150,000 Bodies Buried in Haiti; Death Toll Could Top 300,000
Haitian authorities say more than 150,000 bodies have been buried in Haiti since the devastating January 12th earthquake. Haiti's Communications Minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue suggested the death toll could rise to 300,000. Lassegue said, Nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble. As many as 800,000 Haitians are now homeless in the capital of Port-au-Prince. To deal with the housing crisis, Haitian officials have announced plans to house 400,000 survivors in tent cities outside the capital of Port-au-Prince, but the International Organization for Migration said it could take weeks to search out sites suitable for the tent cities. The organization says 100,000 tents are still needed. An estimated 200,000 residents of Port-au-Prince have already fled for the countryside or other cities in Haiti. Up to 100,000 people have returned to the region around the coastal city of Gonaives in northern Haiti, a city abandoned by many after two devastating floods in six years. Many survivors of the earthquake have still not received medical attention. Dr. Mill Etienne is a Haitian American neurosurgeon aboard the US Navy's floating hospital, The Comfort.

Dr. Mill Etienne: "Many of these patients, because their legs, for example, were crushed a week ago, they didn't get immediate medical attention. A lot of them were stuck in a building or a house for two, three, four, five days before they were discovered. So what happens is, for a lot of those patients, their legs are dying. And having that dead leg there puts you at increased risk for infection. And that infection in the leg can actually kill the patient. So we are having to do a lot of amputations."


Medical Group Faults US Militarization of Haitian Relief
The US, meanwhile, is being accused of prioritizing the delivery of troops and military equipment over direly needed aid. Doctors Without Borders legal director Francoise Saulnier says a plane carrying over twelve tons of aid was turned back from landing three times this week.

In the airport in Port-au-Prince, huge pallets of aid, including medical supplies, food and water, sit in fields around the tarmac. Democracy Now! also reported on how hundreds of cases of bottled water are being delivered to the US embassy.

Francoise Saulnier: "Now everything has been mixed together, and the urgent and vital attention to the people have been delayed, while military logistic-which is useful, but not on day three, not on day four, but maybe on day eight-this military logistic has really jammed the airport and led to this mismanagement, real mismanagement of vital issues."

The Doctors Without Borders plane was diverted to the Dominican Republic, delaying the aid delivery by three days. At a Haitian hospital Wednesday, Doctors Without Borders field coordinator Pip Millard said doctors are struggling to treat earthquake survivors.

Pip Millard: "We've got a surgical team here who are doing surgery. We're having to do amputations. We've got some really severe wounds, lots of fractured limbs, both arms, legs, many different kind of crush injuries. And also, one of the other problems that we're really encountering is lack of supplies. We're running out of things very quickly."


UN: 2 Million Haitians Need Immediate Food Aid
The World Food Program says the crisis in Haiti after the earthquake may be the most complex operation the agency has ever faced. The United Nations estimates that two million Haitians need immediate food aid. So far distribution of food aid has been limited. As of Saturday, the World Food Program had reached about 200,000 in Port-au-Prince and 113,000 in other areas less than a sixth of the people that need food aid. Haitians living in tent cities in Port-au-Prince say they have nothing to eat.

Haitian Resident: I've been at Champ de Mars since January 12, and I don't know what's going on or what's going to happen to us. I don't know where to go. We are sleeping in the streets. And I'm telling all who want to help that we are waiting for your help. We have nothing to eat, nothing to drink."


Almost Deported Before the Quake, Haitian New York Activist is Freed
A prominent Haitian New York community activist has been released after being jailed for three weeks by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Jean Montrevil was arrested last month for a twenty-year-old drug conviction for which he had already served eleven years. He hasn't broken any law since.

Montrevil married an American citizen. He's the father of four children who are US citizens. He's a longtime community leader in New York City and active in a number of immigrant rights groups, including Families for Freedom and the New York City New Sanctuary Movement, as well as Detention Watch Network.

Jean Montrevil was hours away from being deported to Haiti earlier this month, when another prisoner got sick with a fever, forcing a delay. Less than a week later, the earthquake struck Haiti. While the US announced it would no longer deport Haitians, Jean Montrevil could have faced a lengthy stay behind bars. But a grassroots campaign led by immigrant rights groups and clergy helped force Immigration officials to set him free.


