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| Southeast Asia |
| Cornered Bush ups aid to $350 mn - The Times of India |
| 2005-01-02 |
| US President George Bush on Friday announced that he would increase emergency aid to nations hit by the tsunami to $350 million from $35 million. He added that the US would probably add more resources as the scope of the "epic disaster" became clearer. At the UN, Jan Egeland, the emergency aid coordinator, said the new American move had increased the overall amount donated by 40 nations to about $1.2 billion, with new pledges continuing to come in hourly. "I've never, ever seen such an outpouring of international assistance in any international disaster," he said. Bush's ten-fold increase is the second time this week that the US has committed more money to the effort, coming as it does after criticism that the President, who has stayed on his 1,600-acre ranch all week and spoken publicly about the disaster once, had reacted too slowly. On Wednesday, Bush had reacted angrily to Egeland's suggestion that leading economies of the world had been stingy in providing aid, and Secretary of State Colin Powell spent much of the week defending the speed with which the US was responding to the calamity. In a written statement on Friday, Bush said he had decided on the increase after Powell and director of the Agency for International Development Andrew Natsios told him that the "initial findings of the American assessment teams on the ground indicate that the need for financial and other assistance will steadily increase in the days and weeks ahead." Powell was visibly annoyed on Thursday when asked about nations with far smaller economies committing more funds than the US. "I don't know yet what the US contribution will be," he shot back, adding, "and what we have to do is make a needs assessment and not just grasp at numbers or think we're in some kind of an auction house where every day somebody has to top someone else." |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #9 Joeblow, sorry. I think that my irony and sarcasm meters broke sometime over the holidays, probably due to the extreme cold in the Midwest. They should reset once I get back to San Diego. |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-01-02 6:08:10 PM |
| #8 I spoke with tongue in cheek, RWV. I agree with you 100%. I simply noted that Congress and the WH are playing into the obligation game, full tilt, with our tax $. It's not like Thailand or Indonesia are robbing our Daddy Warbucks politicians at gunpoint for aid. Our elected politicians(and some that aren't like Powell) are handliing our taxpayers' $ like it's monopoly $. I wonder how much the Powell or the GWB or the Clinton or the Frist or the Kerry Family Trust Funds have forked over to the tsunami disaster victims? |
| Posted by: joeblow 2005-01-02 5:59:02 PM |
| #7 Joeblow, the fact that the US government chooses to help people in no way implies that the US is OBLIGATED to help these people. I have no problem with our government helping prevent a catastrophe from becoming worse, but I do take offense at the mentality that can berate us for not doing enough, with those who choose use the misery of others to score cheap political points. As far as friends in the region, it's a stretch to call India and Indonesia "friends". India had a long history of being on the other side of the Cold War and has been very slow to warm to the US after the collapse of the Soviet Union. As for Indonesia, there's a reason why the aggressor in Aussie wargames always looks strangely like Indonesia. |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-01-02 5:33:28 PM |
| #6 Thanks PR. That got cut by the editors, but I thought it pertinent also. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-01-02 5:17:04 PM |
| #5 most of these pricks would be dancing in the street if the tsunami had hit the west coast of the US instead of them No, you're not thinking of the right countries. As Powell recently noted, the affected countries are all either friends or allies. |
| Posted by: cingold 2005-01-02 4:51:37 PM |
| #4 Before anyone gets too angry at the title, look at the very end of the actual article, in italics&parentheses. That explains it all. "(NYT News Service)" BTW, Times of India is the NYT of India. Most Indians don't trust the paper. The affected people of India is very appreciative of any help they can get. The Times of India does not speak for its people. The U.S is not the only place with scum sucking elite pig journalists. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-01-02 4:32:57 PM |
| #3 It's particularly cheeky considering that the gov't of India has already announced that it does not need international aid and they have joined the "coalition of the capable" to oversee relief and rebuilding. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-01-02 2:42:06 PM |
| #2 These stupid prigs have no call on the US taxpayers' wallet Congress and the WH appear to think otherwise. |
| Posted by: joeblow 2005-01-02 2:08:51 PM |
| #1 These stupid prigs have no call on the US taxpayers' wallet. For them to feel that we owe them assistance is arrogance beyond belief. We owe them NOTHING. For beggars and beggar nations to adopt an air of condescension towards those nations that choose to help them is absurd. Our help is never appreciated and, with the exception of the Thais, most of these countries are not our friends. In fact, most of these pricks would be dancing in the street if the tsunami had hit the west coast of the US instead of them. |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-01-02 1:19:07 PM |