Posted on 01/27/2005 2:46:02 PM PST by Marguerite
From those wonderful folks who brought you the Iraqi oil-for-food corruption scandal, we have United Nations-coordinated Tsunami disaster relief. And what a relief that will be.
Shortly after the tsunami struck, two things happened.
First, the United States went into action. Hundreds of thousands of tsunami survivors were -- and are still -- threatened by disease, thirst and starvation. President Bush directed all branches of the US military to deliver on-scene, as soon as possible, all available assets capable of providing assistance and relief.
When it comes to providing immediate, tangible aid -- emergency medical treatment and water purification facilities coordinated on a large scale -- the rest of the world put together (particularly in the form of the United Nations) cannot do what the American military can do all by itself. Within a matter of days, the tsunami-struck areas had about 13,000 US military personnel, 20 ships and 90 aircraft delivering supplies and saving lives. These operations, which will continue into the indefinite future, cost the United States $5.6 million per day, and that figure will probably increase. The United States also organized a core group of nations, including Australia, India and Japan, to aid victims immediately, rather than wait for the United Nations to dither and debate as people die.
Second, UN "emergency coordinator" Jan Egeland criticized the United States for the "stinginess" its response to the tsunami. A crowd of enlightened European politicians and pundits quickly joined Egeland in chorus. The basis of their disapproval? An early estimate of $35 million in US tsunami relief (which soon rose to $350 million).
In contrast, the obscenely oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia, self-proclaimed leader of the Muslim world and "protector of the Muslim holy places," pledged a measly $30 million in relief aid -- despite the fact that a Muslim country, Indonesia, was hardest hit by the tsunami. Every week, the United States military spends more on tsunami relief operations than Saudi Arabia's total pledge. Yet the sanctimonious UN bureaucrats have no complaints about Saudi "stinginess. The odor of the Saudis' pathetic $30 million pledge hung in the air for a few days and would not dissipate, so the country held a telethon that raised $82 million for tsunami relief. The "generosity" of this effort compares unfavorably with a recent Saudi telethon that raised $150 million for Palestinian terror bombers.
Tsunami survivors will not feel the chill of America's "stinginess" for much longer. Leadership of the relief efforts now goes to the UN, which will control the multi-billion-dollar program designed to aid desperate people in Southeast Asia.
Sound ominously familiar? In case anyone has forgotten, under the UN oil-for-food program, UN bureaucrats demonstrated their willingness to steal medicine from the sick and food from the starving. Simply put, the United Nations is so tainted with venality and corruption that the last thing it should do is disburse large amounts of money.
It is too late to do anything about UN "leadership" in the tsunami relief effort. The transfer of control is a done deal. The Bush administration, particularly the State Department, nurtures the forlorn hope that the UN may be of some assistance in dealing with international crises such as stabilizing Iraq and containing Iran's nuclear ambitions. The United States simply cannot keep these options open if it acknowledges that UN bureaucrats are morally unfit to control the tsunami aid funds.
Over the next few years, the United States, its government and its people, will spend billions of dollars in the tsunami relief effort. We do this because it is the right thing to do, and because we are a good and generous country. We must be careful, though -- lest our generosity support another UN "Baksheesh for Bureaucrats" program.
BTW..how's the UN doing in Haiti? That story has dropped waaay off the radar..
http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/
More UNhonesty
We warned you; some of you didn't believe us. We told you that on or about January 26, UN Undersecretary General and Disaster Relief Coordinator Jan "Stingy" Egeland would hold a press event to boast of what the UN has done on tsunami relief over the past month since the December 26 disaster. He did.
You can find the two documents thus far put out by the UN here and here. The Diplomad wants to underline that these documents appear on the UN's official web site; they are what the UN wants you to know; they comprise the official UN party line; they are not interpretations by journalists or bloggers.
snip
Most of that money will go into somebody's pocket. First of all, the funds raised are well above what they need. People will get rich off this disaster.
This is a little off topic, but do you know how much money was raised during the NBC telethon last week? I haven't seen the numbers anywhere, which seems strange.
I haven't the faintest idea, I don't watch NBC.
what is an NBC?
the 9/11 report documents that Osama bin Laden was having serious money problems in 1996, when al-Qaida's annual budget was $30 million. Early in 1997, al-Qaida members met with Iraqi intelligence officers, and an Iraqi delegation later that year visited bin Laden in Afghanistan. Then in October 1997, Kofi Annan reorganized the Iraqi Oil-for-Food program by creating the Office of Iraq Program, which reported directly to Annan.
Less than a year later, bin Laden was the "rich man of the jihad movement," according to the 9/11 investigation. In addition, Saddam Hussein's military budget escalated from $8 million in 1996 to $350 million by 2001. While investigations continue into this unprecedented scandal, the U.N. continues to stonewall. By best estimates, Saddam diverted $21 billion.
"Did this money go to terrorists? I don't think it went to the American Beauty Pageant," said Rep. Chris Shays, who is leading the congressional effort to expose the Oil-for-Food fiasco. "I think you can be absolutely certain it went to terrorists."
http://shop.wnd.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=108
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/haiti/2004/1215slumstorm.htm All I could find.
NBC - nutty blabbering clowns ;-)
Nevermind. I found the answer.
good find. thanx
Volker has ties to the people being investigated.
Yes, I've read that, on WND.
Here's the link:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42586
Thanks for the link! I haven't found anything on FNC's website yet. It was getting very frustrating since it's hard to tell the players without a scorecard.
money talks and bullshiite walks as they say.
This actually was the first time in UN history that the control of funds for the disaster was outsourced from the UN. Guess that was the compromise the Administration came to, let em help, but keep their hands out of the cash register. I am no friend of the UN but we might as well get some value from them.
And their help is very strategic. 75% of the world hates America and loves the UN. Most of the world does not know about the Oil-For-Food-Program. If it looked like the US was preventing the UN from helping with the tsunami disaster we would have just recruited thousands of more terrorists with a renewed passion like we have not seen before to plot more 9/11's. Indonesia is the most populated Muslim country in the world.
It means nuclear, biological and chemical. No other meaning I'm aware of.
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