The hell that is Haiti

New York Daily News: While the Dominican Republic reports fewer than 30 dead from Hurricane Jeanne, the toll in Haiti stands above 1,100. It will go higher. More than 1,200 Haitians are missing in floodwaters and mud slides. An estimated 250,000 are homeless.
Why would neighboring nations that share an island experience such drastically different effects from the same storm? The answer begins with Haiti's rape of its environment: Nearly 90 percent of the country has been deforested -- primarily to provide cooking fuel.
No trees, no tree roots to hold the soil. No tree roots to hold the soil, no protection from landslides when the rains come. And this summer, the rains came in hurricane force.
The answer continues with the dreadful poverty that is synonymous with Haiti, along with the fact that a stable, democratic government is about as alien to the Caribbean nation as a snowstorm. Its people are no strangers to misery, and what's happening there now is a full-blown humanitarian crisis.
Decaying corpses
Haiti is ridden with decaying corpses -- human and animal. Mass graves are being dug to avert pestilence -- but pestilence still threatens. Rescue workers are struggling to get food, clean water and medical supplies -- and body bags -- to the hardest-hit areas. Desperately hungry Haitians are mobbing relief workers and fighting among themselves for scraps of bread. And the air is filled with cries of mourning.
The United States, itself dealing with the aftermath of hurricanes, is nevertheless in a position to assist Haiti -- and other island nations struck by the storms. America can help rebuild the land and pressure the United Nations to send peacekeepers to help stabilize the society and, eventually, the government.