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315 Members
54 Forums
4546 Topics
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Max Online: 1099 @ 06/29/07 07:42 AM
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#102331 - 01/01/05 07:55 AM
"Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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The Merman
Registered: 11/11/04
Posts: 14670
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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From The New York Times: Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid to Stricken Areas of Asia
By DAVID E. SANGER and WARREN HOGE
December 31, 2004
CRAWFORD, Texas, Dec. 31 - President Bush announced a nine-fold increase in emergency aid to stricken areas of Asia today, bringing the federal government's commitment to $350 million, and he said the United States would probably add more resources as the scope of what he called an "epic disaster" became clearer.
At the United Nations, Jan Egeland, the emergency aid coordinator, said the new American money had taken the overall amount to nearly $1.2 billion, with a total of 40 donor nations and new pledges continuing to come in hourly.
"I've never ever seen such an outpouring of international assistance in any international disaster, ever," Mr. Egeland said.
Mr. Bush's action was the second time this week that the United States committed more funds to the effort, and it came after mounting criticism that the president, who was at his 1,600-acre ranch all week and spoke publicly about the disaster once, had reacted too slowly.
In a written statement today, Mr. Bush said that he decided on the increase after Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and the director of the Agency for International Development, Andrew Natsios, told him that "initial findings of American assessment teams on the ground indicate that the need for financial and other assistance will steadily increase in the days and weeks ahead."
As recently as Thursday, a senior State Department official deeply involved in the rescue efforts said that Washington had not received any word from any assessment team asking for more money. But the official added that when such requests came in, he was certain the money would be available.
Mr. Powell was visibly annoyed later on Thursday when asked about other nations, with far smaller economies, that until today's announcement had committed more funds than the United States. "I don't know what yet the United States' contribution will be," he said on ABC's "Nightline," "and what we have to do is make a needs assessment and not just grasp at numbers or think we're in some kind of an auction house where every day somebody has to top someone else."
Asked about the new elevated figure at the United Nations today, after he met with Secretary General Kofi Annan, Mr. Powell said he had received information this morning from Mr. Natsios that justified the rise. "What I wanted to do is to make sure that I had a basis to go to the president and make the recommendation that he commit this amount of money, and not just that each day everybody was trying to play, 'Can you top this ?' " he said.
With the newly announced commitment, the United States moves from the middle of the pack of countries that have announced aid to the region to one of clear leadership. The $350 million is more than three times the amount committed by Britain, and it is $100 million more than the World Bank's contribution thus far.
A White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, said that the $350 million would come "from existing accounts," but said the Bush administration might have to go to Congress next month to replenish emergency funds. But he dismissed suggestions by Democrats, including Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, that the United States could draw on some of the $16 billion authorized for Iraq reconstruction that has not been spent.
"It's not coming from Iraq money, if that's what you are asking," Mr. Duffy told reporters.
In his statement today, Mr. Bush summarized a series of American actions this week, starting with the creation of a coordination "core group" with Australia, India and Japan.
"I am confident many more nations will join this core group in short order," Mr. Bush said in his statement. "Reports of strong charitable donations are also very encouraging and reflect the true generosity and compassion of the American people."
Mr. Powell sought to allay suspicions at the United Nations that in setting up the core group, the United States was competing for leadership of the relief effort with the world organization, with which the Bush administration has had strained relations.
"We created the core group earlier in the week because we saw a need for a coordination mechanism to be created rather quickly and rested on countries that were nearby in the region with assets, experience and capability that could be brought to bear right away," Mr. Powell said. Its ultimate purpose, he said, was to bring international organizations "into play under the overall supervision and leadership of the United Nations."
Mr. Powell plans to leave for Indonesia and Sri Lanka on Sunday with the president's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida.
Lionel Rosenblatt, president emeritus of Refugees International, a Washington-based advocacy group, said he thought the visit by Mr. Powell would help to free up needed resources but said it was a mistake not to include a high-level United Nations representative.
"We see in places like Aceh that they are still without any sort of relief presence yet and it may involve opening airports, bulldozing new airstrips and bringing in other help, and those are the kinds of problems that Powell can begin to solve with a phone call that would take the normal machinery days to turn around," he said. "But I also think it is imperative to take a very senior member of the U.N. along so that the U.N. leadership of the relief system remains intact and indeed enhanced."
