Flood-Hit Thailand Declines Offer Of Help: US Navy

[Buchholz]

US help never comes for free and the hidden payback is always much bigger than the actual help.

I am an Aussie and personally think the Yanks have helped all over the world in hundreads of crisis situations. I dont know of any hidden costs or paybacks to date. Can you elaborate on your comment.

...today the US help you, tomorrow they'll be ready to reclaim the favor and put it in your a**...

and don't tell me it never happened before

Are you on drugs? What paranoid planet are you living on?

Mass emails on thread topics always bring out the trolls.

[DocN]

.........and of course the US is SO good at flood control / response?

You mean, because they were not able to send an aircarft carier into New Orleans?

Grow up, please!

[cougar52]

Don Muang is home to the capital's second airport, as well as the government flood relief center. But some residents in swamped areas there said they were running short on food. Volunteers who had been preparing to send emergency supplies to Ayutthaya, a city north of Bangkok which has been submerged for more than two weeks, were forced to consume them instead.

"Now we've become flood victims" ourselves, said 53-year-old Pimnipha Na Bangchang. "We're distributing this food aid to our community because we haven't received any help."

NO HELP, Because your Government declined it.?????

[bkkjames]

Although we are not privy to the conditions of said offer of help (if any), I find it amazing that they would say no to such an offer - why not?

Grocery stores are void of water and dried goods, the flooding is getting worse, not better. The gov'ts own people say this coming weekend could be worse.

Millions of people upcountry and around the city are displaced and it appears it will only get worse.

How could having extra helicopters and personnel delivering aid be a bad thing?

[pepi2005]

They don't WANT anyone 'foreign' to help, because they could find out about the billions of Baht that are 'watered' with corruption during the 'relief efforts', by selling donated food and goods by greedy individuals etc.

Just like how it happened after the Tsunami in Phuket.

[sirchai]

If this isn't absolute proof of their bona fide stupidity, nothing is. It's as if they want people to die.

It's starting to look that way...

For humanitarian work, the United States often deploys warships, including aircraft carriers, which can operate fleets of helicopters and ferry in emergency medical teams and supplies.

Why would you say no, if so much equipment, manpower, air crafts and food would be available? Could it be that Ying said no?

[peterdk]

... this massive, MASSIVE tragedy.

Where? Have I missed something? The northeast, north, central plains and south has been inundated to varying degrees since March. Now that the Bangkokians can't get down to the club or go for dinner without some measure of inconvenience, only NOW is the time for US military assistance?

No, you haven't missed anything.

However, since a US carrier steamed here and wanting to offer assistance, it would be foolish to send them packing.

The last 2-3 months they would have been very welcome to help out too, however no-one asked them to come and help out.

It was not a big focus point in the world media and Thailand was transferring power from old government to new one, so no cries for help was given.

Obviously the old and current government have done what they thought best, and asking for help now, 2-3 months later, would most likely expose the "face" that they guard.

And now, even as far away as the US, people can see, that help is really needed.

So the US sent help, but was sent packing.

Miracle Thailand.

[captspectre]

<br />"On October 15, a small ten-man team of US Marines traveled to Thailand to deliver thousands of sandbags and to assess how the American military could help with relief efforts"<br />sending sandbags is the least, what US government should be doing, in such situation. Much more important are basic medical supplies, medicines and equipment.<br /><br />but, of course, it's a very strange position, not to accept an offer of help. Those marines could be used in rescue work, which is so much needed.<br /><br />looks, life thai foreign ministry made a big mistake, because there weren't any diplomatic favours in exchange for help.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

Well, as I see things these marines would need a work permit; seven underlings, get screened for syphilis and swim to the immigration every ninety days. How sick this all is - disgusting!

I agree, remember the Tsunami? many people tried to help but the Gov't did require a "Work Permit!" andthen kicked them out of country!

