January 11, 200521 yr Verifrank has a telling story about the Euro-Weenies, which took place at one of the press conferences about aiding tsunami victims: Today, during an afternoon conference that wrapped up my project of the last 18 months, one of my Euro colleagues tossed this little turd out to no one in particular: " See, this is why George Bush is so dumb, there’s a disaster in the world and he sends an Aircraft Carrier..." After which he and many of my Euro colleagues laughed out loud. And then they looked at me. I wasn't laughing, and neither was my Hindi friend sitting next to me, who has lost family in the disaster. I'm afraid I was "unprofessional", I let it loose - "Hmmm, let's see, what would be the ideal ship to send to a disaster, now what kind of ship would we want? Something with its own inexhaustible power supply? Something that can produce 900,000 gallons of fresh water a day from sea water? Something with its own airfield? So that after producing the fresh water, it could help distribute it? Something with 4 hospitals and lots of open space for emergency supplies? Something with a global communications facility to make the coordination of disaster relief in the region easier? Well "Franz", us peasants in America call that kind of ship an "Aircraft Carrier". We have 12 of them. How many do you have? What is it that some people have against people who can, you know, do stuff?
January 11, 200521 yr It's a stupid notion to think Bush had anything to do with the choice of ship , but the old Bush Baiting will arise at the slightest opportuntiy , however tasteless. Wish I had an aircraft carrier to send to those poor souls
January 11, 200521 yr Author Of course, one reason why Franz may not appreciate the role of the Navy is that foreign media seem to be downplaying it. The BBC certainly is, as Christopher Booker notes in The Telegraph: 'Don't mention the navy' is the BBC's line Last week we were subjected to one of the most extraordinary examples of one-sided news management of modern times, as most of our media, led by the BBC, studiously ignored what was by far the most effective and dramatic response to Asia's tsunami disaster. A mighty task force of more than 20 US Navy ships, led by a vast nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, and equipped with nearly 90 helicopters, landing craft and hovercraft, were carrying out a round-the-clock relief operation, providing food, water and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of survivors. The BBC went out of its way not to report this. Only when one BBC reporter, Ben Brown, hitched a lift from one of the Abraham Lincoln's Sea Hawk helicopters to report from the Sumatran coast was there the faintest hint of the part that the Americans, aided by the Australian navy, were playing.
January 11, 200521 yr hi' Boon, I was happy to see this "carrier" arriving and beginning rotations for far deliveries with helicopters, and I thought ... nice to be there in time, I hope that the french aren't going to take long to arrive too ... the french carrier should be there by now ... don't listen to these nuts from europe ... they are still stuck with bush-stuff and they carry a big lack of education sometime far from any bush thoughts or iraky-stuff in my mind ... a big thanks to all these guys for the relief they bring, it seems to me that it's more than a duty here. francois
January 12, 200521 yr Author Thanks for the positive words, francois but the following excerpt illustrates what a bunch of useless toss-pots the UN are... Our Sources in Aceh report that UN "coordination" means that the UN holds a meeting every day at 5 pm near the runway in Aceh. Every donor nation and NGO stands up and states what it's doing; the UN rep writes it down. Some times, however, it's hard to hear. The distinctive "whoop! whoop! whoop!" of those nasty American choppers and the roar of Australian and American C-130 engines on the tarmac can prove very bothersome to the UN rep as he tries to hear what everyone else is doing. Poor man! If only those stingy Aussies and Yanks would have the decency to shut down relief operations while the UN rep is trying to hold a meeting, after all, he's here to help, help himself, that is, to taking credit for what the others are doing.
January 13, 200521 yr Author An update on how the Yanks and Aussies are demonstrating the UN's ineptness in Hey Lefty! Give The UN Your Money, NOW! The UNocrats know that young Aussies and Yanks have shown them up as the fakes the UNocrats are. That makes them furious; it makes them lash out at us and our friends. They call us names ("stingy"); sniff about our alleged mistakes ("you fed some people twice"); and complain that we won't take their instruction ("you should wear blue vests.") When all else fails, they try to take credit for what Australian and American taxpayers and their military and diplomatic services have done -- yes, indeed, a word of praise for the State Department, which responded superbly. Some lefties have the nerve to rationalize UN ineptness by stating, "Well, the UN doesn't have aircraft carriers and fleets of helicopters." Please note: Had the lefties had their way, the USA wouldn't have any either. OK, the UN doesn't have aircraft carriers, but doesn't it have access to international airlines and merchant ships? The Diplomad must assume that all the first class seats were taken by the likes of The Queen of the High Priest Vulture Elite UNICEF Director Carol Bellamy, who flew out for a brief disaster tour and a long press conference. The cargo space probably went to the Land Cruisers and the Mercedes sedans. Hey, priorities are priorities; we'll provide ourselves the luxury cars, the Yanks and the Aussies will provide food to the hungry . . . . Read the whole thing!
January 13, 200521 yr Boon, while I enjoy your relentless struggle to convert us all into Bush-ites, I personally reckon it's a bit below-the-belt turning this disaster into a soap-box for your political affairs, to be honest. Rant on though. Don't know about the rest of you but I skimmed on past the 2nd post.
January 13, 200521 yr First post valid. Very stupid utterance by the journalist. The rest is just the usual 'look at how good we Americans are', Boon. To the people who suffer, help is help, irrespective of source. And you know what, I think the UN are doing their best as well. Turning the tsunami aid work into a (mud-slinging) contest doesn't sound particularly productive.
January 13, 200521 yr Author OK guys, I'll give it a break. All I was doing was pointing out the sheer ineptitude of the UN. I will take exception to your point, insight, that I'm trying to convert y'all to "Bush-ites" & Meadish, the UN are not doing their best...
January 13, 200521 yr hi' and over all this, the Indonesian government is restricting areas claiming that these areas were dangerous because of armed rebels ... so for now, only the north of Aceh and some sea-side are allowed. (sorry, forgot the names) they also claimed that armies have colonized some areas... to help it might concern mainly Us army as muslims movement brought this complain up, but Australia, Japan, France are there too ... they want help, but they want a complete control over it, what have they in their mind? I was thinking that the only result that they may get is to slow down every operations politics entered the post-trauma ... not for the best francois
January 13, 200521 yr Author politics entered the post-trauma ...not for the best francois It was inevitable that it would...
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