factbat.com

In an interview by David Sutta -- corespondent for CBS News 4 Miami -- A developer in South Florida, Frank McKinney, has proposed “nation building” as the only viable strategy able to properly deal with the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake which rocked Haiti last Tuesday.

The article first entices readers to admire McKinney with personal reports of heroics and rescue efforts claiming he was on the ground in 36 hours searching for survivors.

He since has returned to South Florida, but not before "his team" -- whatever that means -- personally pulled out four people from the rubble.

Now that, as he claims, the rescue efforts are coming to an end -- a statement many in the actual crisis zone would ardently debate -- he is already looking towards the future of Haiti.

Unfortunately, in the current scheme of things, as the U.S. economy is faltering and housing markets remain soft, far too many developers will be seeking to profit from Haiti’s misfortune. Moreover, this type of profiteering has been subjecting Haiti for decades.

He claims that while he is not a fan of nation building “the United States has no choice.” Which is quite a leap of foreign policy and economic strategy coming form what is likely not much more than a glorified construction worker who himself admits to having designed and built some of the structures which collapsed in Haiti.

He also claims that the building process in Haiti will need to change. “Its got to be able to now give,” said McKinney. “I mean, who knew there were earthquakes?”

So once again sarcasm passes for advice from some self-appointed expert on the Haitian plight. Furthermore, if he is so well acquainted with the building codes and processes in that country, where was this advice when he was apparently lining his pockets with profits from cheap local labor and lax construction standards?

But then who can be certain just what he is inferring when he says “give.” Is this his way of explaining tolerance variables, tinsel strength and load capacities of structural engineering? Or is this just a Freudian slip of a miscreant profiteer?

The fact is that nation building or any other style of excessive interference will merely give Haitians much of the same corruption and misfeasance it is already being shackled with.

Decades of outside interference complete with demands placed on the Haitian economy and local markets, have allowed foreign interests to undercut local business, freeze wages, manipulate the local bureaucracy and destabilize the social structure in that country.

Haiti appears to be an extremely viable tourist market in light of its geographical location to the equator and obvious tropical regions.

McKinney, remarkably, is also allowed to rant about his fears that Haiti could become desirable to terrorists saying “If we allow it to fester and bubble it could turn into a haven for terrorism and all sorts of things.” However, Haiti has been relatively "festering" for decades with incredible resiliency and decorum.

He makes his ridiculous remarks after first noting Haiti’s close proximity to United States shores as he claims “Haiti needs to be made the 51^st state of the union for about five years, and then turned back over to the Haitian population.” Going on to claim “The thing with this is, Haiti is only two and a half hours from our shores…”

Simply the fact that Haiti is so close to the United States is reason enough to discount McKinney’s analogy as the ravings of a lunatic.

However, the fact that Haiti has been under a U.S. backed U.N. occupation for nearly 6 years, and almost entirely controlled by European and Western influence, illuminates not only the reality that the country would have to be relocated over 3,000 miles to the East in order to facilitate such a haven. But also, that his suggestions of nation building don’t appear to have done much for Haiti in over a century except cause widespread poverty, residential death traps, perilous infrastructure and incompetent disaster capabilities…among other things.

Haiti must be allowed, and enabled, to rebuild its own cities and towns, and the indigenous population must be given first priority when it comes to the management and reconstruction of its fractured social, municipal and economic framework.

It appears that, like Pat Roberts and Rush Limbaugh, what McKinney is attempting to insinuate -- however veiled -- is that the people of Haiti deserve what has befallen them, simply because he believes they are incapable of handling their own affairs and thus will require interference by outside developers.

Of course, it is almost a given that McKinney has every intention of competing for a portion of this scheme his bombastic rant is expected to garner support for.

If his plan is successful, it will be rather interesting to investigate just what local bureaucrats he will be petitioning to place him at the top of the list of the veritable swarm of land sharks which will certainly be drawn to the fresh blood of the ailing Haitian society.