Important! Please Read, Everyone In Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[johnc]

So, less then 24 hours after the tsunami, Jan Egeland, stands up and has his temper tantrum claiming that the US's initial response of $35M immediate aid was stingy. His stupid assumption was that the $35M was going to be our ONLY response.

 

The director of the U.S. Agency for International Development told CNN on Tuesday that the $35 million pledge was only the first step in U.S. aid to the countries that were devastated by Sunday's earthquake and tsunamis.

 

"The money was committed and guaranteed on Sunday when the emergency took place," Andrew Natsios told CNN's "American Morning." "It's action on the ground that is needed. We will get more than enough money from the president and I'm sure Congress later on when we need it."

 

One of the two naval groups sent by the stingy US Navy includes the USS Bonhomme Richard, currently headed for Sri Lanka. Reader Jeremy Garrett forwards some details on the vessel, gleaned from Tom Clancy's non-fiction Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit:

 

 

According to Clancy, the USS Bonhomme Richard's sister ship the USS Wasp is listed in Virginia's disaster preparedness plans as the fourth-largest hospital in the state when it is docked at the Navy base at Norfolk, Virginia.

 

The USS Wasp and her sister ships have 600+ beds, six operating theaters, eighteen post-operative/intensive care beds, six isolation ward beds, 36 primary care beds, and extensive radiology dental facilities onboard. In addition, they can use some of the bunks for the Marines as hospital beds when they are on shore. The only larger hospital facilities on board ships are those of the US Navy's Mercy and Comfort, which are hospital ships based on the hulls of oil tankers.

 

The Marines will also be carrying a significant number of helicopters and various kinds of landing craft. That will be a big help in reaching areas that have been cut off by the tsunami damage. The Marines also have a large capability to make potable water and often end up helping to supply water to other military units during missions. The book was published in the 1990s, but it should still be accurate. Clancy even toured the Bonhomme Richard while it was under construction.

 

Sounds to me like Bush was busy getting support that could provide immediate help to the area while the critics were bashing the US contributions. I live in Alabama and I can tell you from personal experiences with hurricanes that money is helpful in the medium and long term, but it's people and resources at the site of the disaster in the first few days and weeks that do the most to lessen suffering for the victims. This is especially true in this case where the large scale of the disaster is overwhelming local resources.

 

Now lots of press and others are taking credit for the supposed increase to $350M because of their blind criticism of the initial amount that was delivered immediately. Why don't people focus on the relief efforts instead of taking political advantage of this disaster?

[JKDGabe]

Why don't people focus on the relief efforts instead of taking political advantage of this disaster?

 

Because that's human nature. As to the "UN being the only one qualified to do the job" bwahahahahahaha... what a crock. I remember a little something about the "oil for food" program not working quite right...

[johnc]

While the UN discusses, the rest of the world acts...

 

The material and logistical infrastructure was largely provided by national contributions, chiefly from the "United States-led core group of nations" which had earlier been criticized by former British International Development Secretary Clare Short as an attempt to undermine the United Nations relief effort.

 

But that was last week. Now that the faucet has been opened a little too wide for the UN to cope, the World Body needs help in delivering the assistance that is piling up at ports and airfields. It will be forthcoming. In return, the core group has been amply rewarded by a nod of acknowledgement from the United Nations. But there is no question who the UN regards as leading with its unique legitimacy and moral authority. At a press conference given by Kofi Annan at UN headquarters on December 30, 2004, the Secretary General answered this question at in an exchange with reporters.

 

Q: Could you give us an indication: there is a core group, there is the United Nations, there is a whole bunch of different groups coordinating - who is taking the leadership role on the humanitarian side of this? ...

 

Kofi Annan: Thank you for the question. In fact, I did speak to Secretary of State Powell yesterday as the announcement was made, and we have also spoken this morning. The core group will support the United Nations effort. ... It is clear that their purpose is to work with us and to support the United Nations effort, and we are going to make it a truly international effort.

 

Q: Given the magnitude of this disaster, shouldn't the United Nations, rather then the United States, have taken the lead in establishing a coalition of donor and affected countries to deal with this disaster? ...

