In the not so distant past, I wrote about the immediate aftermath of hurricane Katrina, the most deadly hurricane to ever hit the United States. In this post, I was angry that no other nations had yet to come forth with monetary aid, supplies, or people to help in the rescue efforts. Several days later, as shown by this post, I had read reports on the news that many nations had pledged aid to the U.S. to help the Katrina victims. I was happy – thrilled even – that regardless of the U.S.s mighty military mistakes in Iraq, that other nations, even some that we’re not on the best of terms with, offered aid. I withdrew my harsh comments of other nations, and thanked them for their support. To this day, I still do.
Today however, I read this article at MSNBC that after investigation and after some private documents are made public, it has been shown that most of the aid offered by other nations was rejected by the Bush Administration. In the most colassal fuckup ever by a U.S. government, a disaster of far-reaching proportions, a disaster which showed that the Government can’t protect a single person much less a city from a disaster that they had several days warning for, a disaster that showed governmental ineptitude on every level, foreign aid was rejected by the U.S. Government.
The Katrina disaster has cost American taxpayers over $130 billion as of April 2007. Lives were lost, families were permanently moved, thousands of homes destroyed. Hell, most of the people that once lived there have never returned because there is nothing to return to. With world-wide coverage on this disaster, showing the world’s lone superpower powerless against something that could have been much better prepared for, we decide to decline foreign aid. As the MSNBC article says, Greece offered to send over 2 huge cruise ships to act as floating hotels or hospitals, and because it would be three weeks before they arrived, the U.S. declined the aid. Three weeks. I’ll say that again because it bears repeating. Because, in the most horrible natural disaster after effecting human soil, 2 cruise ships would take 3 weeks to cruise from Greece to the U.S., the U.S. government declined the aid offer. Here we are 1.5 years after the disaster, and thousands of people are still displaced, thousands are still effected, and yes, we’re still cleaning up.
I learned about 10 years ago in my early 20s that it’s ok to ask for help. We all love to do stuff ourselves and do things our own ways, but at some point or another, everyone needs help, and it’s ok to ask for it and it’s ok to accept it. I guess that’s just another thing our Government hasn’t learned.