Canada Hosts Meeting to Discuss Rebuilding Haiti
At a meeting in Montreal, international leaders agreed Monday on a ten-year plan to rebuild Haiti. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper chaired the talks.
Stephen Harper: "It is not an exaggeration to say that ten years of hard work, at least, awaits the world in Haiti. Two, we need to focus on effectiveness. The Haitian people deserve it, and our own taxpayers expect it. Three, we must hold ourselves and each other accountable for the commitments that we make. I'd like to see emerge from this meeting the beginnings of a plan that will guide reconstruction in Haiti in a way that is effective, coordinated and strategic for the decade to come."

Speaking in Montreal, Haiti's Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said Haiti's government could lead efforts to rebuild the country.

Jean-Max Bellerive: "I can simply tell you that the people of Haiti are in need of more, more and more, in order to complete the sole task of reconstruction."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the Montreal talks but declined to say how much the United States would provide in the long term. While foreign ministers met in Montreal, the situation on the ground in Haiti remains dire. Haiti's Minister of Health Alex Larsen says the medical community is struggling to deal with the high number of amputations needed to be performed on survivors of the quake.

Alex Larsen: "And what is particularly sad is the children. There are many children whose members were totally crushed, putrefied, and that we had to amputate. There is this five-year-old who had to be amputated under the knee. When you look at this child, you tell yourself, he won't have the same youth that I have had, that you have had."


Hope for Haiti Telethon Raises $57 Million
On Friday, the Hope for Haiti telethon was broadcast across the United States. The event, organized by George Clooney, raised $57 million for relief organizations in Haiti.
So far the world's nations have pledged some $1 billion in emergency aid to Haiti. The amount of money being sent to help Haiti pales in comparison to the US war budget. In 2007 the economist Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes estimated the war in Iraq was costing the United States $720 million a day.


Obama Assails Supreme Court Campaign Finance Ruling
President Barack Obama used his weekly radio address on Saturday to assail the Supreme Court's ruling that corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money to elect and defeat candidates. In a five-to-four decision, the Court overturned century-old restrictions on corporations, unions and other interest groups from using their vast treasuries to advocate for a specific candidate. Obama said his administration is working on a response with members of Congress from both political parties.

President Obama: "This ruling opens the floodgates for an unlimited amount of special interest money into our democracy. It gives the special interest lobbyists new leverage to spend millions on advertising to persuade elected officials to vote their way or to punish those who don't. That means that any public servant who has the courage to stand up to the special interests and stand up for the American people can find himself or herself under assault come election time. Even foreign corporations can now get into the act. I can't think of anything more devastating to the public interest. The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections."

Legal experts say the Supreme Court's ruling calls into question the constitutionality of state campaign finance laws. Twenty-four states have laws that limit political contributions from corporations and unions.


Emails Show Fed Tried to Keep Details of AIG Bailout Secret
In business news, newly disclosed emails show the New York Federal Reserve attempted to keep secret many of the details of the AIG bailout, citing national security grounds. The emails were released last week by the New York Fed ahead of a congressional hearing on the bailout. The Fed's bailout of AIG remains controversial, in part because it secretly funneled nearly $70 billion to sixteen big US and European banks in what many described as a backdoor bailout. It was later disclosed that recipients of the AIG bailout included Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.


Obama to Reach Out to Middle Class Families in State of the Union
The New York Times reports President Obama will use his State of the Union address on Wednesday to propose a package of initiatives intended to help middle-class families. The proposals include tax credits for childcare, caps on some student loan payments and a requirement that companies let workers save automatically for retirement. Obama will also call for expanded tax credits for retirement savings and money for programs to help families care for elderly relatives.


Wal-Mart Lays Off 11,000 Workers
In other economic news, Wal-Mart has announced it is cutting some 11,000 jobs. The layoffs will affect workers at Wal-Mart's Sam's Club division.


Number of Children in Poverty in US Increases by 2.5 Million Since 2000
A new report on child poverty has found more than 13 million American children now live in families with incomes below the official federal poverty level of $22,000 a year for a family of four. The number of American children living in poverty has increased by 2.5 million over the past ten years. The National Center for Children in Poverty says another 16 million children live in low-income families but are ineligible for public benefits because they live in households that earn slightly more than $22,000 a year.


