Death Toll Grows as The Page Is Turned on Iraq by President Obama

August 31, 2010, Obama declared it is "time to turn the page" on Iraq, yet he didn't declare the war is over. The page may be turned but the story is not over. A visit to Arlington West illustrates the open book as more causalities are added to the records, and more markers are added in the sand.

Week ending August 22, the week the last combat troops were pulled out of Iraq, more soldiers were killed in Iraq.The war in Iraq is over for some, but not for the remaining 50,000 troops still deployed in Iraq. Or the first soldier killed after the last combat troops were pulled out.

Arlington West: Every Sunday in Santa Monica a group of volunteers organized by Veterans For Peace puts out markers to memorialize American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each white marker represents one dead soldier; each red one, ten. The blue markers signify soldiers killed the in the last week. Visitors add messages and mementoes to the markers. Symbolic coffins for each of the weeks dead are carried out onto the beach. The week ending August 22, 16 coffins repressing the three soldiers killed in Iraq and 13 killed in Afghanistan were placed among the markers. Members of Veterans for Peace are on hand to help veterans and family members memorialize the dead and educate people passing by about the cost of the wars.

Click here to see a slide show: photo essay on Arlington West

It's Not Over Til It's Over!

While the end may be near for the rogue BP oil well, the damage to Louisiana's wetlandscontinues. More oil is washing up, oil that has sunk into the ground is resurfacing and tropical storms push it deeper into the marshes. Scientists are concerned about the long term effects on the Gulf of Mexico's wildlife and fish from the toxic combination of dispersants and oil. Click here to see some of the oil being recovered from the water.

Admiral Thad Allen reports seeing little to no oil on recent flyovers. Plaquemines ParishPresident Billy Nungesser disagrees. On a trip out to Barataria Bay, Nungesser assessed the damage first hand. A low tide coupled with Northern winds made it possible to see oil washed deep into the wetlands. Fiddler crabs covered in oil scurried along the banks, while gulls fished the polluted waters.

Booms, skimmers and jack-up barges have been removed despite the protestation of parish presidents. Though a total environmental catastrophe appears to have been averted, it is too early to assess the long term damage to Louisiana's wetlands. It is unclear how much of the oil-saturated marsh grass will die, but any such loss will speed up coastal erosion. Click here to see footage of the Damage to the Marsh as seen from an airboat.

There is a growing concern among locals that the oil disaster story is being whitewashed. BP's pr team seems eager to call the disaster a wrap. Doug Suttles,Chief Operating Officer of BP Exploration and Production, reminisces about his first flight over the disaster in a July 20th BP video. He gushes about the extraordinary effort that he says has worked extraordinarily well. "There is just not a lot of oil out there, " he says . Nunngesser begs to differ. I sat down and talked to him after a trip to Barataria Bay. Listen to what he has to say here.

For images of the oil that is still out there click here. If this is what the 25% of the remaining oil looks like, the wetlands are still in trouble. Bob Cesca's article "The BP Disaster Continues Despite Cheerful Happy Talk" will make you question most major media sources' willingness to accept the Joint Information Center's pr. Who's doing the talking, the Coast Guard or BP or have they become one and the same? Who is allowing BP to pull up their assets, the booms andskimmers and barges, and run? Hurricane season has yet to peak. Kudos to Billy who speaks his mind when no one else will. As a sign on Route 23 that takes you through the heart of Plaquemines Parish says, "God Bless Billy."

Coast Guard's Reversal On Press Restrictions

The Coast Guard has reversed its restriction on the press!

I just received an email from the Joint information Center: "NEW ORLEANS -- National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen today announced new procedures to allow media free travel within the 20-meter boom safety zones if they have followed simple procedures for credentialing, and provided they follow certain rules and guidelines."

The Coast Guard's about face comes just after I finished writing my latest blog entry. It is important for everyone to know what the Coast Guard did and why it was wrong. For a while I thought I was living in a police state run by corporate interests, which added to the horror of the BP oil disaster. I embrace the Coast Guard's reversal.

