Quote:
Originally posted by DeltAlum
You know, Rob, sometimes your nationalism and little digs even get to me.
From a logistical standpoint, it's a hell of a lot easier for a group of 50 people to get to one particular area than it is for a huge rescue effort to get everywhere in an area the size of the United Kingdom.
Which isn't to excuse an overall dismal response from the US government.
That being said, I'm thankful for any help that our Canadian neighbors can offer.
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I used the article to point out that a rescue response and team was put togther after the hurricane, and arrived in a somewhat more timely manner than the FEMA response - basically as saying: "here is some further concrete proof that FEMA dropped the ball".
Also I just thought that the article touched on an important break between what the Administration is promoting in it's press conferences and releases - and what the US and world media is reporting regarding the response to Hurrincane Katrina.
I could also have used an article discussing the Dutch experts on levee reconstruction, or the Swedish telecomunications equipment and technicians, or the German water pumps, or heck even the International Red Cross all being hampered by red tape in responding to the disaster... something that has grabbed a fair amount of air time on world media stations, or ink in the papers. I would hate to think that people are suffering or dying because of political gamemanship by anyone.
Now if the government has it's head in the sand with regards to the difficulties in any international response towards Katrina; one has to wonder if the same seemingly dumb/trivial governmental red-tape hampered or stalled the Federal response to Katrina. Further, I cynically wonder if the government's delays in approving or allowing some of the offered aid and equipment is somehow politically motivated as well - an agenda if you will - in order to mitigate the political damage caused by the slow response... you know making sure that American boots are firmly on the ground before allowing foreigners to participate.
But hey getting back to my main point - the seeming break between what the government and the media report... or even acknowledge in some cases. An example of this would be Cheney's on site interview today were a heckler yelled at him before being dragged away (I assume); a heckle/complaint which Cheney dismissed as saying that was the first bad remark he had heard about the government's response... or you could look at the CNN's interview of the minority leader today; were her perception was fully clouded by her obvious partisan agenda - an agenda that the interviewer called her on. To me the various branches of the government as well as the two parties are so disconected with the "non-political" world that they aren't getting or wanting to get a more complete picture - to the detriment of both America and it's people.