Obama to Call for Freeze on Non-Defense Spending
At his State of the Union address on Wednesday, President Obama is expected to call for a three-year freeze on non-security federal discretionary spending. The Pentagon will be exempted from the freeze, as will the Department of Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs. The freeze would cover many domestic areas, including education and the environment. Officials say the proposal will save $15 billion off next year's budget.


Democrats Consider Bills to Limit Foreign Corporate Campaign Donations
On Capitol Hill, Democratic lawmakers are crafting legislation to limit the role corporations can play in elections following last week's Supreme Court ruling that corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money to elect and defeat candidates. Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said one piece of legislation being considered will prohibit foreign-owned corporations from funneling money into American political campaigns. The court's ruling made no distinction between domestic and foreign corporations. Van Hollen said, "We have been very clear that we think it is totally inappropriate for foreign contributions to be influencing the outcome of American elections."


White House Debate Legality of Assassinating US Citizen in Yemen
ABC News reports White House lawyers are debating whether the US can legally assassinate a US citizen in Yemen. Anwar al-Awlaki is a US-born cleric who has been accused of having ties to the failed Christmas Day airline bombing and the shooting at Fort Hood. ABC reports US officials fear the possibility of criminal prosecution without approval in advance from the White House for a targeted strike against Awlaki. Awlaki has not been charged with any crimes under US law.


Bombings in Iraq Kill 60
In Iraq nearly sixty people have died in Baghdad over the past twenty-four hours in a pair of bombings. Earlier today a suicide bomber killed at least eighteen in a strike against the Interior Ministry offices. The majority of those killed were Iraqi police officers. On Monday, forty-one people died in a series of blasts at three Baghdad hotels which are popular with Western journalists and foreign security contractors. The Hamra Hotel housed the Washington Post's bureau in Baghdad. Three of the paper's Iraqi employees were wounded in the blast. Major General Stephen Lanza, a spokesperson for US forces in Baghdad, blamed the bombings on al-Qaeda.

Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza: "We believe that these will continue to some degree in the future, but they certainly won't stop the overall security that has been achieved in this country and then moving us towards the national elections on 7 March."


"Chemical Ali" Executed In Iraq
In other news from Iraq, another top official from Saddam Hussein's government has been executed. Ali Hassan al-Majid was hanged Monday after receiving four death sentences. The man nicknamed "Chemical Ali" was accused of overseeing the gassing of 5,000 people in the Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988.


Greek Farmers Stage Protests
In news from Europe, Greek farmers are staging a series of protests to express anger over high production costs and low prices. Farmers have been staging roadblocks around the country, obstructing border crossings and highways with their tractors.

Maroudas Rizos, a representative of the Larissa farmers collective: "We are waging a battle to survive. Farmers are dying out. Thousands of farmers from homes are out on the streets. This battle is to keep our land, our villages alive, and we want to be able to produce and be able to offer to the people affordable quality products."


Israeli Cabinet Minister: Goldstone Report on Gaza Is Anti-Semitic
The Israeli news agency Ynet is reporting the Israeli government is preparing an all-out attack on Richard Goldstone's United Nations report that accused Israel of committing war crimes during its assault on Gaza. Israeli Cabinet Minister Yuli Edelstein said, "The Goldstone Report and similar reports, are simply a type of anti-Semitism." Ynet reports Israel will launch the attack on the Goldstone Report tomorrow, the sixty-fifth anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Auschwitz. Last year the United Nations called on Israel to conduct an independent credible investigation into the war crimes allegations, but Israel has refused to establish a commission of inquiry.


Halliburton Asks Supreme Court to Block Rape Trial
The military contractor Halliburton has petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling in an attempt to block a former Halliburton employee's lawsuit alleging she was raped by her co-workers in Iraq. Jamie Leigh Jones sued Halliburton and its former subsidiary KBR over claims she was drugged and gang-raped by co-workers in Baghdad. Jones also accused the company of keeping her in a shipping container without food or water for at least twenty-four hours after the alleged crime took place. Halliburton says the contract signed by Jones and other workers requires claims to be settled through arbitration, not trial.

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