Posted on 09/08/2014 11:27:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
President Barack Obama announced Sunday that he will be sending members of the U.S. military to West Africa to help in the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, which has claimed over 2,100 lives.
"We're going to have to get U.S. military assets just to set up, for example, isolation units and equipment there to provide security for public health workers surging from around the world," Obama said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
The president insisted that the situation in West Africa remains a serious national security concern. International medical organizations such as Doctors Without Borders have reportedly petitioned to the White House and explained the urgency of the outbreak.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also sounded the alarm last week and noted that the virus, which has mainly affected Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and has also spread to Nigeria, is "spiraling out of control."
CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden said in an interview that a number of countries have "turned their backs" on those coming from the countries that have been hit hardest by the outbreak. He added that the restrictions on flights and border crossings that have been established are also hindering relief efforts.
"This is making it really hard to get help in and to respond effectively to the outbreak," Frieden told CNN.
"What we're seeing is a ... hugely fast increase in cases that's harder and harder to manage. The more we can get in there and tamp that down, the fewer cases we'll have in the weeks and months to come."
While Obama said that it is unlikely that the virus will spread to the U.S. in the short term, he warned that the disease could threaten the U.S. in the future.
(Excerpt) Read more at christianpost.com ...
Methinks that the Obamadork should go there personally and help each and every patient.
He can further show his courage and manliness by not wearing any protective clothing.
It would be best for this country.
And the world.
the big drug companies have tested an ebola vaccine on monkeys. it doesn’t matter if it works, that’s why drug companies love vaccines, you just skew the data.
now, they open the door for mandatory vaccination because they say you’ll be a danger to the population.
and thathy he’s sending the troops, to bring it home in force.
and don’t doubt this, money is the motivation.
Pentagon your call ... Answer NO, please!
West Africa is NOT a national security concern. Ban all flights into/out of West Africa. Isolate West Africa from the rest of the world and let the virus play itself out.
Gotta get them before they can get him?
This stinks on ice.
Good God. This idiot has no priorities.
Considering the threat that this disease poses, I wonder if out military is doing this only as a volunteer assignment or if they go even at the cost of their lives.
The military, primarily the U.S.Army is involved, and always is with Ebola, but we don’t need (or want) to be sending line troops in to be exposed.
“The Armed Forces Press Service reported late Friday that military health workers, including an entomologist from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, already are in the affected area providing support ranging from logistical assistance to “clinical management” — assisting in treating affected populations.
“DoD personnel bring a level of excellence second to none, working in response to host nations and WHO in the most-affected countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia,” Army Col. James Cummings, a physician and director of the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System at the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center told AFPS.
Filoviruses like Ebola have been of interest to the Pentagon since the late 1970s, mainly because Ebola and its fellow viruses have high mortality rates — in the current outbreak, roughly 60 percent to 72 percent of those who have contracted the disease have died — and its stable nature in aerosol make it attractive as a potential biological weapon.
Since the late 1970s and early 1980s, researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases have sought to develop a vaccine or treatment for the disease.”
“We had a large footprint in Africa,” Cummings said of the Defense Department’s response to the first Ebola cases reported in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire. Since that time, the Defense Department has answered numerous calls for assistance from the World Health Organization (WHO), nongovernmental organizations and ministries of heath and defense, he said.”
Could this be the strategy to suspend the November elections?
Bring back Ebola and declare the elections suspended because people won’t be allowed to gather in public places. After all, it will be a health crisis!
This was perfectly depicted by the photo of the young Marine holding an umbrella while this creep made another worthless speech in the Rose Gardening the rain.
This completely pissed my dad off being an old Marine.
I was talking about this yesterday with a friend who’s hubby is ex Navy. Said my son has interest in the military down the road but we both agreed to have reservations about him serving. Not with what Obama has done to the military. And I come from a proud military family. Makes me sick what he’s done.
.
I bet it did. Sickening.
We do need to help. I'd rather fight the virus there than at home. But we need to minimize our troops exposure.
since the mission is to “contain” the disease quarantine area while “protecting” a small groups of US Military doctors nurses and health workers, I guess that means US troops will be shooting desperate possibly highly infectious bleeding zombie Africans who have nothing to lose, trying to escape quarantine or force their way into treatment centers or steal medical supplies
sure the Africans are gonna love the US Marines sweating in 120 degrees in Bio hazard gear, when they start using lethal force on packs of hyenas, who will waaaay outnumber the Marines and only need to rip open that protective gear
BlackHawk Down anyone?
what's wrong with this picture?
Hmmmm
The US surgeon general isn't leading the way?
no Obama family photo ops?
No CODEL senators and congress critters traveling as VIP observers?
My son periodically has thoughts of enlisting. I always beg him not to do it until we get a new President who will treat our military better.
Upon hearing this his thoughts became a resounding Hell no!
Good!
My luck he’ll be drafted. Heaven forbid.
Good idea. I’m sure the volunteers are lining up
With the whole situation on deserters, traitors, and chaos in the military, I pretty much figured out before this Ebola event that all this corruption was a fair warning not to be in when things got worse.
That’s how the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 started. Bringing troops home.
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