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I'm not criticising the aid efforts that are taking place - the criticism is precisely that it was delayed for seemingly bizarre desire for security - I mean a naval blockade to prevent Haitians from leaving??

Anyway, it was the aid agencies that were complaining - perhaps they don't know what they are talking about and the US military's calculations/judgements were sound. All I know, is when I compare what the UK reports say with the CNN reports - I don't find any justfications (or refutations) for the areas where the military has been criticised.

It's a small mercy that the BBC journalist's fears haven't come to pass:

We should certainly be concerned about overstating the security fears and undermining the aid effort, thereby exacerbating people's frustration and increasing the likelihood of violence.

And he summed it up quite well:

There are now thousands of US soldiers on the ground in Haiti. In places they act as if they are in the middle of Iraq or Afghanistan, pushing back people, sealing off secure zones.

One told a comrade that he feared another Somalia here. But that is the wrong approach. This is a humanitarian disaster, not a war

I guess it is natural for the US to want to protect their soldiers and to assume that the natives will be hostile.. but it's a humanitarian disaster, not a war.
Cheers,
Shafique

As I said, it speaks volumes that your articles never explain that the breakdown in the delivery of aid to the Haitians has anything to do with the earthquake which destroyed roads.

What has a naval blockade got to do with roads?

And just to be clear, the criticism is of the military delaying aid reaching Haiti - not the distribution of the aid once in there (that is a slightly separate, but related, criticism - but not the one the aid agencies were complaining about)

Cheers,
Shafique