Posted on 12/29/2004 6:06:13 AM PST by Brilliant
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 - Rejecting a United Nations official's suggestion that it had been a "stingy" aid donor, the Bush administration on Tuesday announced another $20 million in relief for victims of the Asian earthquake and tsunamis and dispatched an aircraft carrier and other ships to the region for possible relief operations.
The announcement brought the United States' total aid package to $35 million so far, and Bush administration officials said much more would be sent.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, displaying irritation with the suggestion of American stinginess, said the United States had been the most generous of aid donors in recent years and that, in any case, the sums announced so far were "just a start" of a larger sustained effort.
"We will do more," Mr. Powell said on ABC's "Good Morning America," one of a series of television appearances apparently intended to rebut the comment on Monday by Jan Egeland, the emergency relief coordinator for the United Nations, that the West had generally been "stingy" in its aid to poor countries.
Mr. Powell said the United States "has given more aid in the last four years than any other nation or combination of nations in the world."
The United States Agency for International Development spent $2.4 billion in the last year for emergency disaster relief.
Mr. Egeland responded to Mr. Powell's criticism by saying that he had been misunderstood and that he had not been referring to aid for the quake and tsunami victims but to the overall trend in recent years by Western countries in aiding the poor. He said pledges for the current crisis had been "most generous."
"I have been misinterpreted when I yesterday said that my belief that rich countries in general can be more generous," Mr. Egeland added. "This has nothing to do with any particular country or the response to this emergency."
Trent Duffy, a spokesman for President Bush in Crawford, Tex., where Mr. Bush is on vacation, said the president had accepted Mr. Egeland's clarification and would make a public statement on the disaster Wednesday. Mr. Duffy said Mr. Bush had sent his condolences to the victims through statements by his spokesmen, written statements and letters to seven world leaders, but not through public pronouncements on television. "The president is doing what is needed most, which is to authorize the U.S. government to play a leading role in the relief and recovery effort," Mr. Duffy said.
Mr. Egeland's comments are the latest in a line of long-running complaints from international aid officials about general trends in aid from Western nations. These critics often cite a figure once put forward at the United Nations that wealthy countries should try to reach a target of spending seven-tenths of 1 percent of their national economy for aid to poor countries.
According to the Congressional Research Service, an independent agency, the United States is the largest aid donor in terms of dollars, but its record of donating two-tenths of 1 percent of its national economy for foreign aid makes it among the smallest donors as a proportion of what it could theoretically afford.
Countering that argument, the State Department acknowledges on an official Web site that its direct economic aid is "the smallest among government foreign assistance programs" but that the "true measure" of American generosity should include private money.
In an interview, Mr. Egeland said that private and government money was appreciated but that relief for disaster victims in recent years had fallen far short of what was needed and what was pledged.
Victims of the earthquake in Bam, Iran, a year ago are still living in tents because permanent aid, as opposed to emergency provisions, has not materialized in the amounts pledged, aid officials said.
"Over all, there is too little money for foreign assistance, for development and for humanitarian relief, especially in Africa," Mr. Egeland said. "We get one-third of what we ask for in our humanitarian appeals to poor African countries, and the number is going down. I see too many hungry children in the world, too many uncared for refugees, and too many unmet needs."
The Pentagon sent the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and several other ships to the Indian Ocean, though military officials said the vessels and crews had not yet been assigned specific missions. About 15,000 Americans are on board. Only a small portion of them would be expected to fly missions or go ashore.
American forces are going from Japan to a Thai air base in U Tapao, on the southeastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand, near Phuket, which was especially hard hit. The military has already sent nine P-3 aircraft for use in surveillance and search and rescue operations.
Reporting for this article was contributed by Warren Hoge at the United Nations, Matthew L. Wald and Eric Schmitt in Washington, and David E. Sanger in Crawford, Tex.
Let Kerry and his "scumbag" wife pay for it ...ALL. They got the money.
The UN pays to monitor the snowpack for European ski resorts? Nice use they make of our tax dollars.
The UN is incompetent even at humanitarian projects. I cannot think of a single good reason to justify its existence.
Un-f...g beleievable!!
Stop the madness! Leave my tax dollars alone or give them to the veterans.
Well, I guess they do something useful if you like to ski in swanky European ski resorts.
The business about "rewarding the slanderers" my comment, not theirs. The NY Times wrote an editorial just a few weeks ago claiming that Americans are stingy when it comes to giving to charity, so they apparently agree with this idiot.
On another FR page, various details of how the U.N., same U.N. as in the above story, sat on its butt during the Rawandan massacres where there were no earthquake, no tsunamis.
This BS that the US is the "richest" nation and should give much more than everyone else, but is only giving a little more than everyone else, is coming from the same people who any other day of the week would criticize the US, saying that there are many other nations which have a much higher standard of living, like Sweden and Norway, for exmaple, thus proving socialism is better than capitalism.
These critics often cite a figure once put forward at the United Nations that wealthy countries should try to reach a target of spending seven-tenths of 1 percent of their national economy for aid to poor countries.According to the Congressional Research Service, an independent agency, the United States is the largest aid donor in terms of dollars, but its record of donating two-tenths of 1 percent of its national economy for foreign aid makes it among the smallest donors as a proportion of what it could theoretically afford.
You can't "buy" respect. Throw in the cost of running that naval task force headed for that disaster area; how much a day does that cost? I'm sure the fresh water systems and generators will save many lives, but we will still be condemned for doing too little.
I have a very low tolerance towards ingrates with a big mouth.
US Taxpayer meet 50 million freed Afghanis and Iraqis.
50 Million freed Afghanis and Iraqis meet the US Taxpayer.
There is more than one form of US aid and we have zero to apologize for.
That'll show 'em. The US caves because of silly comments.
This is misleading as hell. Only one whose politics incline towards the pink would ignore private charities' contribution to the mix. Total that into the mix and we give more than all other countries combined...
To state the obvious: goverment "charity" is not the most efficient means of spending.
Oil-for-food, anyone?
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