I went out with wildlife and fishery agents on July 3rd to get around the new restrictions. As of June 30th, you have to keep 65 feet away from booms or cleanup vessels. We inspected two protected rookeries, Cat Island and Queen Bess. Absorbent boom full of oil washed up on the shore of the islands. I saw only one boat with two men working on fixing the boom at Queen Bess Island. Could it has been that BP private contractors wanted the 4th of July off, just likemost federal employees? If I were handling BP's PR, I'd put cleanup crews on overtime andmake sure bird rookeries were cleaned up. A more effective way to stop the disseminationof images of dying creatures might be to stop the oil from getting to the birds' habitat in the first place. And then there'd be no need to take away the media's first amendment rights.

The pictures that most damage BP's image are those of oil-stained animals. Those pictures cause President Obama problems too. He had to answer to his daughter who is worried about the pelicans, he pointed out while addressing the press on his second visit to Louisiana.

The BP oil spill, the largest, most disastrous spill in United States history, affects us all. That, and the First Amendment, is why restrictions on the press should challenged. We as a society should not let corporate polluters, in this case BP, in cooperation with the government control the media. It's true that the Joint Information Center, run by BP and the Coast Guard has provided many opportunities to the press, but that does not give them the right to make independent reporting difficult via regulations disguised as public safety rules, or by using intimidation tactics, turning away journalists at every pass as documented many times by those covering the story.

Read here about the Coastguard's media liaison's connection to BP's PR agency http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/coast-guard-media-liaison_b_635209.html.
Listen to what Billy Nungesser has to say about the new restrictions here-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-twfQwTr6LE&feature=player_embedded
listen to Anderson coopers outrage about the media restriction here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyUjgRfOdDg&feature=player_embedded

Restricted zones, joint information centers, decontamination areas, embedded media: Am I in a war zone or Louisiana? New restrictions on the media make it almost impossible to properlytell the story. So much for transparency. Despite all the dispersants that have beendumped into the Gulf of Mexico, the oil washes up opaque. BP has chosen to spend $50 million on PR while leaving the birds on major rookeries in danger. Protecting our national resources should not become a political battle. Should we turn to BP's hired hack reporters to get our news? See BPs blog here To those who try to defend the new restrictions I say, gooutside with a camera, step back 65 feet from your subject ( an estimate of how far the boom keeps you from your subject beofre the new rules went in effect) then step back another 65 ft and see what kind of picture you get. After you do that, see if you can get Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen to disclose which officials asked him to enact these "safety measures." (Thad Allan is off the hook with the call for him to reveal that information since he has given he retracted his 65 ft rule)

To see a new photo essay I created on the oil disaster on The Atlantic's site click here:http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2010/07/images-bp-doesnt-want-you-to-see/59369/

images: top, me on Long Beach in Mississippi
bottom- boom that had been around Cat Island floating in Barataria Bay/ Absorbent boom full of oil washed onto Cat Island by Hurricane Alex

BP Oil Leak Update In Pictures

Politicians and BP officials who assure the public all that can be done is being done to protect and clean up the Gulf Coast might want to reconsider such statements. That is not what I have seen. Brown pelicans on Queen Bess Island are living dangerously close to splotches of oil stuck inside and outside the boom meant to protect the island. Many of them have been rescued by wildlife and fishery officials, while countless others have died. The cleanup effort ramps up when VIP's are around; other than that, the cleanup and containment effort is sporadic at best. Last weekend, Christopher Hernandez of Grand Isle called members of the press down to show them around the day after 600 workers were bussed in to clean the beach for Obama's visit. Post-Obama, the cleanup crews numbers dwindled and their work hours were almost nonexistant.

For a multi-media story for the Atlantic featuring Chris and his take on BP controlling the media on Grand Isle, Also check out a photo essay for the Washington Post on the Pointe au Chien Indians I have updated my set on Flickr and it will continue to grow.

