Bush Admin "Loses" $1 Billion in Foreign Katrina Aid

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/29/07 at 8:30am

Um...how can one administration "misplace" so many billions of dollars?

==

WASHINGTON POST

Most Katrina Aid From Overseas Went Unclaimed

By John Solomon and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, April 29, 2007; A01

As the winds and water of Hurricane Katrina were receding, presidential confidante Karen Hughes sent a cable from her State Department office to U.S. ambassadors worldwide.

Titled "Echo-Chamber Message" -- a public relations term for talking points designed to be repeated again and again -- the Sept. 7, 2005, directive was unmistakable: Assure the scores of countries that had pledged or donated aid at the height of the disaster that their largesse had provided Americans "practical help and moral support" and "highlight the concrete benefits hurricane victims are receiving."

Many of the U.S. diplomats who received the message, however, were beginning to witness a more embarrassing reality. They knew 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 Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross.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 addition, valuable supplies and services -- such as cellphone systems, medicine and cruise ships -- were delayed or declined because the government could not handle them. In some cases, supplies were wasted.

The struggle to apply foreign aid in the aftermath of the hurricane, which has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $125 billion so far, is another reminder of the federal government's difficulty leading the recovery. Reports of government waste and delays or denials of assistance have surfaced repeatedly since hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck in 2005.

[more at link]
Most Katrina Aid From Overseas Went Unclaimed

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/29/07 at 1:06pm

Well, I guess the good thing is the US has such high credibility and levels of respect around the world that this one little error will be seen as an anamoly. It shouldn't tarnish our sterling global reputation.

(Memo to voters of every stripe: Do not elect people who hate government to positions in government. When they are elected, they sabotage and destroy in order to prove that "government doesn't work." Would you put your life and well-being in hands of an oncologist who "doesn't believe in cancer?")