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Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy'

By Jeralyn, Section Foreign Affairs
Posted on Tue Dec 28, 2004 at 10:30:04 AM EST
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This is just unbelievable. The death toll from the Asian Tsunami now exceeds 55,000.

Half of the deaths come from Indonesia's Aceh province. In Sri Lanka, 17,640 have been declared dead.

The fear that outbreaks of disease could unleash a second wave of tragedy on a region struggling to cope with the first also loomed large with decomposing bodies and sewerage contaminating water sources. In some areas food and medicines were in desperately short supply.

As we noted earlier, Bush has offered up $15 million in disaster aid. Atrios points out his inauguration is going to cost $30 to $40 million, exclusive of security costs which will be unprecedented.

U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland called Bush's offer "stingy." We agree.

< An Innocent on Florida's Death Row | U.S. Increases Aid to $35 Million >

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    Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy' | 10 comments (10 topical)
    Re: Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy' (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 01, 2005 at 10:33:51 AM EST
    In retaliation for 9/11, US killed 100,000 Iraqi's and now its target was Indonesia large Muslim population. This is New World Order according to Bush and his supporters. Weather modification? Maybe

    Re: Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy' (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 01, 2005 at 11:30:30 AM EST
    deleted, off topic

    Re: Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy' (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 01, 2005 at 05:43:44 PM EST
    Sweden (just people) over 49 million dollars.

    Re: Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy' (none / 0) (#4)
    by chris on Sat Jan 01, 2005 at 05:57:52 PM EST
    Im not a bush fan, but Im not gonna sit here and use this to rip on bush. First off, this has nothing to do with Bush, so all who think its an attack on Bush need to understand this. If our president were a democrate and did the same, I would be bother by his actions as well. Second, who cares what other countries have given? We wanted to be the police for the world, and protect everyone, we should help with problems through natural disasters as well as those made by man. Last time I checked, that wasnt republican or democratic point of view, but one that most of us share. So why not give more? Does anyone really think we are worried about that debt? Not really. We should all feel for those that are experiencing this problem, if it were to happen to us, we would want help if it were needed. All I think would be a good gesture would be to atleast give what we can, if we can. There is nothing wrong about this. However, this should not be a reason for democrats and republicans to rip on each other when there is a much larger issue at work. This s bigger than politics. This is a matter of the quality of human life.

    Re: Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy' (none / 0) (#5)
    by Thomas on Sun Jan 02, 2005 at 10:02:54 AM EST
    You damn liberals. Always got to whine about something. You know what you are doing. You are using this as an excuse to give our president hell. Remember the first report we heard.. like 10,000 killed. go suck a dick

    Re: Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy' (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jan 03, 2005 at 06:47:56 PM EST
    The reports of rejecting aid were from Aljazera- If it's reliable for you.... then you've got some problems... Besides that, Israel was the first to land in Sri Lanka to help. Let me reiterate that, Israel was the first to land on Sri Lanka to help. Within hours, they were there to help. ISrael carried out the following missions: The Israeli organization Latet ('To Give') filled a jumbo jet with 18 tons of supplies. A medical team headed by four doctors from Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital arrived in Sri Lanka on Monday night (Dec. 27), carrying medicine and baby food. The doctors specialize in rescue operations, trauma and pediatrics. An IDF (Israeli Defense Force) rescue team was sent to Sri Lanka with 80 tons of aid material, including 10,000 blankets, tents, nylon sheeting and water containers, all contributed by the IDF. A ZAKA rescue-and-recovery team arrived in the disaster areas Monday night, armed with its specialized equipment for identifying bodies. (The ZAKA organization is used in Israel to identify bodies after a suicide bombing.) A Health Ministry contingent left for Thailand on Monday night to aid in rescue efforts. The group includes doctors, nurses and four members of the IDF. Israel has also offered its assistance to India ― a search-and-rescue team from the Home Front Command, as well as consignments of food and medicine. Israel, who is not in the best financial status, has went above and beyond the call of duty to aid the victims of the Tsunami. I know it sounds a bit strange, me asking to show credit for what Israel has been doing. But, Whenever Israel does something "wrong" there is a story from every angle, reporting how evil Israel is. Now I ask, where are those 'in your face' photographers now, documenting the aid that Israel is giving to the victims of the tsunami.

    Re: Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy' (none / 0) (#7)
    by Mike on Tue Jan 04, 2005 at 05:31:45 AM EST
    can there be anything lower than anyone trying to use this terrible natural disaster to further their political aims. Come on people- stop trying to blame George Bush and America for this - suggest you look at some of the BBC and SkyNews footage, which showed an American airman offloading food Aid in the region- to a guy wearing an Osama Bin Laden t-shirt. Get off line, dig deep into your pockets and give a donation to a charity.

    Re: Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy' (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Jan 04, 2005 at 08:10:03 PM EST
    This is incredible the way most of you people are using an immense human tragedy for political aims. As usual, I guess that it is all about you. p.s. If we are being stingy at 350 mil. and unlimited military manhours, what about the Saudi's only giving 10 mil. and Iran's $660,000.

    Re: Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy' (none / 0) (#9)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Tue Jan 04, 2005 at 09:35:54 PM EST
    LOL! Classic. The last two people to post here take a swipe at people for politicizing a tragedy and then in the next breath go on to do the same thing.

    Re: Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy' (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 05, 2005 at 06:54:20 AM EST
    For those who haven't already, can we as a world contribute some money to this disaster. Think how fortunate we are. Forget left or right. As an experiment, go without food and water for one day and then we'll all know how it feels.

    Bush's Tsunami Aid Offer Called 'Stingy' | 10 comments (10 topical)