Some experts say that the rapidly growing money figure may outpace the ability of relief agencies to get food, blankets, medicine and temporary housing to reach some remote areas of Indonesia and Sri Lanka, where the earthquake and tsunami devastation was worst. "We see now as our biggest challenge not the availability of funds nor the availability of supplies that are in the pipeline," Mr. Egeland said, "but the logistical constraints on getting it out to people."
Mr. Annan said, "We are going to need major logistical support - airplanes, helicopters, air controllers to assist us to move the products and goods as quickly as possible so that we don't have bottlenecks."
Mr. Egeland said that the latest United Nations figures showed the death toll approaching 150,000 and likely to rise further, since the majority of victims are from areas that international workers are only now beginning to reach. "We will never ever have the absolute definite figure because there are many nameless fishermen and villagers who have just gone, and we have no chance of finding out who they were," he said.
White House officials are clearly sensitive about the charge that they responded too slowly, and Mr. Bush today listed a series of actions the United States had already taken. They include the dispatch of an aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, and an amphibious ship carrying a Marine expeditionary unit. But the ships are not yet in position, and several officials said that the distance the ships have to travel cost precious time.
The United States surrendered its bases in the Philippines more than a decade ago, one senior American diplomat in Asia said on Thursday, noting that "we're all paying the price for that a bit" because it would have put American forces closer to the destruction at the tip of Sumatra.
Traditionally, Mr. Bush appears around New Year's at the lone coffee shop in this one-stoplight town a few miles from his ranch, sometimes holding an impromptu news conference by the gas pumps outside. But to do so today would have invited questions about the American response, and Mr. Bush never left the ranch. His spokesman said he was entertaining friends.
The question about donation levels also sparked a new spat with France. The French ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte, wrote a letter to Mr. Natsios saying that he had been "surprised to learn of the shocking and uncalled-for comments you thought fit to make during an interview" on Wednesday on Fox News. Mr. Natsios had observed that France was not a major donor to other nations, saying "they do not tend to be dominant figures in aid." He went on to praise Britain, Japan, the European Union, Canada and Australia.
Mr. Levitte disputed that assessment, saying that France, with an economy a fraction of the size of the United States', had already given about $28 million for tsunami relief, or only $7 million less than the United States, until today's announcement. "I would be interested in learning your reasons for misguidedly impugning France this way," he wrote.
David E. Sanger contributed reporting from Crawford for this article, and Warren Hoge reported from the United Nations.
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#102332 - 01/01/05 08:15 PM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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Vengeance is MINE
Registered: 11/12/03
Posts: 10109
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You know I'm all for helping, but BUSH just keeps opening my wallet more and more with out even asking , before to long us blue collar workers will be doing nothing but paying for the worlds problems while they just let us AMERICANS suffer right here at home !!! Giving starts here at home FIRST, hell with all his throwing around millions and Billions around like its nothing , where is my thank you present ? I guess I woke up pissed-off!!! 
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#102333 - 01/02/05 03:47 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master
Registered: 10/28/03
Posts: 10034
Loc: TN
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No, you're absolutely right. There's no freaking money for our schools or the military but there's plenty of cash for these damned foreiners. I mean, I'm all for helping out when it's really needed but I'm also all for others helping US when WE need it. Those that don't help us in our times of need should NOT be helped in their time of need. Once again, I call it survival of the fitest. If you aren't fit enough to be able to handle a big trajedy then so-long, don't forget to write. Should've kept your friends close.
_________________________
Evil girls biting good girls turning good girls into evil girls.
Evil boys eating evil hamburgers. Evil boys eating evil fries.
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#102334 - 01/02/05 04:06 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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10,000+
Registered: 12/27/03
Posts: 13809
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You are right about that. You know what we are going through
And as of tonight that dang judge is having his nice life while we lose everything. He has not said s...!!! But our gov. did stop my wife's doctor from taking care of her for "free". Since her doctor bills medicare patients she can not treat non-medicare patients free. That is discrimation. So my wife now has no doctor, and does not seem to want one at this time. 
_________________________
“Dogs offer one of the most stable and enduring friendships on this earth.”
Willard Scott
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#102335 - 01/02/05 04:09 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master
Registered: 10/28/03
Posts: 10034
Loc: TN
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But Asia is so much more important than Americans going through greater trajegies than they are.
_________________________
Evil girls biting good girls turning good girls into evil girls.
