We're from the UN, and we're finally here to help!

Oh brother: U.S. Military Relief Effort Panned: "

The U.N. official coordinating relief efforts on Sumatra island complained Thursday that the U.S. military's aid mission was failing to coordinate and provide critical information to other relief organizations struggling to help survivors of the tsunami.

Michael Elmquist said that while American helicopters were speeding relief supplies to villages isolated by the Dec. 26 disaster, their crews were not spending enough time on the ground to assess survivors' needs.

'They don't stop their engines. They're on the ground for five minutes,' Elmquist told reporters in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, on the hard-hit northern tip of Sumatra. "

Why hurry?

The UN hasn't hurried. It has been taking its sweet time, dotting its "i's" and crossing its "t's," making sure all of its paperwork is just right.

The UN just now beginning to get down to business, doing the job right (or so they say). The US has been in theater for a week, working with several countries in the region (and its not just the Americans: the Austrailians, the British and other countries have been there as well).

Why rush things?



Oh yeah. Because millions of people need drinking water and food.

NOW.

They don't have time to wait for UN advance coordination teams to arrive. Just like they didn't have time to wait for Kofi to finish his skiing vacation.

Jesus. You get the feeling the if the marines did what the UN said, some UN officials would bitch and moan that the US was dragging its feet.

Oh wait, that's more than a feeling. They do that all the time.
- posted by total @ 1/06/2005 03:31:00 PM .