Posted on 09/02/2005 1:34:49 AM PDT by ChristianDefender
Well so far the Red Cross has raised $21 million. $10 million is pretty substantial compared to that. And it is far more than anyone else outside this country has offered.
We're have about 15 times the population of Australia. Our GDP is about 20 times that of Australia. So that "chicken feed" is about the equivelent of the US donating $200 million overseas. Hardly chicken feed.
Be gracious and say thank you.
So do you expect the Aussies to fix the whole thing?
Sneering at the kindness and generosity of others is rather an ungrateful response, don't you think?
This "article" is being totally torn apart by most here.
WND has become a waste of time. It has been for some time now. I'd strongly recommend ignoring them (or pointing out their errors for all to see).
And yes I do know about both the first and Second world War.
You were dragged into the Second World War, after Japan attacked Pear Harbor and then Hitler declared War on you.
And in 1939 and 1940 my country held the line against both the Nazi and Soviet Threat, they had an alliance at the time while many Americans continued to enjoy the good life.
Yes many American boys died to keep Western Europe free and democratic and so did a lot of British Boys.
As for today there has been offers of help.
But they have been put on hold because until America decides what help they do need.
In a third World situation there is a need for all sort of resources, equipment food water that a country can not supply them self's.
This is not the same situation is is a Command and Control and Logistics problem.
For a country with 1/20 the GDP we have, $10 million is a large sum of money. I'm sure they have plenty of need for it themselves.
So again, I say thank you.
Of course, Bush is not going to accept help, because the U.S., as a superpower, must sort out her problems alone. If we can't do that, how are we going to win the War on Terror.
Its just annoying that a article with very little or no facts is put on here and everyone jumps on it.
The beginning of this year I had just come back from Iraq, and a article was added that Britain was thinking of pulling out of Iraq.
Immediately it was full of Freepers slagging of my country. There was no real truth to the article but it didn't stop it turning into A Brit Yank flame war.
We lost a lot of Brit Freepers that day.
There seems to be a nasty I hate the whole world contingent don't need any real encouragement to hate the world even loyal allies.
Tony
You are the only one that have some reason here so far..
People need to understand that the US 10.4 trillion dollars, you must realize that %90 of the countries in the world don't even get high enough to 0.4 trillion dollars..
So leaving aside arrogance one must understand that noone will be able to help the US as US helps others. And US administration isn't even accepting aids. As they think they
can handle it which is most probably true..
An easier example is: You give a poor guy some money to buy some food, and he buys food with the money then when you are in trouble you want the money back which is ridiculous as he spent the money on food and ate it..
Save for later
Yes, i totally agree, they did not evacuate the poor people while things were easier, and now they whine because its too hard to get in the regions right now. I wouldn't buy that stuff, they exactly knew what was coming at them and didn't care much about the poor.
Is Ivan still around?
Haven't seen anything posted from him for awhile.
That wasn't one of the losses was it?
,,, that doesn't follow. Bush made an opening statement of "you're with us or against us" before Iraq was taken and that seemed to be enough to get small countries like mine to send SAS contingents to Afghanistan, army engineers to Iraq and frigates to support Operation Enduring Freedom in the Gulf. Here's something relevant to this thread from a long way south of the highly unfortunate States that have been hit.
These people are not Americans, anyone that would do what they are doing are parasites, they are just living here and contribute nothing to the well being of this great country , hurricane or not. They are just one nitch above a terriost. They could care less where they live as long as they can do as they please.
And I think that it's disgusting, and shameful, in what I've seen here, that a very small number of my fellow countrymen are so ready to be ungrateful to any of the fully benevolent assistance we are recieving.
The $10 million (actually $7.5 million in US dollars) is an initial donation. Australia has made it clear that if there is anything at all that we can provide, the US only has to ask. So far, the US hasn't asked for anything, so the Australian government decided to make an immediate donation to the American Red Cross - that's the $(AUS)10 million.
We've also offered to send 22 experts who will assess the situation in light of our capabilities - that is, these people are experts in disaster relief, but more importantly they know exactly what resources are available in Australia. Once they are on the ground, they will be in a position to see what is needed that we may be able to provide, and to tell US authorities that we have these capabilities available - and then if the US wants them to arrange for them to be taken to the US as quickly as possible.
Basically, it's up to the US to tell us what they want from us. If the US asked for another hundred million dollars, it'd be on the way within hour. We want to send people there who can liase with US authorities and tell them what we can do - but it's ultimately up to the US to decide what they need.
As for the $10 million figure, while ultimately Australia pledged somewhere in the vicinity of $1 billion to tsunami relief, this was done gradually - the initial donation in that case was around $10 or $20 million (I can't remember the exact amount off hand), and it grew gradually as it became more clear what was needed - this is only an initial donation. Whether it increases will depend partly on whether the US government tells us that money is going to be useful. I think it is more likely the US will want equipment and, perhaps, personnel.
I've heard some athletes contributing money. Any relief concerts planned by U2 or others? I recall after 9/11 celebrities were coming out of woodwork with self-promotion while expecting the "little people" to contribute the money.
It should be crazy to refuse foreign aid. In fact, we should stop our foreign aid and help our own people.
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