[ryladie99]

<br>"On October 15, a small ten-man team of US Marines traveled to Thailand to deliver thousands of sandbags and to assess how the American military could help with relief efforts"<br>sending sandbags is the least, what US government should be doing, in such situation. Much more important are basic medical supplies, medicines and equipment.<br><br>but, of course, it's a very strange position, not to accept an offer of help. Those marines could be used in rescue work, which is so much needed.<br><br>looks, life thai foreign ministry made a big mistake, because there weren't any diplomatic favours in exchange for help.<br>

<br><br>I do agree with you 100% and you are hitting the Target. Thai people can get help from the US Navy..so much the Navy can do. I do not understand Thai Foreign Ministry...What is this Excellency thinking about?  Well I only can send money through US Red Cross..I would urge everyone helping the Thai, Philippine, and Turkey. They do need your guys help and support...do whatever you all can...my take and opinion...<br>

[hellodolly]

Wonder if she figures this will install trust in the ?Thai's ability to handle emergencies for potential foreign investors.

Wonder if she thinks that the current investors are going to feel safer with their investment here in Thailand.

As one poster already mentioned smarts are not their long suit.

[ronz28]

Top priority for US is to get our troops and equipment out of Iraq and back home so Navy has other things to do and perhaps Thailand is being sensitive to those commitments but we would help anyway.

I hope Thailand gets through this OK. Its just a lot of polluted water. However, the solution to pollution is dilution so it won't be as bad as it otherwise would be without the massive rains.

[rametindallas]

Dr. Thaksin's close friends, the Chinese, sent water pumps; but, then again, they want railroad contracts and part of Dr. Thaksin's new Bt.400 billion plan to prevent future flooding.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/China-to-send-170-water-pumps-to-help-Thailand-30168153.html

[qualtrough]

I would be entirely unsurprised if the agenda behind this alleged rejection was to further undermine the current government. Of course the US government would never interfere like that, so maybe I am being paranoid. Possibly the Thais looked at the US efforts in Katrina and said "Thanks, but no thanks"?

BTW, if you want to look for examples of government's rejecting needed aid, look no further than the USA:

Katrina aid from Cuba? No thanks, says U.S. America welcomes foreign help, except from an old Cold War foe

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9311876/ns/us_news-katrina_the_long_road_back/t/katrina-aid-cuba-no-thanks-says-us/

That was an offer of 1100 urgently needed English speaking doctors for Katrina. Hate to break it to you, but Thailand is far from the only nation that is worried about 'face'.

[cheshiremusicman]

I think this is a lack of communicating with the right people. As a person that has more than 14 family members stranded by these floods in the Bangkok area, I am very concerned and planning accordingly for the entire family. Loosing all their possessions is a minor thing as their safety is paramount. My concern is when the floods are over. There will be limited water and food sources that are not contaminated, the likely outbreak of disease and of course the inability of the common man to earn a living and provide for himself. I think someone better call the U.S. Military and ask them to return. Heck their water decontamination capabilities alone will be worth many lives.

You have put the case in a nutshell, but how long before the people 'supposedly in charge of this country'can break into the nut - I think the people who said NO to the American offer of help should be charged on the grounds of causing unnecessary suffering to their own people and incarcerated for a very long time.

As previous posters have said, the vast daily amounts of clean drinking water alone that the nuclear powered vessel alone can provide is the main reason that this offer should have been accepted. You CAN live without food for quite some time but NOT without water.

Let us all keep our fingers crossed that somebody in power will reverse this stupid decision.

[KeyserSoze01]

Are the Thai people aware of their governments refusal of help from the USA?

I wonder if the Thai government is aware that they refused aid.

Yes there's flooding.

No, there's no disaster.

Hmm, seems you are wrong on this count. There is no state of emergency, but even the PM stated that this was a disaster and I would think the dead and the hundreds of thousands of homeless Thais would disagree as well. Last estimates are $6,000,000,000 USD and the flooding will not end for weeks. Just what is your definition of a disaster, meteor strike on Victory Monument?

[NanLaew]

More disconcerting than which said yes and which said no....A high ranking member of the United States Department of Defense just publicly acknowledged that they have two separate and distinct channels of communication open with Thailand, presumably Military, and Political, who are openly in conflict with each other. That is not an indicator of peace and stability in the near future.

