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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sandintoes who wrote (701469)	9/12/2005 3:44:40 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Re: "Oh sorry, what were the facts?" Well, this was reported: "Generous offers of aid for Hurricane Katrina victims are pouring in from scores of nations, but in many cases the United States is unprepared to receive the goods...." (NOTE: the article was posted on the 7th. Presumably many of the supply chain issues have been worked through by now....) "...There is a lot of stuff offered, but we are having a problem getting it over," said Claes Thorson, a spokesman at the Swedish Embassy in Washington." "Even with the difficulties, foreign aid is beginning to arrive at or near the Gulf Coast, including ready-to-eat meals from Britain, tents from France, first-aid kits and baby formula from Italy. All told, the State Department said Wednesday, donations from 49 nations or international organizations have been accepted - including $428 million in cash." "The bulk of the cash came from three oil-rich Arab nations. Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates each offered $100 million." "...The United States is more accustomed to giving aid than receiving it, and the Bush administration seemed to have trouble accepting the role reversal, at least at first. Early last week, President Bush said the United States could take care of itself." "I do expect a lot of sympathy, and perhaps some will send cash dollars," he said. "But this country is going to rise up and take care of it." "As the size of the crisis became apparent, the view changed. But the preparations to receive anything but the simplest forms of aid have not caught up." Mr. Thomas explained that the United States has no experience with situations like this. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he said several times, "This is unprecedented." "Last weekend, the State Department sent urgent requests for international aid through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the United Nations and the European Union. At the top of the list was cash. Most of the other items requested were basic goods like food, water, medical supplies and diapers." "When Sweden received the American request, it loaded a Hercules C-130 transport plane with water purification equipment, emergency power generators and components for a temporary cellphone network. The plane has been ready to take off since noon Saturday, but has not been given clearance by Washington." "We are still waiting for the green light," Victoria Forslund said at the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm. Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said, "If there are any miscommunications on this matter, we want to make it very clear we value their offer of assistance." "Sweden is not the only country that has encountered a problem. France, Germany, India and Taiwan, among others, are awaiting answers to offers. The slow acceptance after the urgent request has only increased the puzzlement of many countries. Mr. Thomas said embassy officers in each country have tried to explain why the aid requests are being handled as they are and insisted "every country has heard back from us." "On Monday, only one plane bearing foreign aid arrived in Little Rock, Ark., a staging area. On Tuesday, 11 planes arrived. Wednesday and Thursday, more planes - from Britain, China, France, Russia, Spain and Israel - are due." "As Europe prepares more supplies, officials say they are beginning to wonder whether the aid is really needed or will ever be used." "That's our preoccupation right now," said Barbara Helfferich, a spokeswoman for the executive branch of the European Union.... "The State Department says 95 countries, half of the world's nations, have promised aid in one form or another."

To: sandintoes who wrote (701469)	9/12/2005 6:00:33 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Washington Has Beef with Europe's Katrina Aid Why did the United States government turn away a German cargo plane filled with 15 tons of food relief last week? service.spiegel.de AFP Is the delivery of relief goods from abroad an embarrassment for the United States? Last week, a German military cargo jet carrying 15 tons of food labored into the air bound for the United States. The goal, of course, was to feed needy victims of Hurricane Katrina. But the food supplies never made it. Refused permission to land, the plane was forced to turn around and head back to Cologne, still fully loaded. Food from other countries has likewise been banned. Why was the aid not accepted? As it turns out, the US Department of Agriculture had rejected the rations -- originally prepared for NATO troops -- out of fear they may be tainted with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the agent thought to cause mad cow disease. Despite intensive efforts on the part of Germany's foreign ministry, the US government refused to give the plane flyover rights. But officers at a US base in Pensacola -- where previous German aid planes had landed -- believe there was another reason. In reality, the critics said, the Bush government was trying to avoid embarrassing images of Europeans making food relief deliveries to the States. After all, the meals had already been certified by NATO as BSE-free. Additionally, the same types of meals have been used in common deployments in Afghanistan, and they've also been consumed by American troops. Startled by a query from SPIEGEL on Friday evening, the US Embassy here in Berlin said the ban on the pre-prepared meals delivered from Germany would be lifted. Indeed, the shiny, new US Ambassador to Germany, William Timken, had only recently thanked the German government for the first 20,000 donated meals -- all of which have already been eaten by Katrina victims. Though Berlin has been generous in its offer of support to hurricane victims, most Germans have been less forthcoming. The reason, according to a poll taken by polis-Umfrage for the German news agency DPA, is that many feel America is wealthy enough to take care of itself. Fifty-four percent of survey respondents said they would neither donate money nor other support for the Americans. That opinion is also reflected in the amounts raised by German charitable organizations. One week after it set up a special hurricane relief account, the German Red Cross said Friday it had only raised €790,000 for the Americans. By comparison, similar calls after the December tsunami and the 2002 flooding in eastern Germany drew more than €10 million. According to Red Cross spokesman Frederik Barkenhammar, the main reason for the reluctance to give is America's relative wealth. "The US isn't a developing country," he said. But reactions to the emergency have also effected Germans' charity: Many were horrified by the shortcomings of the US government and the mass looting they saw on TV. But this isn't led by resentment of America, Barkenhammer emphasized. "The distress of a mother in New Orleans who has lost her children is just as enormous as that of a mother in Banda Aceh," he said.