Images- top to bottom -A reporter puts his hand in an oil patch on the surface of Barataria Bay/Sign on Grand Isle, where BP's oil spill has shut down the fishing industry and washed up on shore/Brown pelican covered in oil on Barataria Bay off the coast of Grand Terre Island/ Chris Hernandez, Street Superintendent of Grand Isle, on Grand Isle beach/Baby tern stuck in an oil patch on Grand Isle beach, rescued by Chris Hernandez/ Pelican, being cleaned at Fork Jackson in Buras Louisiana/ Living quarters for cleanup workers on a barge stationed in Lake Barre/ Jake Billiot, a Pointe-au-Chien Indian, in front of the place of business where he used to sell shrimp in Point aux- Chene. The shrimp season was canceled on May 30th due to oil from the BP leak contaminating the waters. Jake has been a fisherman his whole life. Jake signed on to work for BP putting out boom since no other work is available to him

Soccer Anyone? Displaced people evicted from Stadium

Thousands of people were evicted from the grounds of the National Stadium (Sylvio Center) on April 10 when the police came and smashed the remaining temporary shelters. People are now living in the parking lot and the surrounding grounds which were already full. The lives of these displaced people have gone from bad to worse. They are more vulnerable than ever as the parking lot and surrounding grounds flood rapidly when the rains come down. Ben Constant, who has been helping the people in the Stadium since he opened the doors after the earthquake, said, "People will die, no questions about it. When the waters come, and they will come, cars can get washed away. The people are not safe living there, but they were not given any other alternatives."

The National Stadium in Port-au-Prince was transformed into a tent city shortly after the earthquake hit Haiti. Constant, opened the stadium to the public in as orderly a fashion as he could, taking the names of all who moved in and imposing a curfew at night. Ten thousand people were living of the grounds. Rolny St. Louis, the Stadium director, and Constant made the stadium one on the most organized, safest tent cities in the country by providing security, water and getting as much aid from different NGOs as possible. Different medical groups visited daily and set up free medical clinics. That's over now.

The CA-based Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation and other NGOs made the Stadium’s parking lot their prime site for distribution of food and other goods. A shipment of 1,300 tents arrived to great excitement at the end of March. But the tents proved unsuitable. They accommodate three small people. Constant set a few up on the Stadium field so people could check them out. Sentiment ranged from anger and disappointment to realistic acceptance: At least they would have a place to keep their kids dry, one person told me. Tents made for three were given to families of up to eleven. Reports that tents were given out by officials at the Stadium prior to the eviction are untrue.

Rolny St. Louis warned the people they'd have to move after he got a call from the Soccer Federation (a Haitian organization) telling him he needed to clear the people from the Stadium by April 15th. Protests began immediately as people were not told where they could go. AFP quoted St. Louis “We could no longer tolerate people living here. They did everything (in the stadium): prostitution, rape and theft." I asked St. Louis about this comment. ArialMT"">He told me he never said that. There was only one reported rape at the stadium, no prostitution and little crime. He and Constant maintained security for the people. He was not happy at all to put the people out. He made sure to let as many as he could stay in the parking lot though he acknowledged it wont be safe there after a heavy rainfall.

Prior to the eviction, temporary resident Sommavil Rodney said, “We are not animals. We are not savages. But if they try to get us to go, we will show them we can be savage. The Stadium belongs to the Haitian people," he insisted, "and they need to be respected. We will die here before we leave."

Gregory Amazon, who left the stadium ahead of the police eviction, told me that despite the protest that took place early Friday morning, the people had no choice; an elite heavily armed segment of the police department called SIMO came with guns in hand so everyone backed down. Saturday morning the police smashed the shelters to bits as people cried. They watched the little they had destroyed. "I moved back near where my house collapsed and stayed in the second story of a building," Amazon said. "There was another aftershock yesterday and I was scared. We are being treated like dogs."

Over a month ago the Haitian government started erecting a tent city in one of the most dangerous parts of the city, where Cite Soliel, Delmas 2 and Belair come together. The tents are flimsy and are in need of plastic sheeting for waterproofing before they can be lived in. Other alternative solutions are starting to be created out side of the cities limits. A humane civilized solution has yet to be presented. But for now at least, the soccer games can begin.