Evil boys eating evil hamburgers. Evil boys eating evil fries.
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#102337 - 01/02/05 05:09 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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I'm not bulletproof
Registered: 10/28/03
Posts: 2104
Loc: Mini Soda
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#102338 - 01/02/05 05:16 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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1,000+
Registered: 12/03/03
Posts: 6420
Loc: Just short of the goal
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Good about time they start carring their load.
_________________________
Life’s Journey is not to arrive safely in a well preserved body,
But rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting “Holy Sh%t , what a ride!”
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#102339 - 01/02/05 06:21 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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The Merman
Registered: 11/11/04
Posts: 14670
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
No, you're absolutely right. There's no freaking money for our schools or the military but there's plenty of cash for these damned foreiners. I mean, I'm all for helping out when it's really needed but I'm also all for others helping US when WE need it. Those that don't help us in our times of need should NOT be helped in their time of need. Once again, I call it survival of the fitest. If you aren't fit enough to be able to handle a big trajedy then so-long, don't forget to write. Should've kept your friends close.
I agree with this as a whole, but... What do you consider really needing? This tsunami seems to qualify as really needing to me.
Remember, we conduct a lot of trade with Asia (Thailand being the biggest of the devastated countries, probably). This trade requiring working ports, we need to help rebuild these countries for nothing else except to help stabilize part of our economy.
!Bush-detesting, Liberal rant ahead!
If Bush were a bit more responsible with our money (i.e.: never invading Iraq and never making those tax-cuts), we--maybe--could afford this.
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#102343 - 01/02/05 07:11 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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1,000+
Registered: 12/03/03
Posts: 6420
Loc: Just short of the goal
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I don’t know if the president is at fault for everything. I personally don’t like him. That doesn’t mean I think he’s evil or incompetent. It just means I don’t agree with him. I do know however that he just spent millions upon millions of dollars trying to convince us he was the man for the job. And he was elected.
So that now means that he has to realize it's not all standing on an aircraft carrier being cheered. He has to answer for the bad as well as take credit for the good. When you’re the boss it’s your fault. Be it the state of the economy the crime rate or pay toilets. Now it’s his turn to be blamed.
Personally I am totally convinced pay toilets are President Bush’s brain child.
And shouse as far as who will be blamed when President Bush is gone? They said the same thing when Bill Clinton was president and they have said the same thing for every president all the way back to Washington.
Edited by 2dogs (01/02/05 07:13 AM)
_________________________
Life’s Journey is not to arrive safely in a well preserved body,
But rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting “Holy Sh%t , what a ride!”
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#102345 - 01/02/05 07:37 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master
Registered: 10/28/03
Posts: 10034
Loc: TN
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Quote:
Quote:
No, you're absolutely right. There's no freaking money for our schools or the military but there's plenty of cash for these damned foreiners. I mean, I'm all for helping out when it's really needed but I'm also all for others helping US when WE need it. Those that don't help us in our times of need should NOT be helped in their time of need. Once again, I call it survival of the fitest. If you aren't fit enough to be able to handle a big trajedy then so-long, don't forget to write. Should've kept your friends close.
I agree with this as a whole, but... What do you consider really needing? This tsunami seems to qualify as really needing to me.
Remember, we conduct a lot of trade with Asia (Thailand being the biggest of the devastated countries, probably). This trade requiring working ports, we need to help rebuild these countries for nothing else except to help stabilize part of our economy.
!Bush-detesting, Liberal rant ahead!
If Bush were a bit more responsible with our money (i.e.: never invading Iraq and never making those tax-cuts), we--maybe--could afford this.
Yes, I think this counts as a time of need but I also think the amount of money given should be moderate. I mean, doesn't Asia's government have any freaking money of their own? $350 million is a bit much considering all the other things in OUR OWN country this could go towards.
_________________________
Evil girls biting good girls turning good girls into evil girls.
Evil boys eating evil hamburgers. Evil boys eating evil fries.
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#102347 - 01/02/05 08:33 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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The Merman
Registered: 11/11/04
Posts: 14670
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
Now why did ya have to throw the Bush thing into it?? You give the man way too much credit. He can't be responsible for everything wrong in the whole dang world. 
I've been very good lately. Allow me this!  
