The Miami Herald on Haiti, for the long run: Over the decades, those who have sought to help Haiti win a better future have learned a bitter lesson: the road to failure is paved with good intentions and worthy plans. This time, for the sake of Haiti's nine million inhabitants, everyone must get it right.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration veered far off course, endangering the lives of hundreds of grievously injured earthquake victims when it halted U.S. military flights on Wednesday that were supposed to take patients to American hospitals, mostly in South Florida. ...

The governor's reasonable request became a pretext for the military to halt flights for the most severely injured victims. Washington officials added other excuses over the weekend, saying logistical challenges made it difficult to find U.S. airport runways capable of having large military planes land near trauma hospitals that were waiting to help. Pathetic. ...

In the coming weeks and months, we will examine Haiti's needs and the recovery effort in depth. Several areas will dominate the task of creating a new Haiti:

Governance. Haitians might balk at surrendering any measure of sovereignty, but some sort of international authority must have a strong say in guiding the aid effort and making decisions about where the money goes and avoiding corruption.

Orphans. Some one million children are orphaned or lost one parent. The government is right to call a halt to large-scale adoptions by foreigners at this moment, but ultimately these children will need homes, many outside of Haiti.

Diaspora. Haitians living abroad are some of the country's best and brightest. They want to help. Allowing them a say in the government of that country by permitting dual citizenship will ease the way.

Security. Partisan rancor seemed to have abated in the last year, but U.S. forces will be needed to keep order while there is a humanitarian crisis, and the pre-existing U.N. force will need reinforcements over the longer run.

Above all, Haiti needs a sustained effort. In the past, well-meaning countries and aid partners lost interest or just gave up far too soon. A few years is too short a time to fix all the things that are wrong.

San Diego Union-Tribune on gays and lesbians in the military:

President Barack Obama's State of the Union address had a retro feel to it when he broached a controversial subject that has been on the back burner for the last 16 years: gays and lesbians in the military. Obama wants to repeal the existing policy, known as "Don't ask, don't tell." He calls making the change "the right thing to do."

It is. And it's about time the country did right by gay and lesbian service members. The current policy ignores a basic inequity that is not cured by politically convenient half-measures that don't solve anything.

Speaking of politically convenient half-measures, it was in December 1993 that President Bill Clinton issued an executive order that established the current policy. The idea began as a compromise proposed by Clinton's defense secretary, Les Aspin, who opposed Clinton's campaign promise to drop the ban on gays and lesbians in the military.

Aspin suggested prohibiting the military from asking recruits about their orientation and allowing gays and lesbians to serve in uniform, as long as they didn't declare their orientation or engage in homosexual behavior.

Problem solved? Well, not exactly. The compromise was heavy on pragmatism and light on principle. Clinton had gotten himself into a tight spot by making a promise that he had trouble keeping. This policy was intended to help him wiggle out. But, ultimately, the gay and lesbian communities weren't happy. ...

They should listen to Bill Mynatt of Knoxville, Tenn., who discussed the idea of repealing "don't ask, don't tell" last year while a senior at West Point. "I really don't think it's going to be that big of a deal," Mynatt told The New York Times.

"There are gay soldiers serving and doing their jobs well, and it's not going to change."

(Feb. 8, 2010)