evilplatypus
ALL european countries and many others including a number poor nations have very quickly offered their help, only to be initially turned down by Bush before this aloof dumbfuck came to realize the magnitude of the disaster between two games of golf, decided to swallow his pride and accepted the offer. We all feel for you and i understand you're upset but you've picked the wrong targets to vent your anger.

don't forget Sri Lanka. they have offered their help and money too.

im not sure why everyone is coming down so harshly on beatrizcristina. The truth is that the US is a messed up country that has had a direct hand in many unecessary evils here in the states and around the world. I suppose a legacy of slavery/ seggregration/ of ignoring its less fortunate and rewarding the ultra rich with tax cuts/ of propping up dictatorships and oil kingdoms/ of waging unjust wars/ of bombing and napalming and a-bombng innocents/ of occupying countries...has somewhat desensitized people to the harsh reality of what this country is sometimes about.

beatrizcristina's suggestion that we look at what others in the world think about the US is a great suggestion as a way to recalibrate our own thoughts about what the reality of this country is.

Indeed this place is one of the best places around but by no means is this place perfect. The NYT/ wash post/ Today Show/ CNNs of the US media are not as willing to tell the truth as might other international venues who dont have to worry about reprisals from the white house. Look at what happened to whitle blower Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, who had worked in military procurement for 20 years and been demoted for exposing the no-bid contracts awarded to Halliburton and its subsidiary KBR.

As an american, for quite sometime (beggining somethime after 9-11)i can not say that i am very proud of my country and the people who are elected to represent us.

i just hope that Bush will temporarily pull his head out of his arse long enough to see the truth of the sad situation and to warmly welcome any and all international aid in time to save people and not before it is too late.

and now KBR (Dick MIA Cheneys company) is pocketing $500 million to rebuild after Katrina. Has this administration and Dick Chaney any shame?

-----------------------------

September 4, 2005

Halliburton Subsidiary Gets Katrina Deal

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 4:59 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Halliburton Co. subsidiary that has come under fire for its reconstruction work in Iraq has begun tapping a $500 million Navy contract to do emergency repairs at Gulf Coast naval and Marine facilities that were battered by Hurricane Katrina.

The subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc. of Arlington, Va., was awarded the competitive bid contract last July to provide debris removal and other emergency work associated with natural disasters.

Jan Davis, a spokeswoman for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, said Sunday that KBR will receive $12 million for work at Naval Air Station Pascagoula, Naval Station Gulfport and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. It will receive $4.6 million for work at two smaller Navy facilities in New Orleans and others in the South.

The company has provided similar work after major disasters in the United States and abroad for more than 15 years, including in Florida after Hurricane Andrew.

But KBR has been at the center of scrutiny for receiving a five-year, no-bid contract to restore Iraqi oil fields shortly before the war began in 2003.

Halliburton has reported being paid $10.7 billion for Iraq-related government work during 2003 and 2004. The company reported its pretax profits from that work as $163 million. Pentagon auditors have questioned tens of millions of dollars of Halliburton charges for its operations there.

Late last month three congressional Democrats asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to investigate the demotion of a senior civilian Army official who publicly criticized the awarding of that contract.

Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, who had been the Army Corps of Engineers' top procurement official since 1997, was removed from her position last month for what the Corps called a poor job performance. The lawmakers said the demotion ''appears to be retaliation'' for her June 27 testimony before Congress in which she detailed her objections to the award of contracts for Iraq projects.

Vice President Dick Cheney headed Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, and Democrats have questioned whether the company has gotten favorable treatment because of his connection.

a big serving of humble pie served by the international community is in order for Bush on this picnic day:


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In the tsunami region, disbelief at U.S. woes

By Seth Mydans International Herald Tribune

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2005

BANGKOK In Aceh, where a tsunami last December hit hardest, the first reaction to the disaster in New Orleans was sympathy, said Azwar Hasan, a social worker in the Indonesian province where at least 126,000 people died.
 
"Is there any food there?" he asked. "Any water? I'm really sorry to hear what has happened."
 
But then he made a statement that is being repeated around Southeast Asia, where America is remembered with gratitude and admiration for its fast, well-organized assistance to victims of the tsunami.
 
"America is the best-developed country in the world," Azwar said. "This kind of thing shouldn't be happening in America. We are wondering what is going on in America, and why."
 
Around the region, people have watched the televised scenes of suffering and chaos from the United States with sympathy, with horror and with bewilderment at America's inability to take care of itself.
 