No. What is disconcerting is the nameless USDoD mouthpiece in the OP suddenly becoming 'high ranking' in your post. Do you watch Fox News a lot? As I see it, the US Navy was basically admitting they don't have an up to date "who's who" list for Thailand. You can get them on eBay.

.... We will becoming hard pressed in coming days to find adequate adjectives to describe the incompetance on display.

Doubtless that you won't succumb to being stuck for words regardless of how deep the water gets.

[DocN]

...today the US help you, tomorrow they'll be ready to reclaim the favor and put it in your a**...

and don't tell me it never happened before

Yeah..........yippie. Finally someone who hits the nail on the head.

US starts moving 3 battle ships into the Thai Gulf.......offer their help which is declined and then they start to moan that their help is declined.

Please US, stay out of this and solve your own shit first. (Oh and please do not refer to the Marshall plan, that was more than 60 years ago and Europe is still suffering.)

Help should come from UN and Red Cross. US is represented in both organisation and that should do it.

Just so I get it right: HERE we are, facing a crisis in drinking water ( i assume) like never before in the history of Thailand. And THERE is a nuclear powered battle-ship, that can produce hundreds of thousands of liters EVERY &lt;deleted&gt; SINGLE DAY and you send them away , because you don't like them? Nobody asked you to hang out with them on Nana! No one asked you to make a pilgrimage to the harbour every evening and praise them! They offered help and I am afraid, we will need all the help we can get! Soon! So put your sentiments behind you for who-ever-you-pray-to's sake!

Edited October 25, 2011 by DocN

[bkkjames]

Top priority for US is to get our troops and equipment out of Iraq and back home so Navy has other things to do and perhaps Thailand is being sensitive to those commitments but we would help anyway.

I hope Thailand gets through this OK. Its just a lot of polluted water. However, the solution to pollution is dilution so it won't be as bad as it otherwise would be without the massive rains.

First paragraph is quite telling I must say. Yes I am sure Thailand declined the offer because of the sensitivities of Iraq troop withdrawl.

Your second paragraph is just ignorant.

[Rosco911]

It blatantly shows how stupid and incompetent the people in charge of this country really are.

In a country were 9 million people have already been affected and more to come one would assume assistance from anyone would be welcomed with open arms.

[Mosha]

According to wiki,

"A typical aircraft carrier in the U.S. military uses nuclear power to desalinate 400,000 US gallons (1,500,000 lt; 330,000 imp gal) of water per day"

But there's loads of water here already. That's the main problem. Why on earth would Thailand want more?

Is the "loads of water" of which you speak of drinkable and proximate?

That's usually a problem during a flood.

" A Thai company that distributes drinking water across the city sent out an SMS to customers announcing deliveries had been halted because of the crisis."

http://www.huffingto..._n_1026351.html

That's what I thought.

Every comment that NanLaew has made in this topic has made him sound like a Troll

[OzMick]

A nuclear aircraft carrier - think how much water that sucker could push out of the river. Now all we have to find is something to tie it to.......................

[dagling]

Are the Thai people aware of their governments refusal of help from the USA?

I just told my wife about this, and she say NO...

[JodiThaiGirl]

...today the US help you, tomorrow they'll be ready to reclaim the favor and put it in your a**...

and don't tell me it never happened before

You must be Thai..

That sounds exactly like what the discussion in the FROC war room would have been like.

Or is that 'we' have too much to hide.. Like how the donations are used in the benefit of securing the popularity of certain political party, for example?

[rametindallas]

I hear from a reliable source in the Japanese community that indeed Japan was funding such a modern flood control system but withdrew support as money was "disappearing" and the project not progressing adequately. Reportedly this was a few years ago.

Those bloody thieving Democrats again!!!

"a few years back" would put it before the year and a half he Democrats had the government, Troll.

