Posted on 01/29/2005 6:10:22 PM PST by 1066AD
US Navy officer attacks 'travelling circus of aid workers' for impeding the tsunami relief effort in Indonesia By Philip Sherwell in Washington and Inigo Gilmore in Banda Aceh (Filed: 30/01/2005)
A US Navy officer serving on the Abraham Lincoln, the aircraft carrier at the heart of the Indonesia tsunami relief effort, has attacked United Nations officials, aid workers and the media for impeding flights to help the survivors.
Criticising their behaviour and demands, the officer declared: "My warship has been transformed into a floating hotel for a bunch of trifling do-gooders."
The relief effort has been a 'frustrating and needlessly dangerous exercise' due in part to a 'travelling circus'
The officer, writing on a website popular with American military personnel under the pen name Ed Stanton, also said that the carrier's combat-readiness and its pilots' safety had been jeopardised by Indonesian military restrictions as they tried to carry out relief operations.
Stanton wrote his column after three weeks off the Indonesian coast. "It has been a frustrating and needlessly dangerous exercise, made even more difficult by the Indonesian government and a travelling circus of so-called aid workers who have invaded our spaces," he said.
"Mixed in were a bunch of reporters, cameramen and Indonesian military officers looking like tourists on their way to Disneyland."
Stanton's attack was rejected by UN officials in Banda Aceh, who praised the American military. On the ground, however, some aid workers also complained about UN bureaucracy, while Acehnese told of inefficiencies in the aid operation.
Among Stanton's gripes was the complaint that the navy's Seahawk helicopters were required to spend much of their time ferrying relief workers around before bringing them back to their "guest bedrooms".
Aid teams, he said, "threw themselves at the mercy" of the US Navy because there were no five-star hotels but declined to pay for meals.
Stanton was similarly scathing of television crews. "We had to dedicate two helos [helicopters] and a C-2 cargo plane for Dan Rather and his entourage of door-holders and briefcase-carriers from CBS News," he claimed.
In their defence, journalists said that the helicopters were also carrying relief supplies.
The job of the Indonesian officers on board, he felt, "apparently is to encourage our leaving as soon as possible. They want our money and help but they don't want their population to see that the Americans are doing far more for them in two weeks than their own government has ever done for them".
He was also furious that the Indonesians refused to allow the Americans to use their airspace for routine training and flight operations "while we are saving the lives of their people, some of whom wear Bin Laden T-shirts as they grab at our food and water".
As a result, Stanton wrote, pilots were not meeting safety regulations because they could not train and practise enough. "The longer we stay here helping these people, the more dangerous it gets to operate," he said. "It is time to give this mission to somebody other than the US Navy."
Stanton's views were not welcomed by the military. Lt David Benham, a Pacific Fleet spokesman, said: "The comments do not reflect the position of the US government. We are working closely with the governments and organisations out there. They want us there and we want to be there."
The Lincoln is, however, understood to have moved farther offshore because of the sensitivities of the Indonesian authorities.
UN officials in Banda Aceh rejected Stanton's accusations. Jasper Lund, the co-ordinator, said: "We could not just get 10 helicopters in the air like that and the help of the Americans was crucial.
"I can understand if some commander gets worked up, because he sees their role as helping those starving on the ground with their helicopters, but it is a misunderstanding to think we were doing anything to prevent this."
He said that claims that UN officials refused to pay bills were hard to believe as they received meal allowances.
Heather Hill, the World Food Programme's spokesman in Banda Aceh, said it was true that UN officials had carried out "assessments" but she rejected suggestions that they hampered operations.
She said that it had taken time to get to positions "in country" but they had now reached remote places. "No one is living off caviar. Conditions are hard but people are motivated by the idea of being part of this historic mission."
A Spanish aid agency worker in Banda Aceh, however, said that some UN officials had appeared arrogant, and suggested that the UN was hindered by bureaucracy.
"It is a huge machine and it moves very slowly," he said. "It takes 50 pages of bureaucratic work just to move one nail. This can be a problem and that is why some Americans are probably upset. They like to just get on with it."
