It was amusing seeing the wingnuts flip out at my
criticisms of US aid to Asia in the wake of the tsunami. My argument? That the insensitive and meager initial response was an opportunity lost in the wake of the catastrophe. As Juan Cole
noted:
As John F. Harris and Robin Wright of the Washington Post cannily note, US President George W. Bush has missed an important opportunity to reach out to the Muslims of Indonesia. The Bush administration at first pledged a paltry $15 million, a mysteriously chintzy response to what was obviously an enormous calamity. Bush himself remained on vacation, and now has reluctantly agreed to a meeting of the National Security Council by video conference. If Bush were a statesman, he would have flown to Jakarta and announced his solidarity with the Muslims of Indonesia (which has suffered at least 40,000 dead and rising).
Indeed, the worst-hit area of Indonesia is Aceh, the center of a Muslim separatist movement, and a gesture to Aceh from the US at this moment might have meant a lot in US-Muslim public relations.
"Travesty!" shouted the wingnuts, "How dare I politicize such a catastrophy?" they wailed. I wonder if they're still singing the same tune now that the Bush Administration itself is making the
same arguments.
U.S. money and military assistance to countries where tens of thousands died in the tsunami may lessen anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world and help in the fight against terrorism, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday.
"I hope that as a result of our efforts, as a result of our helicopter pilots being seen by the citizens of Indonesia helping them, that value system of ours will be reinforced," Powell said.
Well, no shit. That's why a strong initial response would've been PR gold and shown the world that the US's first impulse was to help, not to bomb. Sadly, Bush couldn't make that case because quite simply, it wasn't true. His first impulse
is war, and he couldn't get his ass off his ranch when the time came to render aid to a people in need.
This is a battle of perceptions. Australia has pledged near a billion dollars, Japan $500 million -- both nations far smaller than the US. True, the tsunami hit in their backyard, thus they have a moral imperitive to act above and beyond what nations far away provide. And Australia has an interest in preventing a new wave of illegal immigration from desperate survivers.
But as a matter of perception, the largest, richest nation in the world isn't topping the list of donor nations, and has only contributed the amount of money spent in less than two days of Iraq operations.
In a perfect world, Bush -- not Clinton -- would've provided the initial US respone. He would've acted decisively, strongly, with a non-insulting aid pledge (remember $15 million?). He would've flown straight to DC, or better yet, to Asia to survey the damage himself.
THEN, we could've talked about scoring a solid victory on the war on terror. Instead, Bush reinforced stereotypes of a callous, war-hungry nation, and no amount of additional aid will change matters at this point. The damage has been done.