The naming of Bill Clinton as the U.N.'s special envoy for Haiti is a definite boost for the U.N. and its blue-helmet spectators, i.e. peacekeepers, that don't seem to have many fan clubs among the Haitian people. I mean, Bubba can work a crowd, as long as he doesn't have his saxophone.
Of course, he should have more impact since he has no responsibility related to the peacekeepers.
However, the U.S. hasn't had a crystal-clear policy on dealing with the impoverished country themselves, serving as personal escort to a certain Mr. Aristide in and out of the country at different times of political turmoil. Not exactly a "for the people" type of involvement.
Granted, there is aid that goes to Haiti, but a sustained effort at building a sustainable Haitian society always slips from the world's grasp.
Agriculture and education go hand in hand for making a decent future an option for people of any country, but they always come in last it seems. Imagine the money saved by the World Food Programme if sustainable agriculture was a priority and on everyone's radar. Agronomists, hydrologists, geologists and any other science people ending in "ist" I'm forgetting could be enlisted to look at potential or failed land in which ever host country.
Maybe the U.S. State Department should sponsor a country a year, where the majority of its aid resources are poured into a smaller country such as Haiti.
The rest of the world could pull the weight elsewhere -- unlikely to happen with the dysfunctional, diplomatic clusterfuck known as the United Nations -- and we could build one village at a time, since as we all know, it takes a village. (Mrs. Clinton, I'll expect my check in the next two weeks)
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