Text 7031, 136 rader
Skriven 2005-01-06 20:10:14 av Gary Braswell (1:123/789.0)
   Kommentar till text 7026 av LEE LOFASO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Tsunami Disaster Relief
===============================
LEE LOFASO -> GARY BRASWELL wrote:

 LL> Hello Gary,

 GB>> Why is it embarrassing to Americans?

 LL> Because it places us dead last in doling out foreign aid.

What exactly is "foreign aid"?


 GB>> Because another country did more as a percentage of their GNP than we?

 LL> Because *all* industrialized countries donated more in foreign aid
 LL> than the U.S.  In that category, we rank 21st out of 21.  It also places
 LL> us last among donor nations.  In that category, we rank 28th out of 28.

In the disaster relief.

 GB>> Who is getting the food there now?

 LL> Those who need it.

I guess you did not read what I wrote.


 GB>> Is the Japanese Navy there in force and the JDF handing out the
 LL> supplies? Is
 GB>> the Japanese Air Force dropping food and medical supplies to remote
 LL> areas? T
 GB>> Indonesian military is not known for its humanitarian practices. I
 LL> can see t
 GB>> risking their lives to save the same people they kill, can't you?

 LL> There are many international organizations getting aid to tsunami
 LL> victims.  Sure, our military is helping out as well.  As it should.
 LL> But it is an international effort, not just the effort of the U.S.
 LL> military.

Right now they are the largest force there not only getting food and medical
supplies there, but they are also carrying out rescue operations.

 GB>> How about the rest of the list?

 LL> What about it?

That reading thing again.


 GB>> Why don't you put the effort forward to include the cost of a battle
 LL> group
 GB>> being there and operating on a large scale and growing? You seem to
 LL> have gon
 GB>> to great pains to work out the math if it looks bad for the US, be
 LL> fair, fig
 GB>> in those costs as well.

 LL> If the facts make the US look bad, don't blame me.

You are being selective with your facts, so I can blame you.


 LL> The Foreign Operations Subcommittee (U.S. Senate) has jurisdiction over
 LL> U.S. foreign aid.  Naturally, the Foreign Operations Subcommittee is not
 LL> part of our nation's military.  Nor should it be.  Can you imagine what
 LL> would happen to our military if a bunch of U.S. Senators were on board
 LL> trying to lead the way?  My gosh.  It would be a nightmare...

So are you suggesting then since the US military is not part of US foreign aid,
they should stop immediately?

 GB>> How do we know if the Japanese will even pony it all up? Even the UN
 LL> stated
 GB>> don't get too exited, often nations go back on their pledges. We have
 LL> the
 GB>> example of the 1st Gulf War for that.

 LL> "I'd rather see competitive compassion than no compassion." - U.N.
 LL> humanitarian chief Jan Egeland, who previously called wealthy nations
 LL> such as the U.S. "stingy" for not pledging enough aid.

Well, I am sure you heard who said what I quote above.

 LL> Here are some updated numbers -

 LL> Australia leads the pack, with $810 million pledged.
 LL> Germany is a close second, with $674 million pledged.
 LL> The U.S. lags behind, with $350 million pledged.
 LL> The total amount pledged by the world is $3.6 billion.

 LL> A bit over a year ago, there was a massive earthquake in Iran, which
 LL> killed over 26,000 people.  Donors promised Iran more than $1 billion
 LL> in aid.  How much of that $1 billion in pledges was received by Iran?
 LL> According to Iranian officials, only some $17.5 million.

There you go, so much for pledges.



 GB>> Heck, some of these countries hit ran out into the streets en masse to
 GB>> celebrate us getting hit in 9/11.

 LL> Except for Iraq, what countries might those be?  I know of none.
 LL> In fact, people around the world, from every country, expressed their
 LL> condolences, and offered help.  Even Yasser Arafat donated some of his
 LL> own blood in order to help those who were suffering.

Indonesia. Scenes were shown of other nation's peoples coming out into the
streets in celebration too.

While governments can say one thing, the people can be of another persuasion.
And in fact today, the main radical muslim group in Indonesia stated it would
not shoot US forces doing humanitarian work.

 GB>> I wonder how they would have felt if we emptied our homes celebrating
 LL> their
 GB>> people getting annihilated by an act of God. There are concerns that
 LL> some of
 GB>> these radical groups may decide to take advantage of US forces being
 LL> there t
 GB>> shoot them.

 LL> We have an obligation to help those in need.  Even if a handful of
 LL> nutcases try to disrupt those efforts.

So far it looks ok.


 GB>> I'd say we are doing pretty good.

 LL> We can, and should, do better.

Seems like we are as our aid efforts are growing all the time.

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