Incompetence Knows No Bounds

As many of you know, when the tsunami that hit Indonesia in December of 2004 devastated that country, many in the world contributed with supplies for relief as well as monetarily help for the ravaged communities affected.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the US southern coast, causing devastation to New Orleans as well as parts of Mississippi and Alabama, the world again responded. Unfortunately, the incompetence is so rampant in the current criminal administration, that most of the helping hands were met with a "thanks but no thanks" response, or the assistance that was accepted has been sitting idle for the past 20 months while communities in New Orleans rot away.

As reported in the Washington Post on Sunday, April 29th, the U.S. government was turning down many allies' offers of manpower, supplies and expertise worth untold millions of dollars. Eventually the United States also would fail to collect most of the unprecedented outpouring of international cash assistance for Katrina's victims.

Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.

...In one exchange, State Department officials anguished over whether to tell Italy that its shipments of medicine, gauze and other medical supplies spoiled in the elements for weeks after Katrina's landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, and were destroyed. "Tell them we blew it," one disgusted official wrote. But she hedged: "The flip side is just to dispose of it and not come clean. I could be persuaded."

...Overall, the United States declined 54 of 77 recorded aid offers from three of its staunchest allies: Canada, Britain and Israel, according to a 40-page State Department table of the offers that had been received as of January 2006.

...In another instance, the Department of Homeland Security accepted an offer from Greece on Sept. 3, 2005, to dispatch two cruise ships that could be used free as hotels or hospitals for displaced residents. The deal was rescinded Sept. 15 after it became clear a ship would not arrive before Oct. 10. The U.S. eventually paid $249 million to use Carnival Cruise Lines vessels.

Not coming clean has all too often been the modus operandi of the Bush Administration and its hapless cronies running government departments for which they have absolutely no qualifications. Just another example of the sad state of affairs that we've come to expect from our pathetic leaders in the West Wing.