Myanmar cyclone, Katrina, People in Glass Houses...w/Poll
Mon May 05, 2008 at 07:19:30 PM PDT
The. Chutzpah. Is. Unbelievable.: In a press conference yesterday, Laura Bush took the Myanmar junta to task for failing to prepare its citizens for the recent cyclone (est. death toll: 10,000) and for spurning foreign aid.
Asked whether she worried that US aid might not reach Myanmar's people, Laura Bush replied: "I'm worried that they won't even accept US aid."...
Gee--it's too bad the junta couldn't learn how to lead from Boy Bush's government:
In one exchange, State Department officials anguished over whether to tell Italy that its shipments of medicine, gauze, and other medical supplies spoiled in the elements for weeks after Katrina's landfall on August 29, 2005, and were destroyed....And while television sets worldwide showed images of New Orleans residents begging to be rescued from rooftops as floodwaters rose, U.S. officials turned down countless offers of allied troops and search-and-rescue teams. The most common responses: "sent letter of thanks" and "will keep offer on hand," the new documents show.
http://www2.nysun.com/article/53433?page_no=2
I didn't know Bush was a Myanmar expert. Accoring to the article, she has taken a leading role in shaping our policy toward that country. She is also in charge of handing out foreign aid dollars, though a little fuzzy about the scope of our potential largesse, or even about whether we could give everything we would LIKE to give:
Bush said:
Washington "stands prepared" to increase its assistance well beyond an initial emergency 250,000-dollar outlay by the US embassy in Yangon.
She declined to give a precise dollar figure, saying the junta first had to allow a US disaster assistance response team into Myanmar to assess the scope of the devastation from Tropical Cyclone Nargis' weekend rampage.
"I can't speak to how large that would be. But I feel assured that it would be substantial, if we can give it," she said, promising help to provide water, sanitation, food and shelter.
Bush made clear any assistance would go through the United Nations or international nongovernmental organizations -- and not directly to a regime under US sanctions for failing to embrace democratic reforms.
What's more appalling? That they predicate their aid on a US TEAM to assess damage (the UN and Red Cross are babies in this arena), something highly secretive Myanmar officials are sure to sign up for, or that they are concerned that giving humanitarian aid might make them look like wimps for violating sanctions?
But it's too painful. Think of Katrina. Does this sound familiar, anyone?
"Although they were aware of the threat, Burma's state-run media failed to issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm's path," Bush said in her unusual appearance at the White House briefing room podium.
Not only did our government not prepare its citizens--it sometimes stopped them from ESCAPING New Orleans (our heroic sheriff on the bridge, protecting the white suburbs) and refused or wasted aid from others:
Allies offered $854 million in cash and oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.
In addition, valuable supplies and services — such as cell-phone systems, medicine, and cruise ships — were delayed or declined because the government could not handle them. In some cases, supplies were wasted.
Mighty America didn't need help. Heckuva-Job Brownie was in charge--and Bush was goofing around at state fairs, posing with a guitar. [Can this man really be the still-current president of the United States?]
While rescuers were still trying to reach people stranded by the floods, perhaps the only consensus among local, state and federal officials was that the system had failed.
Some federal officials said uncertainty over who was in charge had contributed to delays in providing aid and imposing order, and officials in Louisiana complained that Washington disaster officials had blocked some aid efforts.
Local and state resources were so weakened, said Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, that in the future federal authorities need to take "more of an upfront role earlier on, when we have these truly ultracatastrophes."
But furious state and local officials insisted that the real problem was that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which Mr. Chertoff's department oversees, failed to deliver urgently needed help and, through incomprehensible red tape, even thwarted others' efforts to help.
"We wanted soldiers, helicopters, food and water," said Denise Bottcher, press secretary for Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana. "They wanted to negotiate an organizational chart."
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Even aid FROM GOOD OLE GOP STALWARTS was returned:
Far from deferring to state or local officials, FEMA asserted its authority and made things worse, Mr. Broussard complained on "Meet the Press."
When Wal-Mart sent three trailer trucks loaded with water, FEMA officials turned them away, he said. Agency workers prevented the Coast Guard from delivering 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel, and on Saturday they cut the parish's emergency communications line, leading the sheriff to restore it and post armed guards to protect it from FEMA, Mr. Broussard said.
I'll close with this nugget from Wikipedia:
At least 1,836 people lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. The storm is estimated to have been responsible for $81.2 billion (2005 U.S. dollars) in damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. The catastrophic failure of the flood protection in New Orleans prompted immediate review of the Army Corps of Engineers, which has, by congressional mandate, sole responsibility for design and construction of the flood protection and levee systems. There was also widespread criticism of the federal, state and local governments' reaction to the storm, which resulted in an investigation by the U.S. Congress, and the resignation of Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael D. Brown. Conversely, the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service were widely commended for accurate forecasts and abundant lead time.[3]
The US Government knew in plenty of time that a catastrophe was headed our way. They did nothing. There was no plan in place for evacuation. The Federal Government's "relief" efforts were laughable. And they spurned search and rescue missions from foreign countries that could have saved lives.
I'm so glad Laura Bush is on task against that nasty junta RIGHT NOW!...though not sure why:
The source of [Laura Bush's] concerns was unclear. The head of a UN office that coordinates humanitarian aid said the junta had shown their willingess to accept such aid.
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