Pride before people

While Mao Tse Tung was rightly condemned for refusing aid to the detriment of his own people, the US has been… demonstrating that the West is not immune to such deranged policies – all for the sake of the ego of one man.

A new report reveals the US government turned down offers of help from across the globe in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, telling one diplomat “human assistance of any kind is not on our priorities list.”

The report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington relies on a review of 25,000 documents obtained from the State Department. The report reveals the US was interested mostly in cash assistance and materials, rather than direct aid from foreign relief workers and doctors, after Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005.

“A review of the State Department documents reveals distressing ineptitude,” CREW’s executive director Melanie Sloan said in a prepared statement. “Countries were trying to donate desperately needed goods and services, but as a result of bureaucratic bungling and indifference, those most in need of these generous offers and of aid never received it.”

Offers to help came from 145 countries and 12 international organizations. The US did accept help from its top allies around the globe, but CREW’s report shows it left unclaimed hundreds of thousands of prepared meals, water pumps, doctors and medicine.

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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