Michael Parenti

The United States has an ulterior motive in providing humanitarian intervention to nations in crisis, argues Michael Parenti in the following viewpoint. He contends that the United States intervenes in a nation’s domestic affairs only when it needs to protect American business interests and create opportunities for new investments. Such interventions do little to help the countries’ oppressed citizens, he asserts, but do much to help their oppressors. Parenti is the author of several books including Democracy for the Few and Land of Idols: Political Mythology in America.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Parenti, how did the U.S. intervention in Haiti help foreign investors and harm the country’s poor?
2. What was the real purpose of U.S. intervention in Haiti, in the author...