Right. All the mumbo jumbo aside, this is a basic humanitarian crisis/disaster recovery operation, and the President will be measured by it, although, being a country far, far away, (read: Not America) he may get some latitude.

First underway, and foremost has been Honore, then DoD. Only DoD can plan, muster, resource and deliver the immediate response. (That is the underlying weak spot in all this "whole-of-government" thing). No other agencies have the resources and firepower.

Behind the scenes, a report in the Post indicated that the new US AID Director has been the substantive civilian in charge, and, based on prior experience, is apparently pretty good at it. (A reprieve for USAID's future). But they lack actual experts and staffing---just longer-range contract responses at the moment.

State first came out with an order for US citizens to get to the airport for flights home, then rescinded that for "shelter in place." Other than stumbling around, they don't seem to have their act together, or any relevant juice or resources.

I would have been happy to jump on a plane the first day, but like Honore indicated, the infrastructure and supporting framework isn't in place yet. Just another mouth to feed, and one without a backhoe or jack hammer (what's needed now). I can operate one, but I can't carry one across the pond.

The thought of seeing an injured loved one inches away, but separated by chunks of concrete, and what do you have to break through? Maybe a hammer< but probably just another hunk of concrete (futile).

As for the religion thing. What would Jesus do? Get a backhoe or jack hammer and go and try to rescue people!!!!

Behind the scenes, we already see the drones being diverted from Afghanistan to help. Great for Haiti, but, obviously, we now have another diversion of attention, leadership, resources (not a good thing).