I can't help but notice a certain irony to this entire "harsh in Haiti" thread. While much of the discussion has focused on overblown coercive measures for dealing with problems of looting and public order, what I'm hearing from diplomats, aid officials and journalists on the ground is that the looting and public order issues have been much smaller than expected, and have not been the primary constraint (which has tended to be access, logistics, communication, and coordination). Many have actually been rather positively impressed by the degree of community self-help and organization among the affected population. The most recent OCHA sitrep devotes only one sentence (in a six page report) to security problems--and even this is the potential for criminal violence due to prison escapes, and potential future instability, rather than serious looting affecting current UN and NGO activities on the ground.

Part of this, of course, is because MINUSTAH and the US military integrated convoy, perimeter control, and other security measures into relief planning. It is also not to say that looting hasn't happened--obviously it has, as have problems in orderly distribution of supplies.

It is to suggest, however, that this sometimes testosterone-laden discussion might be a bit removed from the actual challenges on the ground at the moment.