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We Need to Do More to Help After the Pakistan/Kashmir Quake
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It's clear that the world is absorbing a set of incredibly devastating natural disasters -- the tsunami in Southeast Asia, the massive earthquake in December 2004 and December 2003 in Iran, the recent mudslides in Guatemala, the hurricanes in the Gulf (which pale in terms of lives lost but are on scale with general infrastructure destruction), and now the massive quake in Pakistan/Kashmir.
America has committed $50 million. This is a world to which Americans must reconnect. Many muslims in the world are ambivalent about us -- and as one scholar told me recently, muslims don't believe that we value them as people and value their lives.
These quakes that have created such devastation in Kashmir, Pakistan and India -- are tragic -- and America should send as much of its machinery of support there to do something real for these people.
-- Steve Clemons
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That would because we don't.
Insular doesn't even begin to descibe it.
The other day I say a Yahoo headline about Bush helping out.
I didn't read it.
Rather, I exhaled outloud:
"What, he sent them two helicopters?"
I was wrong. Today's WSJournal corrects me.
He sent 8 helicopters.
I guess all our other copters are busy terrafroming Iraq into a terrorist state.
Worst. President. Ever.
Gee, Bush certainly jumped right in there and offered aid quickly, didn't he? Too bad he could work that efficiently with his own people.
Just shows the Bush priorities - no problems sending them fighter jets, of course.
Here is a supporting quote:
"Eight U.S. military helicopters from Afghanistan arrived in Islamabad with provisions, and Washington pledged up to $50 million in relief and reconstruction aid, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said."
Hey 50 million ain't bad.
That's more than Kozlowski the criminal CEO of Tyco got as an apartment bonus:
From Wikipedia:
"Kozlowski is notorious for his extravagant lifestyle supported by the booming stock market of the late 1990s and early 2000s; allegedly he had Tyco pay for his $30 million New York City apartment which included $6,000 shower curtains."
In other words, my previous post is spot on.
Including the killer line that captures this administration perfectly:
I guess all our other copters are busy terrafroming Iraq into a terrorist state.
More is going on than you might imagine. Here are some of the larger international responses in the initial period.
US: $51.4M to Pakistan
~$3.1M for India
KUWAIT $10Om
WORLD BANK: $20m
ASIAN DEV BANK $10m
CHINA ~$6M
AUSTRALIA ~$5m
The US has a 10 person Disaster Assistance Reconaissance Team on the ground developing requirements for follow-on assistance
The UN has an 8 person UN Disaster and Coordination team (UNDAC) on the ground developing plans and recommendations for follow-on UN assistance.
There is a multi-lateral on-site-ops-coordination center with 12 staff working in downtown Muzaffarabad (the hardest hit population center).
So far neither the US nor the rest of the world seem to be dragging their heels.
JohnStuart
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