In much the same way as walking alone on New York City's streets can make one realize their insignificance, the recent catastrophe in southeast Asia should be a jolt to U.S. policy makers. Although caused by an unpredictable natural event, the damage that has been caused in almost a dozen densely populated nations is greater than anything that has ever befell our nation.
This blog is not primarily for political commentary, but this article prompted me to write something about what has happened and what is going to happen - perhaps as my way of coping.
Our president hasn't said a word about what has happened. No sympathy has been uttered from his own lips. Similar to his initial reaction to 9/11, he had at first decided to say on vacation in Crawford, Texas. It took prodding by numerous inquiries to finally get him to hold a National Security Council meeting about the matter, which he is doing not in person but by teleconference.
'Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president was confident he could monitor events effectively without returning to Washington or making public statements in Crawford, where he spent part of the day clearing brush and bicycling.'
Is "monitoring events" what our president's job wholly consists of? When our country was attacked and 3,000 died, did other nations' leaders simply sit by and "monitor events"? Our president should be ashamed of himself. With already 25 times the number of dead and conceivably as many American lives lost as on 9/11, surely the president should be offering some words to his fellow leaders as they did to him.
'"Actions speak louder than words," a top Bush aide said, describing the president's view of his appropriate role.'
How insulting. How goddamn insulting. Anyone who has been through anything remotely tragic in their life knows the value of someone's words. He has already let days pass since this happened, and anything he says now is going to be nothing more than fabrication of sympathy. He has always talked about acting "from the gut" - well, if this hasn't prompted at least even one sentence of compassion from him, it definitely is, as one senior career official put it, "kind of freaky." The only thing he has responded to is the now infamous "stingy" remark. Even in that response, he said nothing compassionate or sympathetic about what has happened.
Our nation has spends $4.4 billion a month on a fruitless and unjustified war. That's more spent each month than 125 times the amount our president has pledged to help 12 nations who will likely lose more than 100,000 people. Yes, I know more money will be coming, but check this out:
'First, the U.S. Agency for International Development, which distributes foreign aid, will have to ask for more money, since the initial $35 million aid package drained its emergency relief fund, said Andrew Natsios, the agency's administrator.'
Colin Powell is trying to put a positive spin on things:
'Powell said U.S. assistance for this week's earthquake and tsunamis alone will eventually exceed $1 billion.'
Has the entire administration lost its sense of perspective? Do they not remember that we are just one country among many. We are privileged and we are rich and we're squandering our resources on something that is proving to be more and more futile each day. Perhaps this tsunami has given our president some relief - the media finally has something to put in its headlines besides suicide bombers and beheadings in Iraq.
But back to perspective. We're spending $4.4 billion each month in Iraq. In the four days since the tsunami happened, that means we've spent almost $600 million in Iraq. And $35 in southeast Asia. What's troubling is that the situation resulting from the tsunami is easily winnable - the rebuilding is possible, the people are willing, the economic catastrophe that will ensue now that these peoples' jobs in the tourism industry and jobs in their now-ruined agricultural industries have disappeared is fixable. Iraq isn't, at least not if we continue down the path we're currently on.
Imagine how many peoples' lives this has affected. Do any of us know even 20,000 people by name? Imagine four family members that have been psychologically affected for every person killed. Imagine the two industries - tourism and agriculture - that most of these countries primarily rely upon being pretty much obliterated. Imagine how many people will die in the next few weeks to horrible diseases that are likely to break out. Bill Clinton has it right - this is exactly like something out of a horror movie.
But guess what? This didn't happen on American soil. There is no significant oil in any of these countries. Our president doesn't have a vendetta against or strong personal relationship with any of the leaders in these countries. He doesn't even have the time to say to the world, as so many world leaders said to us when we suffered an attack that killed 3% the number of people that this disaster has, that he and his country are here to help.
Actions may indeed speak louder than words, but words still speak loudly and are needed now more than ever.
Update: Our president speaks. He's finally done what he should have done earlier. I'm glad he had 10 minutes to express a modicum of compassion. He uses the same rhetoric he uses when talking about terrorists. Then the media and Bush turn to Iraq, as if the southeast Asian situation is an annoying distraction. He did mention that in 2004 the US provided $2.4 billion in disaster relief. Worldwide. Again, that's less than one month's spending in Iraq. I'm also confused why he reminds us that he's not a geologist. And why he apologizes for interrupting our day.
Update 2: Every story I read in an attempt to distract myself brings me back to this disaster:
$1 billion
baseball stadium to be built in D.C. (The mayor "beaming like a kid who just met his favorite sports star.")
India says it doesn't need help from other nations to rebuild from the tsunamis. India
does pledge $23 million to other countries to help. And the U.S. has pledged $35 million. Hm...
Fannie Mae expected to sell $4 billion in preferred stock.
