{"id":879,"date":"2005-10-19T03:06:01","date_gmt":"2005-10-19T03:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"0"},"modified":"2006-09-28T12:09:25","modified_gmt":"2006-09-28T12:09:25","slug":"if_this_missed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/?p=879","title":{"rendered":"If This Missed Opportunity Doesn&#8217;t Piss You Off, You&#8217;re Just Not Paying Attention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, I know that the equipment is in use in fighting terrorists, and that the troops are stretched thin&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;but it ought to be really, really bothersome <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/elsewhere\/journalist\/story\/0,7792,1595056,00.html?gusrc=rss\" target=\"browser\">that<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>\t&#8230;the footsoldiers of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, one of Pakistan&#8217;s most prominent Islamic extremist groups, have been at the vanguard of the relief operation for the October 8 disaster.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>One of the reasons the perception of the United States has risen in the Muslim world was out generous and rapid response to the tsunami.<\/p>\n<p>Were we only as visibly rapid and generous now.Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis are homeless, starving, and freezing right now.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. contribution <a href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/r\/pa\/prs\/ps\/2005\/54860.htm\" target=\"browser\">hasn&#8217;t been insubstantial<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>Following are details on the material assistance that has been provided as of 4:30 PM EDT, October 12.<\/p>\n<p>Emergency Relief Supplies:<\/p>\n<p>* 10 Emergency Health Kits are scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on Friday, October 15. Each kit serves 10,000 people for three months.<br \/>\n* Two C-17 aircraft, four C-130 aircraft, one Mi-8 aircraft and one UC-35 aircraft arrived on October 12, carrying medical supplies, relief supplies, water, cots, doctors, and humanitarian assistance personnel.<br \/>\n* Two C-17s carrying relief supplies arrived on October 11.<br \/>\n* A IL-76 carrying initial USAID\/OFDA relief supplies arrived on October 10, including 250 rolls of plastic sheeting \u2013 sufficient for approximately 2,500 families \u2013 5,000 blankets, and 5,000 water containers.<br \/>\n* USAID\/OFDA has allocated $9.3 million to the UN Consolidated Appeal Process s part of the initial $50 million contribute toward Pakistan relief.<br \/>\n* USAID\/OFDA in Washington, DC has committed $1 million to be provided through the American Red Cross in response to a Preliminary Emergency Appeal issued by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. This was in addition to the $100,000 announced on October 10 by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. <\/p>\n<p>Transportation Assets:<\/p>\n<p>* Eight U.S. military helicopters now in country (five CH-47 Chinooks and three UH-60 Blackhawks) continue to deliver regular supplies of tents, medical supplies, water, meals ready-to-eat and other desperately needed relief supplies. The aviation task force has flown about 150 missions since arriving October 10, moving 250 people and 45,000 pounds of supplies and equipment. Some of the most severe damage from the earthquake has been sustained in remote areas not easily accessible by road.<br \/>\n* Heavy equipment such as bulldozers, dump trucks, and forklifts, and support systems, such as water purification systems, portable generators, and medical support are being dispatched from within the Central Command region.<\/p>\n<p>Emergency Management Assistance:<\/p>\n<p>* Eight members of the nine-person Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) arrived in Islamabad on October 12. The team\u2019s mission is to assess humanitarian needs, assist with targeting and coordination of U.S. assistance, and provide technical assistance as needed.<br \/>\n* A 23-member Contingency Support Group from McGuire Air Force Base arrived in Islamabad on October 12 and will be involved in planning and logistics support.<br \/>\n* Department of Defense announced on October 11 that Navy Rear Admiral Michael Lefever has been designated to coordinate the Disaster Assistance Center in Islamabad.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But it&#8217;s behind-the-scenes help with materiel and logistics; the kind of help that is vital, but often invisible.<\/p>\n<p>I can well understand the security challenge of placing lots of boots on the ground in an environment like this.<\/p>\n<p>But I can also see the massive and long-term win that we could generate &#8211; throughout the Muslim world &#8211; with the simple image of U.S. medics helping the wounded, U.S. uniforms distributing shelter.<\/p>\n<p>The social-service arm of Hamas is the engine that drives it&#8217;s legitimacy. It ought to be our engine, not theirs. We should be better at this than they are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Armed Liberal is bothered that the visible face to Pakistan relief is Islamist, not American.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}