For some, the scenes from Hurricane Katrina seem to be shaking fundamental ideas about the country's strength and competence. Many of the comments, in telephone interviews around the region, came in the form of puzzled questions.
 
"How is it possible?" asked Aristedes Katoppo, an Indonesian journalist. "How is it possible that in an advanced society like the United States it is so difficult to provide help or rescue people? How is it possible that this breakdown in law and order could happen?"
 
He said he felt uncomfortable criticizing a nation in the midst of suffering, but he found comparisons with America's forceful role in Iraq unavoidable.
 
"Let's just say that it is noted that America sends troops to try to maintain order in distant places, but it seems to have difficulty to do it in their own back yard," he said.
 
Some people, like F. Sionil Jose, a novelist in the Philippines who has had a long and enthusiastic relationship with America, seemed crestfallen.
 
"It's very disappointing," he said. "It's something people like me don't expect. Somebody told me they're shooting at helicopters! And looting."
 
Paulynn Sicam, a government official in the Philippines who has studied and lived in the United States, also sounded disappointed. And he sounded angry.
 
"It's so heartbreaking to see how helpless America has become," she said. "You're not strong any more. You can't even save your own countrymen and there you are, out there trying to control the world." She said there was no excuse in a nation like America for the suffering and apparent incompetence she had seen on television.
 
"Why are people hungry?" she said. "That really bothers me. Why are they hungry? The first thing you do, you feed them."
 
She added: "The other thing that bothers me is how capitalism continues its merry way in the light of a disaster like this, with gas prices going up sky high. It's so opportunistic. Is this America? Is this the American way?"
 
Several people were struck by the social and racial divisions that have come to the surface, a side of America that clashes with the common view of a rich, advanced nation.
 
"It came to my mind that I didn't see that many whites on television," said Anusart Suwanmongkol, the managing director of a hotel in Pattani, Thailand.
 
"What you saw was the helpless, the infirm, the poor and the old - mostly black, the underclass," he said. "It's quite a powerful image on television."
 
Like many people, he has followed the coverage closely on local television channels, CNN and satellite feeds of American networks.
 
"It was quite incredible," he said, that President George W. Bush, "I think on 'Good Morning America,' was smiling, and that didn't go well with me."
 
"I thought he would project a serious image," Suwanmongkol said. "The nation needs help."
 
A certain American hubris may have contributed to the disaster, said Supara Kapasuwan, a college dean in Bangkok who spent more than five years in the United States earning a master's degree and a doctorate.
 
"I can't say I was surprised," she said, speaking of the failure to evacuate the city. "The authorities have clearly not been doing a good job, and people seem to have taken a laid-back view."
 
"Americans - not all of them but many - seem to have this attitude that they are invincible, that nothing's going to happen to them," she said.
 
Newspapers around the region reflected these views, sharing sympathy while expressing shock and amazement at this unusual view of what one called "the planet's most powerful country." They contrasted it with scenes from the tsunami, where the chaos seemed mostly the work of nature, not man, and where the suffering was not for the most part compounded by violence and anarchy.
 
"In stark contrast to the tsunami's aftermath, when survivors huddled to hang on to what was left of their shattered communities, Katrina's poor and mostly black victims reacted with explosive anger," wrote the New Straits Times in Malaysia.
 
 
BANGKOK In Aceh, where a tsunami last December hit hardest, the first reaction to the disaster in New Orleans was sympathy, said Azwar Hasan, a social worker in the Indonesian province where at least 126,000 people died.
 
"Is there any food there?" he asked. "Any water? I'm really sorry to hear what has happened."
 
But then he made a statement that is being repeated around Southeast Asia, where America is remembered with gratitude and admiration for its fast, well-organized assistance to victims of the tsunami.
 
"America is the best-developed country in the world," Azwar said. "This kind of thing shouldn't be happening in America. We are wondering what is going on in America, and why."
 
Around the region, people have watched the televised scenes of suffering and chaos from the United States with sympathy, with horror and with bewilderment at America's inability to take care of itself.
 
For some, the scenes from Hurricane Katrina seem to be shaking fundamental ideas about the country's strength and competence. Many of the comments, in telephone interviews around the region, came in the form of puzzled questions.
 
"How is it possible?" asked Aristedes Katoppo, an Indonesian journalist. "How is it possible that in an advanced society like the United States it is so difficult to provide help or rescue people? How is it possible that this breakdown in law and order could happen?"
 