 

Kofi Annan: First of all, on the question of how we pool the international community together, I think it is important that an initiative has been taken. We ourselves were discussing our possible initiative, but I applaud what has been done by the United States Government, by the United States Administration and President Bush. As I have said, we have spoken to other countries which are also going to join the group, and that group will be in support of the efforts that the United Nations is leading. So, we are very satisfied with that.

[Guest Phil1934]

So we increased spending ten fold after the criticism, but it was unfounded? Do you know the initial $35 million would run the war in Iraq for three hours? That's a fact that although lost on 51% of Americans, is not lost on the rest of the world.

[JMortensen]

OK, so the hyper-conservative guy gets his panties in a wad because a comment was made about the stingy "western countries" and the hyper-liberal guy assumes that it was the comment that got us to increase our donation amount despite the original statement that the $35M was an "initial" pledge. Welcome to the New Year, same as the Old Year...

[Guest Phil1934]

Would you rather talk about the missing $20 BILLION in Iraqi oil sales money since the US took over?

[johnc]

OK, so the hyper-conservative guy gets his panties in a wad

 

I don't wear panties anymore because of that wad problem. I just dangle now. I don't think I'm hyper-conservative but my Afican American finance' has started calling me "the Klan" so maybe my viewpoint is a bit right of center.

[johnc]

For those that want to do more then just send money, here's a group that has experience with disaster relief and has created lists of various "kits" that can be assembled by church, family, civic, or other groups:

 

http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/kits.cfm

 

Once you've assembled some "kits", FedEx is working with a group to "Fill-a-Plane" to deliver relief supplies to the Tsunami disaster areas:

 

http://www.chiefwiggles.com/blog/archives/000148.html

[srgunz]

Remember also that we have sent a NAVY carrier group to aid with hospital care and helicopters to ferry supplys and injured. Imagine what that alone costs per day. I doubt this is even included in the $350M.

 

I have not yet seen the list of Nations with amount given to the relief efforts of the Florida hurricane victims.

 

The Muslim oil rich nations should be in the lead with Billions in aid not the crummy millions pleged. $10M from Saudi Arabia? That is a weekend shopping trip for the King's girlfriend.

[Pop N Wood]

Commit an act of selfless charity and people start bitching like it was their birthright.

[johnc]

I'm just amazed by the bumbling of the UN:

 

http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/2005/01/more-unreality-but-dutch-get-it.html

 

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

 

More UNreality . . . But the Dutch Get It

 

Well, dear friends, we're now into the tenth day of the tsunami crisis and in this battered corner of Asia, the UN is nowhere to be seen -- unless you count at meetings, in five-star hotels, and holding press conferences.

 

Aussies and Yanks continue to carry the overwhelming bulk of the burden, but some other fine folks also have jumped in: e.g., the New Zealanders have provided C-130 lift and an excellent and much-needed potable water distribution system; the Singaporeans have provided great helo support; the Indians have a hospital ship taking position off Sumatra. Spain and Netherlands have sent aircraft with supplies.

 

The UN continues to send its best product, bureaucrats. Just today the city's Embassies got a letter from the local UN representative requesting a meeting for "Ms. Margareeta Wahlstrom, United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Secretary-General's Special Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance in Tsunami-afected countries." Wow! Put that on a business card! And she must be really, really special because she has the word "coordinator" twice in her title!

 

The letter, in typically modest UN style, goes on to explain that "Ms. Wahlstrom's main task will be to provide leadership and support to the international relief effort. She will undertake high-level consultations with the concerned governments in order to facilitate the delivery of international assistance." Oh, and she'll be visiting from January 4-5.

 

Once, again, a hearty Diplomadic "WOW!" She's going to do all that in two days! The Australians and we have been feeding and otherwise helping tens-of-thousands of people stay alive for the past ten days, and still have a long, long way to go, but she's going to wrap the whole thing up in a couple of days of meetings. Thank goodness she's here to provide the poor lost Aussies and Yanks with leadership. The Diplomad bows in awe to such power and wisdom. The letter is signed, by the way, by the same UN official who suggested a couple of days back that the Australian and US air traffic controllers in Aceh should don UN blue (see our post of January 2.)