[timberboy]

I am surprised that the new government decided against receiving help. After PM Yingluck was in tears on national television and that the government admitted that they have no choice but to allow the areas affected to remain flooded in order to protect BKK, and then they change their decision and say that BKK must accept flood waters in order for the floods to stop. That wasnt just a ship that the Americans sent, it was with support ships from the Pacific fleets carrier groups, they have hospital ships and all kinds of supplies that they were willing to give to help the people. I have read 5 pages of comments from this article. Is anyone of those people currently experiencing a flooded house? destroyed cars and property??? maybe unemployed because the place they worked at is under water?? Its very easy to get online here and make comments when you are not directly affected. But the people that can use the help i doubt that they would have said no!!I sincerely hope that the government reconsiders its decision and makes the request whether it is to the United Nations [which has already said that they are ready to help], or from another country.If people think that they cant trust America, when it wants to send help, as it did in Indonesia during the tsunami, and to Japan after the disaster there, then they need to wake up. America is not a european colonial power waiting to swallow up your countries natural resources , like the british and french did in SE Asia many years ago. I will watch the news daily and hope for the best, my prayers are with the people of Thailand.:jap:

Edited October 25, 2011 by timberboy

[Buchholz]

If this isn't absolute proof of their bona fide stupidity, nothing is. It's as if they want people to die.

It's starting to look that way...

It certainly does. A nuclear-powered aircraft carrier task force is capable of providing an astounding amount of assistance from electricity to medical care to food to water to manpower to evacuation helicopters. It runs the whole gamut of help that is unrivaled.

This is absolutely absurd of the government to turn it ALL away.

It's criminal

There's a case to be made that it is.

[otissp]

It was never specified clearly what the US navy would be doing. I like the idea of US naval power getting involved, they have the ability to generate tremendous volumes of potable water from seawater on the nuclear powered ship. I would assume they know a think or two about fluid engineering. But what exactly was it they offered and who refused it?

The concept of one arm of the thai government saying yes and the other saying no is not surprising of course.

[whybother]

Given how much the government has used the Thai military, is it any surprise that they refused the US military help?

Explain this comment, I don't get it. The US military is here on training missions every year as well as regular regional military exercieses. Most all the military equipment is US and if the US didn't come here, the Thai military wouldn't know which end of the barrel to point with.

Why would the Thai government avoid using the Thai military and then invite the US military to help?

[gl555]

According to wiki,

"A typical aircraft carrier in the U.S. military uses nuclear power to desalinate 400,000 US gallons (1,500,000 lt; 330,000 imp gal) of water per day"

But there's loads of water here already. That's the main problem. Why on earth would Thailand want more?

Is the "loads of water" of which you speak of drinkable and proximate?

That's usually a problem during a flood.

" A Thai company that distributes drinking water across the city sent out an SMS to customers announcing deliveries had been halted because of the crisis."

http://www.huffingto..._n_1026351.html

That's what I thought.

Sorry.... I didn't use an emoticon and make it easy for you.

Yes there's flooding.

No, there's no disaster.

Are you a little slow or something? Hundreds dead, homes and businesses destroyed and devastated and there's no disaster? At this moment, we're pretty much 'f$%ked and we should accept any help people have to offer, especially when the Americans have always been Thailand's friend and ally. That stupid bitch and her cronies aren't suffering or will not suffer when the floods gets worse. Everyone else is though.If accepting this help can even save one life, it should be taken.

[peterdk]

According to wiki,

"A typical aircraft carrier in the U.S. military uses nuclear power to desalinate 400,000 US gallons (1,500,000 lt; 330,000 imp gal) of water per day"

But there's loads of water here already. That's the main problem. Why on earth would Thailand want more?

Is the "loads of water" of which you speak of drinkable and proximate?

That's usually a problem during a flood.

" A Thai company that distributes drinking water across the city sent out an SMS to customers announcing deliveries had been halted because of the crisis."

http://www.huffingto..._n_1026351.html

That's what I thought.

Every comment that NanLaew has made in this topic has made him sound like a Troll

I disagree somewhat.

I read some of his comments as ;

Why is it a disaster just now ( like why it wasn't a disaster 2-3 months ago, as truthfully it was, also why is it a disaster only now, when Bangkok is on the verge of drowning, and not before. )