Hugh Hewitt: Who's Stingy Now?

The Weekly Standard ^ | January 7, 2005 | Hugh Hewitt

[RWR8189]

The United Nations fritters away money while the American military steps in to help the hopeless in southeast Asia.

IF YOU'RE GETTING OVER being steamed at Norwegian U.N. apparatchik Jan Egeland, who a week ago thought the U.S. response to the tsunami "stingy," then you need to check in at The Diplomad, a tremendous blog run by a State Department careerist serving abroad and which has done more for the reputation of State among conservatives in the past few months than 20 years of Council of Foreign Relations meets and greets. Short summary: Your worst fears about the United Nations are true.

With the oil-for-food-for-dictators scandals pushed temporarily into the background, it is easy to forget the absurdity of arguments in favor of a "lead role" for the United Nations. Why were there no calls for former Enron execs to take the lead role in the rebuilding of the Iraqi oil and gas industry? Why does the American press and the American left disconnect the Kofiklatch from the siphoned-off billions still being used to attack Americans and Iraqis from the meeting planners gathering at various relief conferences around the world.

And has the American left been heard from on the role of American sea power in the relief effort? Nancy Pelosi was up on her feet harrumphing about money spent in Iraq that couldn't be spent in Asia the other day, and I got to wondering if she had supported funding for the USS Abraham Lincoln. I couldn't find the answer, but my guess is that there are plenty of anti-military spending speeches by the House minority leader from the Reagan years. The Lincoln's keel was laid on November 3, 1984 and the carrier was christened on November 11, 1989. I'd love to see the vote tallies from the Democratic caucus on defense spending through those years. Of course it is the Lincoln which is delivering the crucial margin of life at this very hour. And not just one mighty carrier. From the under-publicized U.S. AID website devoted to the tsunami relief effort, these paragraphs:

 

* As of January 4, more than 13,000 U.S. military personnel were involved in providing relief support in the affected region. More than 1,400 of these are currently on the ground. With 20 ships and 75 aircraft, the U.S. military has provided a total of 610,000 lbs of relief supplies to the governments of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and other affected nations as of January 5. In addition, U.S. military assets continue to provide vital medical transport. In addition to transporting the injured to local hospitals in Sri Lanka, four HH-60 Blackhawk helicopters based in Colombo are conducting aerial assessments and delivering relief supplies into affected areas.

 

* On January 5, the DOD reported that 28 cargo planes are flying transport missions in the affected areas. The U.S. military plans to dispatch additional aircraft to the area, four mortuary affairs teams to help recover human remains and identify victims, three civil affairs teams to help coordinate relief efforts, and engineering support teams to assist in assessing damaged infrastructure and in planning reconstruction. Two 10-person teams of military and civilian forensics specialists are in the region, ready to assist with victim recovery and identification.

 

A friend who just returned from a Mexico cruise told me that she could not believe the anti-American vitriol spewing forth from CNN International, which beats the constant drum that America is not doing enough. This while the IOUs are piling up, but the American military, supported in the Lincoln's case by six years of appropriations to build and 15 years of appropriations to operate, leads a huge effort to save lives.

The depth of American generosity and compassion for the lost and the devastated has not been measured, but perhaps soon the U.N. elite will get a taste of U.S. bitterness.

I suggest the Congress earmark some portion of our U.N. support for tsunami relief, and ship it through WorldVision, an agency that is usually first in and last to leave. WorldVision had more than 3,000 full-time staff in the affected countries before the tidal waves hit. It is a crime to spend money on paper shufflers where there are willing and able hands already in place and ready to help. It is bad enough that U.S. contributions to the U.N.'s coffers are often wasted, but worse that it is wasted on the ungrateful leeches of a big idea gone from embarrassing, to bad, to worse, to corrupt.

 

Hugh Hewitt is the host of a nationally syndicated radio show, and author most recently of Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That is Changing Your World. His daily blog can be found at HughHewitt.com.

[anniegetyourgun]

Hugh is right about World Vision. But then, Hugh is right about most things.

And once again, I appreciate how well and often this President takes the opportunity to pull down the pants of the U.N. in front of the world....in order to display them for the corrupt and incompetent weenies that they are.

[sam_paine]

So you reckon Bush is just switching over to UN control of the relief effort so he can publicly switch back and highlight their bungling?