Click here to see a set of images of the stadium before the eviction Additonal information: A link to a story I did for the Atlantic that includes a clip of the former presidents. And Interview with Anderson Cooper and Sean Penn who talks about relocating displaced people living in a tent city in Petionville. No such alternative option was offered to the people at the National Stadium before they wereevicted. The people outside the stadium are now living in the kind of peril. Sean Penn speaks about that the people in the tent city he has been looking after are in. AFP article that incorrectly reports tents being given away by officials and with a quote the the director of the stadium denies

Homage to Patti Lynn Gregory

I spoke with my friend Patti before I left for Haiti. She and I usually communicate by email and catch up in person when I'm in New York, but I decided to touch base with her before returning to Haiti so I called her from the airport before I left. We had a wonderful conversation. She told me about her upcoming trip to London and we made plans to meet in New York. She was worried about me returning to Haiti, when it turns out I should have been worried about her. Patti had a terrible accident and passed away on March 18. The Daily News falsely reported her death a suicide. Sure, Patti had dark thoughts from time to time. I do too, but the irresponsibility of saying she killed herself when the police ruled her death an accident is journalism at its worst.

Eight years ago, Patti lost the use of her legs, but she got around more than most people. I never thought of her as handicapped. She seemed to take all hardship in stride. She relished life. We met after she read an article about my work. She came to buy a piece for Danny. She became one of my favorite critics, often seeing things in my work I hadn't thought of.

My work in Haiti resonated with Patti. She and her husband Danny sent funds to support my work here before I sought them. When I told her how I gave a Haitian driver for the military $20 so he could get a charger for his cell phone (his was lost under his collapsed home) and then e-mailed his family in the States to explain why they hadn't heard from him, how I heard back from them within minutes with thanks for word of him, she asked me to give him an additional $20. Patti understood the value of the kindness of strangers.

Patti would take me for extravagant lunches when we met over the years. Although I usually don't drink during the day, I could never turn her down when she asked me with sparkling eyes if I wanted another one. Our lunches were always a special occasion. We would talk about topics from A to Z . Returning to New York City without connecting with Patti again will be a great loss in my life..

In the next days, I'm off to Jacmel, where I will try to locate the friends of my friend Flo. Here is an email Patti wrote to me after reading my Homage to Flo McGarrell who died on Jan. 12, a victim of the Haitian earthquake:

Hi Julie,

It's a very sad story. I salute him for living the way he wanted to, and that was surely very attractive to a lot of people. It's all just such a loss of life and the after lives even for the survivors is sure to be very difficult. The amount of struggle and competition for such basic human essentials is completely ungodly and cruel. I dislike knowing about such things only through the media. It just doesn't seem real and therefore it is difficult to feel what I feel to be real reactions to exactly what it may be like.

I feel like a little chicken hiding over here all safe and comfortable. Not that I would ever want to actually experience such atrocities even in any lesser form, but I think it is part of my love and respect for you, that you have been and do go so close. I think in another life I would definitely like to at least try to make that effort to know some things better, first hand. I cannot imagine what it could be like for Flo's mom, having his body returned and going through such a process has got to be completely emotionally devastating. All I keep thinking is that he must have been a very powerful life force and surely not extinguished quite so easily as his body could be. He must be reconfiguring into some form and still burning brightly. He doesn't seem to have been the type to be easily contained for long. I'd love to see you do a book about him.
Let me know when you are here or on the way. All the best to You, your mom, your dad,
Patti
Images from the National Cemetery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Port-au-Prince 10 weeks after the earthquake

images top to bottom: Rodney Patrick in Miami field hospital in critical condition from gun shot wounds/Dr. Yvens Laborde treating three- month old Dedumes Christiano at a mobile clinic/Dr. Yvens Laborde treating Anita Buenieville (95 year old) for hypertension/Volunteers with The Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi  Foundation distributing blankets at the National Stadium




Port-au-Prince, Haiti 10 weeks after the earthquake, though the search and rescue work is long over, one can easily find people that need rescuing. No one is alive under the rubble any more, but many people are in mortal danger. Their needs are little different than they were the day after the earthquake.

My first day back in Port-au-Prince I was met by Dr. Yvens Laborde who works for Oshner Hospital in New Orleans. He is a one man envoy on the ground for the hospital helping as many people as he can. Our first stop was the Miami University Hospital on the airbase. It has grown in size and was fuller than ever. Laborde checked on Rodney Patrick, who was shot three times in the back by thieves. His odds of survival are slim, unless Labode can get him evacuated to a hospital in America, a feat he doesn’t think he will be able to pull off. Later we went to Champ de Mars, the tent city across from the presidential palace, to check up on Anita Buenieville, a 95-year-old woman who has hypertension, common after the quake. After the house call he helped as many as he could at an on-the- spot clinic he set up with the help of two assistants. He wasn’t sure he could save three-month old Dedumes Christiano. She developed a rash most likely caused by an infectious disease. (See the doctor in action with the baby here.)