I think it was probably written by a Brit, since Americans do not normally use the word "trifling." But I think the contents were absolutely correct, because "aid organizations" all over the world are nothing but soft-leftist-forerunners.
They go away when the hard left arrives, but since everybody knows you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs, they don't go very far away. And they'll be back when the coast is clear.
"[T]he officer declared: "My warship has been transformed into a floating hotel for a bunch of trifling do-gooders."
I find it hard to believe an American would have used the word "trifling" but maybe I'm wrong.
One can imagine some decent soul, American, or any other that pitches in and will do so to the point of exhaustion. The main thing, is that we might quietly recognise them by a quick nod when they return- if we know who they are.
Life is like that. For the good officer, a little quote "If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken, twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools." (Kipling).
I observe in Canada the little collection boxes everywhere in the coffee shops and stores- Tsaumi Relief. I see a big, fat twenty dollar bill in there. Hard to keep the faith in wondering if it finally is used rightly. A bit of a ramble here but..... Does it not seem that those who serve, are usually out of sight?. Cheers.
I am no Brit and I use the word trifling quite often
I use it every so often...nice word, and I'm as dangumit american as they come. :)
According to the story, Ed Stanon is a pen name. Using his real name would be deal a lethal blow to his career. Of course, since its a pen name, no one can be sure who is really doing the writing.
My grandmother used the word trifling all the time. Of course being from the deep south it sounded more like triflin'. It was used to denote displeasure with a situation or a person.
Forty years ago while beginning to date, I had a father tell me not to trifle with his daughter.
Well, I use that phrase too (I live in the South), but I would still suspect that this was an article posted by somebody with strong Brit connections. This does not make it untruthful or suspect in any way. It simply means that whoever he was, he couldn't have gotten it published in the mainstream press, either in the US or GB. A sad commentary.
"Stanton was similarly scathing of television crews. "We had to dedicate two helos [helicopters] and a C-2 cargo plane for Dan Rather and his entourage of door-holders and briefcase-carriers from CBS News," he claimed."
I can't believe Dan "The A$$#O!E" Rather is given this type of treatment after he tried to undermine a U.S. election with S#!T he typed up on his computer.
I dunno, the guy with the most stars tends to hang tough with guys he thinks are righteous. He'll probably smooth things over and give a little direction.
Good posts by "Ed Stanton" though (Edwin Stanton was Lincoln's SecWar).
She could also look down her nose and refer to someone's actions as "common" and that DEFINITELY had a negative sound to it. A woman who behaved commonly acted like a slut.
Now that's not to say she was a snob. She never understood why Yankees thought "trash" always lived in trailers. She thought the Kennedy's were the trashiest family in America.
I agree. He probably settled on "trifling" after deleting something pithier and more descriptive.
Re: trifling, I'm so sorry, I forgot, I have heard this word used by Southerners, and by extension African-Americans even up North.
Thanks for reminding me.
Trashy is as trashy does, eh? I always thought submerging pregnant girls in sinking cars was kinda trashy. And not calling the police for three hours even trashier.
But then, I wasn't raised right. I didn't go to Hahvuhd.
Grease the decks. Put all UN hands on deck. Weigh anchor and full steam ahead for the open seas. Take a hard turn to port and watch the scum slide off the deck and into the deep. Step on the fingers of any left hanging on. Then return to port and carry out your mission. That's an ORDER.
They got their money through bootlegging. They are always drunk and making asses of themselves. They failed to instill any values in their children, as the many rapes and drug uses and run-ins with the law attest. They are incapable of remaining loyal to their wives, friends, or promises. They are generally in the newspapers for all the wrong reasons (assassinations excepted).
Forty years ago while beginning to date, I had a father tell me not to trifle with his daughter.
Well.....
Did ya?
;'}
"But then, I wasn't raised right. I didn't go to Hahvuhd."
I'm pretty sure that Ted Kennedy is the only U.S. Senator to have been kicked out of Hahvahd for cheating.
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