[Tamberlane]

As has been clear for a while now, Egeland didn't ditch the US response to the tsunami but was referring to general levels of developmental aid by rich countries, and he didn't single out the US. Just for the record.

[Choose Ye This Day]

Plus, as I just saw on yahoo news:


Charities Report Record Donations

Sat Jan 8,12:00 AM ET

By Alan Cooperman and Jacqueline Salmon, Washington Post Staff Writers

U.S. charities have reported raising more than $337 million so far for emergency relief in countries devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami, in what some are calling the greatest outpouring of donations for a foreign disaster in American history.

The rapidly mounting private contributions could soon dwarf the $350 million in aid committed by the U.S. government, fundraisers said. The American Red Cross (news - web sites) alone has raised nearly $150 million, and it said yesterday that it foresees the need for $250 million more.

[Lion in Winter]

BTTT.

Also... What IS the EU doing to help? Anything???

[Taft in '52]

Hugh is right about World Vision. But then, Hugh is right about most things.

Hugh isn't right about all things. For some reason, he hates the USC Trojans, as well as the whole Pac 10 with a passion. Last week, he let his wishful thinking get the better of him when he predicted that Oklahoma would beat the Trojans by three touchdowns.

Nonetheless, he's still just about my favorite talk show host, although Dennis Prager and Laura Ingraham give him stiff competition. I especially admire him for including poetry, Shakespeare, nonfiction books, and classical music among his discussion topics.

[MKM1960]

Yes, I agree and KRLA has possibly the most satifying programming. From 5-8A it is Bill Bennett, 8-11A Laura Ingraham, 11A-2P Dennis Prager, 2-5P Michael Medved, and 5-8P Hugh Hewitt. Michael Savage comes on after Hugh it depends on how nuts Savage is whether I listen to him. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing? I live in Kentucky and listen all day. Here is the link:

http://www2.krla870.com/listen/

[CeDex]

In fact, one can read the transcripts of his original statement. No mention of any particular country whatsoever; in fact, it was all "we, we, we", meaning everybody. I'm no fan of the UN, but I know a hysterical overreaction when I see one.

IMO, it also started one of the most obscene displays of one-upmanship in the face of incredible tragedy the world has ever seen. It was (and still is) almost as sickening as the tragedy itself.

[anniegetyourgun]

Well, aside from the Pac 10 thing (but hey, you're talking to a Big 10 person)...he's a pretty quick thinker. Unfortunately, I don't get to listen to him anymore....radio (both content and reception) here is SoFlo is terrible.

[anniegetyourgun]

The world has seen who responded first and best.....and who was trying on his new slopegear, and who has no equipment, infrastructure, logistics to get to the region as quickly. The point was made.

[anniegetyourgun]

Now you're just asking for too much, LIW.....besides, France already pledged their what...$45,000 and 5 aid workers?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Wow! What a line-up! I only get Rush, followed by our local conservative (female) afterwards. Both are good, but I'm going to have to listen in through your link.

Thanks! :)

[Taft in '52]

...radio (both content and reception) here is SoFlo is terrible.

When I visited Key West in 1987, my car radio was probably picking up more stations from Havana than from Florida--Havana being closer than Miami. I was even getting Radio Moscow, broadcast over the AM band, along with Radio Taino, Cuba's English-language propaganda blaster, and Radio Reloj, an all-news station which antedates the Castro regime. If you didn't mind the Communist propaganda, some of these stations featured some good music.

[Prost1]

And as has been UNDER REPORTED, Bush order the carrier group to move immediately.
Not after 3 days or 5 days...Immediately!

Don't find that in the fine print of our fine papers....

[Peach]

Hasn't Bill Sammon confirmed several times on FNC that the UN guy said the United States specifically? I think you are misinformed when you say that the girly man from the UN was mis-quoted.

[Tamberlane]

Egeland was referring to rich countries in general and did not mention the US specifically as being "stingy." The only time he mentioned the US at all was in suggesting that people in rich countries want to "give more" public developmental aid. But he also cited the EU and his home country Norway in that connection. And he wasn't talking about the response to the tsunami as been falsely claimed.

Here is a transcript by a fellow freeper:

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1309924/posts

[SerpentDove]

Jan Egeland looks like a skinny Michael Moore.