Foreign Aid Offers Went Unaccepted

"And administration has used only fraction of allies' pledged donations in hurricane aftermath"


The low-lights of the piece:

"And while television sets worldwide showed images of New Orleans residents begging to be rescued from rooftops as floodwaters rose, U.S. officials turned down countless offers of allied troops and search-and-rescue teams. The most common responses: "sent letter of thanks" and "will keep offer on hand," the new documents show."

""There is a lack of accountability in where the money comes in and where it goes," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the public interest group, which called for an investigation into the fate of foreign aid offers. She added: "It's clear that they're trying to hide their ineptitude, incompetence and malfeasance.""


I don't actually have much to say here, the article speaks for itself. While I hope to focus this blog on positive and hopeful events in New Orleans and I know it isn't fun to read more bad news about a terrible situation, one can't get a full picture without including both the good and the bad. So here's the bad. Come back again for the good.




http://www.firstgiving.com/robsand

Thanks for visiting

Over the coming month I will be posting regularly (4-5 days a week) about my experiences while working for Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans. The point of all this is raising awareness about the situation on the ground in New Orleans right now, nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina- albeit from the perspective of a young, temporary volunteer.

Some days I might just tell you what we did on the house we worked on, but on others I will make wider points about the process of rebuilding, repopulating, and renewing New Orleans. I encourage all kinds of comments and questions, perhaps even especially the antagonistic ones! There are a great deal of social, economic, and political questions about how this rebuilding process can and should occur, and I'm more than happy to engage in a discussion of them. So if you've got one, post it. I'll respond, and hopefully others will too.