He said he felt uncomfortable criticizing a nation in the midst of suffering, but he found comparisons with America's forceful role in Iraq unavoidable.
 
"Let's just say that it is noted that America sends troops to try to maintain order in distant places, but it seems to have difficulty to do it in their own back yard," he said.
 
Some people, like F. Sionil Jose, a novelist in the Philippines who has had a long and enthusiastic relationship with America, seemed crestfallen.
 
"It's very disappointing," he said. "It's something people like me don't expect. Somebody told me they're shooting at helicopters! And looting."
 
Paulynn Sicam, a government official in the Philippines who has studied and lived in the United States, also sounded disappointed. And he sounded angry.
 
"It's so heartbreaking to see how helpless America has become," she said. "You're not strong any more. You can't even save your own countrymen and there you are, out there trying to control the world." She said there was no excuse in a nation like America for the suffering and apparent incompetence she had seen on television.
 
"Why are people hungry?" she said. "That really bothers me. Why are they hungry? The first thing you do, you feed them."
 
She added: "The other thing that bothers me is how capitalism continues its merry way in the light of a disaster like this, with gas prices going up sky high. It's so opportunistic. Is this America? Is this the American way?"
 
Several people were struck by the social and racial divisions that have come to the surface, a side of America that clashes with the common view of a rich, advanced nation.
 
"It came to my mind that I didn't see that many whites on television," said Anusart Suwanmongkol, the managing director of a hotel in Pattani, Thailand.
 
"What you saw was the helpless, the infirm, the poor and the old - mostly black, the underclass," he said. "It's quite a powerful image on television."
 
Like many people, he has followed the coverage closely on local television channels, CNN and satellite feeds of American networks.
 
"It was quite incredible," he said, that President George W. Bush, "I think on 'Good Morning America,' was smiling, and that didn't go well with me."
 
"I thought he would project a serious image," Suwanmongkol said. "The nation needs help."
 
A certain American hubris may have contributed to the disaster, said Supara Kapasuwan, a college dean in Bangkok who spent more than five years in the United States earning a master's degree and a doctorate.
 
"I can't say I was surprised," she said, speaking of the failure to evacuate the city. "The authorities have clearly not been doing a good job, and people seem to have taken a laid-back view."
 
"Americans - not all of them but many - seem to have this attitude that they are invincible, that nothing's going to happen to them," she said.
 
Newspapers around the region reflected these views, sharing sympathy while expressing shock and amazement at this unusual view of what one called "the planet's most powerful country." They contrasted it with scenes from the tsunami, where the chaos seemed mostly the work of nature, not man, and where the suffering was not for the most part compounded by violence and anarchy.
 
"In stark contrast to the tsunami's aftermath, when survivors huddled to hang on to what was left of their shattered communities, Katrina's poor and mostly black victims reacted with explosive anger," wrote the New Straits Times in Malaysia.
 
 
BANGKOK In Aceh, where a tsunami last December hit hardest, the first reaction to the disaster in New Orleans was sympathy, said Azwar Hasan, a social worker in the Indonesian province where at least 126,000 people died.
 
"Is there any food there?" he asked. "Any water? I'm really sorry to hear what has happened."
 
But then he made a statement that is being repeated around Southeast Asia, where America is remembered with gratitude and admiration for its fast, well-organized assistance to victims of the tsunami.
 
"America is the best-developed country in the world," Azwar said. "This kind of thing shouldn't be happening in America. We are wondering what is going on in America, and why."
 
Around the region, people have watched the televised scenes of suffering and chaos from the United States with sympathy, with horror and with bewilderment at America's inability to take care of itself.
 
For some, the scenes from Hurricane Katrina seem to be shaking fundamental ideas about the country's strength and competence. Many of the comments, in telephone interviews around the region, came in the form of puzzled questions.
 
"How is it possible?" asked Aristedes Katoppo, an Indonesian journalist. "How is it possible that in an advanced society like the United States it is so difficult to provide help or rescue people? How is it possible that this breakdown in law and order could happen?"
 
He said he felt uncomfortable criticizing a nation in the midst of suffering, but he found comparisons with America's forceful role in Iraq unavoidable.
 
"Let's just say that it is noted that America sends troops to try to maintain order in distant places, but it seems to have difficulty to do it in their own back yard," he said.
 
Some people, like F. Sionil Jose, a novelist in the Philippines who has had a long and enthusiastic relationship with America, seemed crestfallen.
 
