering the flag be removed? In other
words, despite the Colonel trying to make it seem as if the commanders on the
ground are all for this dearth of Old Glory, it really ends up being a political
decision by Obama and his cohorts who are ashamed of America and willing to let
anyone denigrate her.
Does anyone really think that PM Bellerive would have persisted in his loose
observation that the U.S. was an “occupying force” amidst all the aid flowing
into his country? And even if he did, so what? The aid we were supplying is
obviously far more important than a cheap political maneuver by Bellerive.
Still, this shows the lack of spine Obama has when standing up to foreign
criticism. Even this offhanded comment from Bellerive was enough for Obama to
slight his own army and his own countrymen by removing Old Glory from sight in
Haiti.
If Obama is this much of a linguini-spined sort of a leader, what will
happen to us if he faces a real foreign crisis?
* * * * *
If he hates this country so much, why doesn't he just go somewhere else?