U.S. will send more troops to Haiti despite criticism

The U.S. has faced criticism over the extent of its military presence in Haiti, but still has announced it will send more troops to the country.

US Army Lieutenant General Ken Keen said that the soldiers are providing security where it is needed.

The United States military operation in Haiti focused some of its efforts on providing security at the city's main hospitals on Wednesday. They were trying to control crowds of residents waiting outside one of the city's main hospitals.

Keen said US soldiers were not involved in street patrols, but were instead focusing on "joint operations with the UN forces, particularly when it related to humanitarian assistance."

The Lieutenant General said the U.S. has over two thousand troops on the ground, and another 9-thousand in the area on the ships supporting them. Furthermore, the U.S. government announced that it would send an additional 4000 troops currently based in Europe and the Middle East to Haiti.

US soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division walk in streets from Presidential palace to the general hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince.(AFP/Thomas Coex)