 

Ok, enough with the UN; you get the picture. Now to the EU. The EU could copy the Australian-American model of acting quickly and effectively to save lives, or they could copy the UN model of meeting at a leisurely pace to plan for the possibility of setting up a coordination center that will consider making a plan for the possibility of an operations center to consider beginning to request support for the tsunami's victims. Ah, my wise friends, guess which model of "action" the EU chose? No need to emulate those "cowboys" from Australia and the USA with their airplanes and loading crews working round-the-clock; oh, no, much too tacky, sweaty and dirty. No need to feed into the system those goofy Aussiyankeebushowardian New World Anglo-Saxons already have created. No, they'll follow the much more elegant Kofi Annan model. A couple of EU planners have shown up to begin making arrangements for an assessment team to arrive, etc., etc., you know the rest. Meanwhile, people die.

 

But all is not lost. The Dutch, who on occasion show the great common sense for which they were once justifiably famous, have signed up with the Aussiyankeebushowardian Core Group. Thanks to a European Diplomad (Yes, The Diplomadic insurgency has gone international!) we have in our possession a short situation report circulated by the Dutch at the most recent EU meeting here in this corner of the Far Abroad. This January 2 report is written by local Dutch diplomats who traveled to Aceh and saw the reality on the ground. We will cite the two principal paragraphs, and leave them unedited in their original rather charming Dutch-English,

 

 

"The US military has arrived and is clearly establishing its presence everywhere in Banda Aceh. They completely have taken over the military hospital, which was a mess until yesterday but is now completely up and running. They brought big stocks of medicines, materials for the operation room, teams of doctors, water and food. Most of the patients who were lying in the hospital untreated for a week have undergone medical treatment by the US teams by this afternoon. US military have unloaded lots of heavy vehicles and organize the logistics with Indonesian military near the airport. A big camp is being set up at a major square in the town. Huge generators are ready to provide electricity. US helicopters fly to places which haven't been reached for the whole week and drop food. The impression it makes on the people is also highly positive; finally something happens in the city of Banda Aceh and finally it seems some people are in control and are doing something. No talking but action. European countries are until now invisible on the ground. IOM staff (note: this is a USAID-funded organization) is very busy briefing the incoming Americans and Australians about the situation."

 

"The US, Australia, Singapore and the Indonesian military have started a 'Coalition Co-ordination Centre' in Medan to organize all the incoming and outgoing military flights with aid. A sub-centre is established in Banda Aceh."

 

 

Isn't that nice? Europeans with a sense of reality.

 

The only fault The Diplomad can find with the Dutch report is that it understates the role of the Australians in the relief effort -- they deserve considerably more credit than this report gives them. It's hard to praise the Aussies too much for what they have done in the wake of the tsunami. They are absolutely splendid -- too bad they've got that thing about that weird game, uh, cricket, is it?

 

Anyhow, soon I will return to my habitual corner of the Far Abroad and leave my colleagues here to deal with the UN, the EU and their Coordination Efforts.

 

And, sadly, it gets even funnier!

 

http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/2005/01/just-too-good-for-mere-update.html

 

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

 

Just TOO Good for a Mere Update!

 

The post [above] reports on the impending arrival of Ms. Margareeta Wahlstrom "United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Secretary-General's Special Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance in Tsunami-affected countries."

 

She has spoken! At a large meeting this afternoon, she and the local UN rep, Mr. Bo "Please Wear Blue" Asplund have announced the arrival of yet another "United Nations Joint Assessment Team." But this one is very, very ultra- special. According to the UNocrats, it's not "just another assessment team." Oh, no, banish that thought! You see, "This assessment team will coordinate all the other assessment teams." In addition, the UN will set up a "Civil-Military Coordination Office to coordinate [that word! that word!] all military assistance because the military do not have experience in disaster relief (!)"

 

Let the mockery begin . . . .