The lack of aid reaching the Haitian people as a crime against humanity, according to Laborde. He is watching people die who he could easily have cured. The situation is deplorable. The need on the ground versus the millions of dollars in aid money being donated is hard to reconcile. In the tent cities, need is the first thing on the mind's of everyone I meet. People ask for shelter, food, and medicine, in that order. Elianna Deaguste led me into her tent and showed me her sick daughter. The rain drenched both of them the night before.

The next days we spent trying to get a shipment released from Customs. The airway bill made it clear the shipment was medical supplies, humanitarian aid, yet the cargo area we were sent to after UPS gave the doctor the paper work wouldn’t release it. The doctor was sent on a wild goose chase that lasted two days, and still the medicine was not released. The Haitian bureaucracy is maddening. It takes over 30 minutes to get a "No" and be told to go elsewhere, over and over again. At the Minister of Interior's office where we went to get the first of three signatures, a worker pointed out to me that the man in the office across from us had been trying every day for three weeks to have his packages released. Four days later and Laborde, a man good at working his way through the system here;Haitian born, launage and culture are second nature to him and still has not gotten the medicine released. He wonders if it is this hard for him, what's it like for those less accustomed to red tape?

Things at the National Stadium have changed. Ben Constant, who allowed for the establishment of the tent city there, added another 800 families to the 1,000 he originally opened the stadium to, bringing the population to over 10,000 people. The Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, based in San Dimas, CA, chose to focus their humanitarian work at the National Stadium after meeting Ben. They are giving aid to those living in the Stadium and the surrounding area. They come daily and will do so until early April. Their distribution technique is much different than the World Food Program food surge that was run with help of the US military and the UN forces. They treat the Haitians with respect and love, bowing when giving aid to each recipient. Curtis Hsin, the Emergency Disaster Coordinator, reported that Brazilian UN security guards told him that the way to keep order was to fight. "Why do you think you need to fight?" Hsin asked. "We will show the Haitian people love and all will be peaceful." The UN guards saw for themselves how respectful and peaceful the distribution process can be. Click here to see video cip of Curits.

While the National Stadium is one of the most secure tent cities , the makeshift shelters offer little protection from the elements. Early Friday morning bought hours of rain. People frantically try to protect themselves and their belongings. Tents are on the way proviced by the Buddists, Ben has been told.

There are noticeably few bright spots to be found in Port-au-Prince these days. Bush and Clinton are set to arrive and meet with the ineffective leadership of the country. The whereabouts of the millions of dollars donated to their fund remains a mystery to me and all those I have met, many of whom have still have received no help at all.

Update from Haiti on Three Orphanages

Today I checked in with three of the organizations I photographed in Haiti to get an update. Two of the three had some good news, but all three have stressed the overall landscape of Port-au-Prince remains the same. I will be back on Tuesday and check things out for myself. Here is a link to images shot at the orphanages http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliedermansky/sets/72157623478226039/

Michael Brewer of Reach Haiti Ministries told me he still hasn't been able to secure land to build a new orphanage and is still hunting for new possibilities. He has been able to get help from the World Food Organization and has been helping other orphanages get food as well. He has noticed many aid organizations leaving and stresses the need for continued assistance in Haiti. He updated me on Marylyn, a sick child I photogrraphed during my first visit. It turns out not only was she malnourished, she has TB as well. She will be in a hospital for an additional six months.

Ben Constant, who runs two orphanages along with the tent city in the National Stadium, told me he hasn't received any aid for the orphanages; however his sister Mary Jo Poux will be in Haiti to help the orphanages next week. She will be meeting a container of goods she had shipped over from New Orleans filled with items for the orphanages and the tent city that have been donated for the most part by people in New Orleans. Food aid has started to arrive at the Stadium and tents have been promised to the people by March 28th.