"It's very disappointing," he said. "It's something people like me don't "I can't say I was surprised," she said, speaking of the failure to evacuate the city. "The authorities have clearly not been doing a good job, and people seem to have taken a laid-back view."
 
"Americans - not all of them but many - seem to have this attitude that they are invincible, that nothing's going to happen to them," she said.
 
Newspapers around the region reflected these views, sharing sympathy while expressing shock and amazement at this unusual view of what one called "the planet's most powerful country." They contrasted it with scenes from the tsunami, where the chaos seemed mostly the work of nature, not man, and where the suffering was not for the most part compounded by violence and anarchy.
 
"In stark contrast to the tsunami's aftermath, when survivors huddled to hang on to what was left of their shattered communities, Katrina's poor and mostly black victims reacted with explosive anger," wrote the New Straits Times in Malaysia.
 
 
BANGKOK In Aceh, where a tsunami last December hit hardest, the first reaction to the disaster in New Orleans was sympathy, said Azwar Hasan, a social worker in the Indonesian province where at least 126,000 people died.
 
"Is there any food there?" he asked. "Any water? I'm really sorry to hear what has happened."
 
But then he made a statement that is being repeated around Southeast Asia, where America is remembered with gratitude and admiration for its fast, well-organized assistance to victims of the tsunami.
 
"America is the best-developed country in the world," Azwar said. "This kind of thing shouldn't be happening in America. We are wondering what is going on in America, and why."
 
Around the region, people have watched the televised scenes of suffering and chaos from the United States with sympathy, with horror and with bewilderment at America's inability to take care of itself.
 
For some, the scenes from Hurricane Katrina seem to be shaking fundamental ideas about the country's strength and competence. Many of the comments, in telephone interviews around the region, came in the form of puzzled questions.
 
"How is it possible?" asked Aristedes Katoppo, an Indonesian journalist. "How is it possible that in an advanced society like the United States it is so difficult to provide help or rescue people? How is it possible that this breakdown in law and order could happen?"
 
He said he felt uncomfortable criticizing a nation in the midst of suffering, but he found comparisons with America's forceful role in Iraq unavoidable.
 
"Let's just say that it is noted that America sends troops to try to maintain order in distant places, but it seems to have difficulty to do it in their own back yard," he said.
 
Some people, like F. Sionil Jose, a novelist in the Philippines who has had a long and enthusiastic relationship with America, seemed crestfallen.
 
"It's very disappointing," he said. "It's something people like me don't expect. Somebody told me they're shooting at helicopters! And looting."
 
Paulynn Sicam, a government official in the Philippines who has studied and lived in the United States, also sounded disappointed. And he sounded angry.
 
"It's so heartbreaking to see how helpless America has become," she said. "You're not strong any more. You can't even save your own countrymen and there you are, out there trying to control the world." She said there was no excuse in a nation like America for the suffering and apparent incompetence she had seen on television.
 
"Why are people hungry?" she said. "That really bothers me. Why are they hungry? The first thing you do, you feed them."
 
She added: "The other thing that bothers me is how capitalism continues its merry way in the light of a disaster like this, with gas prices going up sky high. It's so opportunistic. Is this America? Is this the American way?"
 
Several people were struck by the social and racial divisions that have come to the surface, a side of America that clashes with the common view of a rich, advanced nation.
 
"It came to my mind that I didn't see that many whites on television," said Anusart Suwanmongkol, the managing director of a hotel in Pattani, Thailand.
 
"What you saw was the helpless, the infirm, the poor and the old - mostly black, the underclass," he said. "It's quite a powerful image on television."
 
Like many people, he has followed the coverage closely on local television channels, CNN and satellite feeds of American networks.
 
"It was quite incredible," he said, that President George W. Bush, "I think on 'Good Morning America,' was smiling, and that didn't go well with me."
 
"I thought he would project a serious image," Suwanmongkol said. "The nation needs help."
 
A certain American hubris may have contributed to the disaster, said Supara Kapasuwan, a college dean in Bangkok who spent more than five years in the United States earning a master's degree and a doctorate.
 
"I can't say I was surprised," she said, speaking of the failure to evacuate the city. "The authorities have clearly not been doing a good job, and people seem to have taken a laid-back view."
 
"Americans - not all of them but many - seem to have this attitude that they are invincible, that nothing's going to happen to them," she said.
 
