After the U.S. made a heroic effort to help the people of Haiti recover from their recent major earthquake, events on the ground have taken an odd turn. Even after millions of dollars in aid money was donated by American citizens, corporations and the federal government, and direct on-the-ground help from private U.S. aid groups and the U.S. military, it seems that some U.S. efforts are looked on with suspicion. How else to interpret the recent arrest of Baptist missionaries trying to save Haitian children? According to this report in Time Magazine, this group of American missionaries has been charged with child kidnapping and criminal association. Right, I’m sure this Baptist missionary group was really a front for a cabal of child traffickers. I would assume that the Haitian authorities have the discretion to deport the Americans if they wanted to, and yet they choose to jail them. After having examined the initial U.S. response to the Haitian earthquake disaster for this blog, I’m incredulous at the idea of American citizens sitting in jail for trying to help the children of Haiti. I’m not sure what is going on here, what is motivating this action by the suddenly functioning Haitian government, but this actions seems a tad, well, ungrateful.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
