Can Obama reverse history of neglect and commit to Haiti?
As soldiers, Marines and dollars pour into Haiti after last week’s devastating earthquake a debate has begun in Washington over whether the US will sustain its commitment to a country where American foreign policy has a decidedly chequered history, ranging from neglect to short bursts of focus. For President Obama, who already has enormous military and economic obligations in Afghanistan and Iraq and a domestic political landscape becoming rockier by the day, some wonder whether his Administration will stick with Haiti for the long haul once the cameras have left and attention inevitably reverts to pressing politics back home. Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, insisted during a visit to Port-au-Prince last week that “we will be here today, tomorrow and for the time ahead”. Mr Obama has also pledged a sustained effort in a capital city that will need years, perhaps decades, of reconstruction and support even to return it to the chaotic state that it was in before the earthquak