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#102349 - 01/02/05 08:49 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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The Merman
Registered: 11/11/04
Posts: 14670
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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#102350 - 01/02/05 09:40 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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Vengeance is MINE
Registered: 11/12/03
Posts: 10109
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Where was the the other countries when the Hurricanes went through Fla.????
Where is their contribution to our disaster?????? HUM??????
Oh thats right we are dirty Americans and they all hate us, but sure stand there with their hands out, and its sad that most of this money we give to other countries never gets to the intended purpose, their government just filters it into their own bank accounts.
The govenrment could make themselfs look a whole lot better if they would actually spend our money on us once in awhile !!!!!
But that would be just to much common sense . They have a common sense labotomy & turn it into thinking through your ASS when you become a politician !!!!!
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#102352 - 01/02/05 11:57 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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1,000+
Registered: 12/03/03
Posts: 6420
Loc: Just short of the goal
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I always thought I could be a politician all I need was a lobotomy and a pair of tights
_________________________
Life’s Journey is not to arrive safely in a well preserved body,
But rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting “Holy Sh%t , what a ride!”
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#102353 - 01/02/05 10:22 PM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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10,000+
Registered: 12/27/03
Posts: 13809
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If I was going to be a politician I would want to run some kind of animal protection dept. Kind of a "Animal Court Judge" type thing. I know it would hurt me a lot to see the things done to animals. But it would feel good to make the suckers pay.
_________________________
“Dogs offer one of the most stable and enduring friendships on this earth.”
Willard Scott
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#102357 - 01/03/05 12:00 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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10,000+
Registered: 12/27/03
Posts: 13809
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I knew it would take you some time to wrap your mind around "soft hearted Republican". And I think it is nice to talk about how we feel about things and why we feel that way. When someone feels under attack they never understand what the other person thinks or feels. And it becomes a game of who can make who madder. Then it is just a waste of time. Now that is my big opinion of the day. And by the way your welcome.
_________________________
“Dogs offer one of the most stable and enduring friendships on this earth.”
Willard Scott
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#102358 - 01/03/05 12:08 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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The Merman
Registered: 11/11/04
Posts: 14670
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
I knew it would take you some time to wrap your mind around "soft hearted Republican". And I think it is nice to talk about how we feel about things and why we feel that way.
Don't speak so soon. My mind is a hard thing to change, very hard. 
Quote:
When someone feels under attack they never understand what the other person thinks or feels. And it becomes a game of who can make who madder. Then it is just a waste of time.
I'm guilty, I know. That's why I left The Other Place and came here. I needed to return to a friendly atmosphere so I could be myself again. It's easier to be nice here because no one here really irritates me.
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#102364 - 01/13/05 05:44 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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Vengeance is MINE
Registered: 11/12/03
Posts: 10109
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My American Dream just gets shoved up my arse sideways , with no lube ...LOL
I say we revolt and take BACK our country !!!!!!!!!!!!! Since when did we start working for our government instead of them working for us ?
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#102366 - 01/22/05 08:24 PM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master
Registered: 10/28/03
Posts: 10034
Loc: TN
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It's funny that when another country needs money for relief effort Bush throws it around like it's going out of style. And when it comes to self-glorifying parties he throws $40 million around for that. But when it comes to getting our troop some freaking metal to armor their vehicles they get nothing. Well...actually they do get something. Bush goes to church and offers up PRAYERS for the troops and their situation.
Troops need aid. They get prayers.
Other countries need aid. They get cash.
Bush needs a boost of self-esteem he throws $40 million parties.
_________________________
Evil girls biting good girls turning good girls into evil girls.
Evil boys eating evil hamburgers. Evil boys eating evil fries.
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#102367 - 01/22/05 08:29 PM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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10,000+
Registered: 12/27/03
Posts: 13809
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They all throw the parties. They say that is not tax money.
_________________________
“Dogs offer one of the most stable and enduring friendships on this earth.”
Willard Scott
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#102368 - 03/27/05 05:00 AM
Re: "Bush Pledges $350 Million in Aid..."
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The IDEA Man
Registered: 11/11/03
Posts: 33102
Loc: ohio
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Looks like that Tsunami is still having long term affects society wise for the people there. As this article states it killed 3 times more women then men, and now do the the shortage of women to men over there, there are reports of forced marriages and rapes. Not a good thing to hear. The article goes in to more detail for those that want to check it out.
_________________________
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
-Aesop, 620 BC - 560 BC
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