Tsunami Relief Efforts, Accusations, and Speculations

I've said it before and I'll say it again. From the bottom of my heart, I'm so sorry to hear the hourly reports of increased death tolls and the aftermath of the tsunami that hit the nations on the Indian Ocean. It is truly a sad story...but one that we can only blame on Mother Nature herself. There can't be any finger pointing at greenhouse gas accumlation, global warming or SUVs changing the face of the planet. The earthquake deep below the ocean's surface is simply an anomaly in nature...and the tsunami the result. The incredible loss of life in such a short period is indeed a great tragedy.

However, I think that we're going way off the deep end with the accusations and speculations about the way we have all chosen to respond to assist and minimize the suffering for the survivors. Here's a story that talks about:

Bush Undermining UN with Aid Coalition

In this piece, a former director of the International Development (Whatever) accuses the four country coalition made up of the United States, Japan, Australia and India of undermining the efforts in coordinating the aid for the recovery effort.

My question to Ms. Clare Short is...which UN Aircraft Carrier Task Forces are currently steaming to assist with the effort? How many UN Marines are going to land and help with the medical and other humanitarian efforts? How many UN helicopters have been dispatched to the area?

The answer is for some...unbelievable. The answer is NONE! The UN is a figurehead type organization that begs, borrows, and most recently has been exposed for stealing as well not only money, but the troops to try and implement their policies around the globe. They have very few, if any assets of their own to deploy. (See the controversy of PFC New and the Blue Beret)

Does Ms. Short advocate us withdrawing our support so that we can allow the UN to get the glory she seems to be willing to shower them with...or is she more concerned about getting the relief effort moving forward and heading off the impending epidemics at the pass?

I believe that the key to success in recovering from this disaster at this point is:

1. To get the dead recovered and buried/cremated quickly.

2. To speed building materials, foodstuffs, and other basic survival materiel where they're needed most.

3. To assist the nations heaviest hit by this tragedy to set up their own early warning systems to provide more 'lead time' in knowing something this bad was coming. While these are much shorter in warning time than typhoons and hurricanes, I'd be willing to bet the loss of life would have been much less had these nations been able to warn their people like we're able to do here in the US with tornados and hurricanes.

Grousing about monetary assistance...a president that is on a well deserved working vacation... or the credit for the relief effort isn't doing any good at all.

May God look kindly on those assisting in this effort and keep them safe from harm.

From the high ground...

MajorDad1984

. And here is the rest of it.