The Diplomad got enormous coverage out of the post I put here about the UN claiming credit for the USAID efforts.
The UN Begins to Act . . .
The Diplomad has been critical, often more than implying that the UN is as worthless as, uh, as . . . as . . . well, in fact, that it's uniquely worthless. Among the many things The Diplomad has written about the UN is that it's incapable of acting in an emergency, and that its vaunted humanitarian agencies are as worthless as, uh, as . . . well, as worthless as the rest of the UN system. But The Chief Diplomad is humble and not above taking back his words.
So The Diplomad must acknowledge that as we head into day 8 of the tsunami disaster, the UN, in fact, has begun to act. Just today we ran across this statement by SecGen Annan,
"On the question of fund-raising I think things are looking up. We are doing very well for the moment . . ."
So you see, the UN has been active getting money. That's pretty active, eh? (Note: Too bad Saddam can't help this time with UN fund-raising.)
Oh and that's not all. Nope, not at all. Look at this burst of useful activity by Annan,
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told a U.S. television network on Saturday that he will visit Indonesia on Thursday to coordinate international relief for Asia's tsunami victims. "I will go to Jakarta to launch the appeal from there and work with the leaders of the region who are also determined to play a role," Annan told ABC News. "And I think that's a very positive."
Major donors will convene on Thursday in Indonesia, which is hosting a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) that will focus on the effects of the tsunami disaster. "This is the largest disaster we have had to deal with," Annan said. "The sheer complexity of it - 12 countries have been affected ... And we are trying to operate in each of them and give them assistance, help coordinate the national, regional and international assistance as well as mobilize the resources and the logistical requirements to go in and be effective."
He said international relief coordinators needed helicopters, trucks and air traffic controllers to be able to really move the goods as quickly as possible to get them to the people who need them.
How about that? He's going to a conference. That's pretty active! That'll feed lots of people! And, gosh, he's got a great idea: helicopters, trucks and air traffic controllers! I'll bet nobody thought of that!
Survivors in the remote Indonesian town of Keude Teunom swarmed U.S. military helicopters ferrying water, medicine and other supplies Saturday to devastated areas of the country hard to reach by road.
Dozens of survivors ran across the mud-covered earth to reach the choppers. Most of the town in the Aceh province has been destroyed. The only buildings left standing are shells of what previously existed.
"Aceh has drowned. We are finished. There is nothing," one survivor in the village on the west coast of Sumatra said. Another man said simply, "Thank you, thank you."
One helicopter brought milk and nutritional supplements. Another brought a medical team to assess the survivors. Other helicopters were due to bring in water and other supplies.
And, of course, we all need to wait for the UN to coordinate before anything happens on the ground,
One of the biggest US military disaster relief missions in history kicked into high gear today as an aircraft carrier battle group arrived off the shores of tsunami-battered Sumatra and began launching helicopters heavy with supplies. A flotilla carrying Marines and water-purifying equipment was heading for Sri Lanka, and a former staging base for B-52 bombers in Thailand roared with the takeoffs and landings of giant cargo planes. Two Seahawk helicopters from the USS Abraham Lincoln landed in Banda Aceh early today to begin getting badly needed relief supplies, including material for temporary shelters, into villages along Sumatra’s northwest coast. <...>
More than 20 vessels with thousands of sailors and Marines are being dispatched, along with some 1,000 land-based troops. The USS Bonhomme Richard, an amphibious assault vessel carrying Marines, and the Lincoln battle group were to lead the operations from the seas. Thailand’s Vietnam War-era air base of Utapao has become the airlift hub for the region. C-130 transport planes are already conducting sorties to Jakarta and the Sumatran cities of Medan and Banda Aceh, according to a statement today by the US Embassy in Jakarta.
US Navy medical staff are also on the ground in Meulaboh, a decimated fishing village where several thousand bodies have been recovered. The Navy is considering a request from Jakarta to establish a field hospital there. Elsewhere, nine C-130 transport craft took off yesterday from Utapao, a former staging area for B-52 bombers, to rush medical and other supplies to the stricken resorts of southern Thailand and the more distant airfields in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
A small team of Thai-speaking US Navy SEALs, US Army Special Forces personnel and military doctors have been at the battered resort of Phuket for several days. Along with the US military assets, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Japan are among the core of nations contributing ships or planes and helping plan relief operations.
The US contribution is by far the biggest, however.
The Lincoln group alone has about 6,500 sailors and Marines. The Bonhomme Richard has a crew of 1,000 and can carry an additional 2,000 Marines, and is capable of putting them ashore quickly on huge landing vessels launched from its hull.
Well, The Diplomad is sorry for its past criticism of the UN.
In these times of gentleness and political correctness, we all must acknowledge that we're all special in our own way. We each do what we can best do. Americans are good at saving the world; the UN is good at asking for money and going to conferences. We're sure both talents are equally valid; we shouldn't judge one better or worse than the other. |