Newspapers around the region reflected these views, sharing sympathy while expressing shock and amazement at this unusual view of what one called "the planet's most powerful country." They contrasted it with scenes from the tsunami, where the chaos seemed mostly the work of nature, not man, and where the suffering was not for the most part compounded by violence and anarchy.
 
"In stark contrast to the tsunami's aftermath, when survivors huddled to hang on to what was left of their shattered communities, Katrina's poor and mostly black victims reacted with explosive anger," wrote the New Straits Times in Malaysia.
 
 
BANGKOK In Aceh, where a tsunami last December hit hardest, the first reaction to the disaster in New Orleans was sympathy, said Azwar Hasan, a social worker in the Indonesian province where at least 126,000 people died.
 
"Is there any food there?" he asked. "Any water? I'm really sorry to hear what has happened."
 
But then he made a statement that is being repeated around Southeast Asia, where America is remembered with gratitude and admiration for its fast, well-organized assistance to victims of the tsunami.
 
"America is the best-developed country in the world," Azwar said. "This kind of thing shouldn't be happening in America. We are wondering what is going on in America, and why."
 
Around the region, people have watched the televised scenes of suffering and chaos from the United States with sympathy, with horror and with bewilderment at America's inability to take care of itself.
 
For some, the scenes from Hurricane Katrina seem to be shaking fundamental ideas about the country's strength and competence. Many of the comments, in telephone interviews around the region, came in the form of puzzled questions.
 
"How is it possible?" asked Aristedes Katoppo, an Indonesian journalist. "How is it possible that in an advanced society like the United States it is so difficult to provide help or rescue people? How is it possible that this breakdown in law and order could happen?"
 
He said he felt uncomfortable criticizing a nation in the midst of suffering, but he found comparisons with America's forceful role in Iraq unavoidable.
 
"Let's just say that it is noted that America sends troops to try to maintain order in distant places, but it seems to have difficulty to do it in their own back yard," he said.
 
Some people, like F. Sionil Jose, a novelist in the Philippines who has had a long and enthusiastic relationship with America, seemed crestfallen.
 
"It's very disappointing," he said. "It's something people like me don't expect. Somebody told me they're shooting at helicopters! And looting."
 
Paulynn Sicam, a government official in the Philippines who has studied and lived in the United States, also sounded disappointed. And he sounded angry.
 
"It's so heartbreaking to see how helpless America has become," she said. "You're not strong any more. You can't even save your own countrymen and there you are, out there trying to control the world." She said there was no excuse in a nation like America for the suffering and apparent incompetence she had seen on television.
 
"Why are people hungry?" she said. "That really bothers me. Why are they hungry? The first thing you do, you feed them."
 
She added: "The other thing that bothers me is how capitalism continues its merry way in the light of a disaster like this, with gas prices going up sky high. It's so opportunistic. Is this America? Is this the American way?"
 
Several people were struck by the social and racial divisions that have come to the surface, a side of America that clashes with the common view of a rich, advanced nation.
 
"It came to my mind that I didn't see that many whites on television," said Anusart Suwanmongkol, the managing director of a hotel in Pattani, Thailand.
 
"What you saw was the helpless, the infirm, the poor and the old - mostly black, the underclass," he said. "It's quite a powerful image on television."
 
Like many people, he has followed the coverage closely on local television channels, CNN and satellite feeds of American networks.
 
"It was quite incredible," he said, that President George W. Bush, "I think on 'Good Morning America,' was smiling, and that didn't go well with me."
 
"I thought he would project a serious image," Suwanmongkol said. "The nation needs help."
 
A certain American hubris may have contributed to the disaster, said Supara Kapasuwan, a college dean in Bangkok who spent more than five years in the United States earning a master's degree and a doctorate.
 
"I can't say I was surprised," she said, speaking of the failure to evacuate the city. "The authorities have clearly not been doing a good job, and people seem to have taken a laid-back view."
 
"Americans - not all of them but many - seem to have this attitude that they are invincible, that nothing's going to happen to them," she said.
 
Newspapers around the region reflected these views, sharing sympathy while expressing shock and amazement at this unusual view of what one called "the planet's most powerful country." They contrasted it with scenes from the tsunami, where the chaos seemed mostly the work of nature, not man, and where the suffering was not for the most part compounded by violence and anarchy.
 
"In stark contrast to the tsunami's aftermath, when survivors huddled to hang on to what was left of their shattered communities, Katrina's poor and mostly black victims reacted with explosive anger," wrote the New Straits Times in Malaysia.