Rev. Jean Frank Antoine told me he has received no aid for his orphanage. His colleague Yves Alain Belotte from the Ridel Foundation told me discontent is growing among the people living in Ti Casou, a tent city of over 5,000 in Carre Foure. They believe the foundation must be keeping everything for themselves since they receive no aid. Yves Alain Belotte assured me this isn't the case and hopes that I can accelerate the process of getting aid to the people he is looking after. I explained the best I can do is make sure his story gets out there.

Ronnie Hepperly, who has worked in many places in crisis, told me that what he found in Haiti was even worse than the problems in southern Sudan. He says it is the largest humanitarian disaster the western hemisphere has faced in hundreds of years (see Utube video here http://www.youtube.com/user/jsdart?feature=mhw4#p/a/u/1/lBpJ6V8tyF4 )
It is certainly the largest one I have seen. I am returning on my own, with the conviction that the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake is a story the must be told.

If you like getting truly independent news updates from me and want to support me in telling the story of what is going on in Haiti now, please send a check to Julie Dermansky at 300 Katherine Street, Englewood NJ, 07631 or contribute via Paypal to my acount juliedermansky@yahoo.com. Funds will go to cover my expenses for travel, health care and gear. Your donations to me will also indirectly help organizations I support by donating images for fundraising purposes whose beinficaries include Doctors Without Borders, Concearn World wide and World Haiti Relif Fund. To see more articles (including and update on all thing milliary) and images click here http://web.mac.com/jsdart/Site/Haiti.html


Visit the sites of these small hands on non-profits and see how you can help-
Michael and Andrea Brewer www.ReachHaiti.com
Ben Constatn and Mary Jo Poux www.hopeforhaitianchildrenfoundation.org
Rev. Jean Frank Antoine and Yves Alain Belotte www.ridelhaiti.org.

Update on the US Military's Role in Haiti

Approximately 4,500 US troops remain in Haiti, most of them dealing with logistics.

Spc. A. M. LaVey wrote on a the Southern Millitary Commands site, "At the high point of Operation Unified Response, American forces numbered 20,000 and they were responding to about 2,000 incidents a day; today there are about half the number of troops here, and they are responding to under 100 incidents per day .

Army Col. (Dr.) Jennifer Menetrez said via a live blog, “The last patient was discharged from the Comfort on Feb. 27.” Their stay is coming to an end and the 377 TSC Army Reserves out of Belle Chase, LA, with whom they originally travelled to Haiti, have officially taken over command of ) logistics from the 3rd ESC . Many of the NGOs and Haitians worry security will deteriorate with the removal of the troops. Time will tell if the Haitian government is ready to take charge.

Word from the APOD ( Arial Point of Debarkation- base for some of the troops): Even though their tents are much better than the average earthquake victims temporary shelter, they too have been effected by the heavy pours.

Here is a photo set on Flickr of the US Military in action in Haiti, from body recovery at the Hotel Montana to the setting up of the base on the grounds of the Port-au-Prince airport. http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliedermansky/sets/72157623580080258/

images: top- USNS Comfort Ship Off Haiti bottom : Porto-potties on the APOD

Temporary Shelters offer little Protection from the Rain in Haiti

Last weekends headlines concerned two million left homeless in Chile.

Will Haiti be forgotten now that a bigger quake has hit elsewhere? It seems Haiti still holds the trump card for suffering and more is on the way with the coming rains.

Torrential rains have begun in Haiti before the official start of the rainy season. Approximately 600,000 are living in makeshift tents in Port-au-Prince. They have gotten a taste of what is to come. While people in Hawaii and Japan dodged a bullet with a tsunami warning, people in Haiti contended with a heavy downpour.

There is little people can do to protect themselves. Getting wet from above is one thing, but being swept away from surges of water another. I visited several tent cities that have been established around Port-au-Prince and saw only a handful of sturdy tents. Most people had shelters made with sheets, wood cardboard and scraps of blue plastic tarp.

Attached are images of some of the temporary shelters people built for themselves in Port-au-Prince. USAID had received reams of plastic to distribute while I was in Haiti. Hopefully that plastic has replaced some of the cardboard and sheets that I photographed.Click here to see a set of images on temporary housing in Port-au-Prince's tent cities.