World Stunned as US Struggles

This really upset me. I know we on here have talked about this and our problems. But until i read this, i guess i didn't really take it to heart, how bad others see our country beginning to fail.
And how some even our allies are making or taking pride in the destruction? That i don't get. Were allies yet instead of coming to our aid, they talk about how bad the siutation is being handled.
Fighting two wars, and still struggling with fuel prices and then Katrina.
One thing that i still say and i think starbuck said it best. When does our aid from other countries begin pouring in? Esp. from our so called allies, who as you can read seem to be taking pride in our problems?


The world has watched amazed as the planet's only superpower struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with some saying the chaos has exposed flaws and deep divisions in American society.
World leaders and ordinary citizens have expressed sympathy with the people of the southern United States whose lives were devastated by the hurricane and the flooding that followed.
But many have also been shocked by the images of disorder beamed around the world -- looters roaming the debris-strewn streets and thousands of people gathered in New Orleans waiting for the authorities to provide food, water and other aid.
"Anarchy in the USA" declared Britain's best-selling newspaper The Sun.
"Apocalypse Now" headlined Germany's Handelsblatt daily.
The pictures of the catastrophe -- which has killed hundreds and possibly thousands -- have evoked memories of crises in the world's poorest nations such as last year's tsunami in Asia, which left more than 230,000 people dead or missing.
But some view the response to those disasters more favorably than the lawless aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"I am absolutely disgusted. After the tsunami our people, even the ones who lost everything, wanted to help the others who were suffering," said Sajeewa Chinthaka, 36, as he watched a cricket match in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
"Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S. we can easily see where the civilized part of the world's population is."
SINKING INTO ANARCHY
Many newspapers highlighted criticism of local and state authorities and of President Bush. Some compared the sputtering relief effort with the massive amounts of money and resources poured into the war in Iraq.
"A modern metropolis sinking in water and into anarchy -- it is a really cruel spectacle for a champion of security like Bush," France's left-leaning Liberation newspaper said.
"(Al Qaeda leader Osama) bin Laden, nice and dry in his hideaway, must be killing himself laughing."
A female employee at a multinational firm in South Korea said it may have been no accident the U.S. was hit.
"Maybe it was punishment for what it did to Iraq, which has a man-made disaster, not a natural disaster," said the woman, who did not want to be named as she has an American manager.
"A lot of the people I work with think this way. We spoke about it just the other day," she said.
Commentators noted the victims of the hurricane were overwhelmingly African Americans, too poor to flee the region as the hurricane loomed unlike some of their white neighbors.
New Orleans ranks fifth in the United States in terms of African American population and 67 percent of the city's residents are black.
"In one of the poorest states in the country, where black people earn half as much as white people, this has taken on a racial dimension," said a report in Britain's Guardian daily.
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, in a veiled criticism of U.S. political thought, said the disaster showed the need for a strong state that could help poor people.
"You see in this example that even in the 21st century you need the state, a good functioning state, and I hope that for all these people, these poor people, that the Americans will do their best," he told reporters at a European Union meeting in Newport, Wales.
David Fordham, 33, a hospital anesthetist speaking at a London underground rail station, said he had spent time in America and was not surprised the country had struggled to cope.
"Maybe they just thought they could sit it out and everything would be okay," he said.
"It's unbelievable though -- the TV images -- and your heart goes out to them."

It's too early to predict how long it will take to remove the floodwater from New Orleans because the Army Corps of Engineers is still planning how to accomplish the feat, its commander said Friday.
"We're certainly talking weeks," Lt. Gen. Carl Strock told reporters at the Pentagon.
He said the engineers are developing a plan to make new breaches in the levees in New Orleans "? from hundreds of feet wide to 3,000 feet "? so that a combination of pumping and the effects of gravity will move the water out of the city.
"The real focus now is saving lives and sustaining lives," he said.
Earlier Friday, a former head of the Corps of Engineers estimated that pumping the water out of New Orleans could take a month or more.
Removing the water depends on how much of the pumping capacity engineers can get working, former Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers said.
Optimistically, the capacity could lower the water as much as a foot a day, but it is likely to start more slowly and could take a month or more, he told The Associated Press.
There are six city pumping stations and the Army could bring in auxiliary pumps, Flowers said.
On Thursday, the Corps of Engineers said the time the project takes will depend on the weather and how soon repairs to levees are completed. The repairs are needed before pumps can begin sending the water into Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.
Draining New Orleans is not like pulling the plug on a bathtub drain; much of the city is below sea level so the water will have to be pumped up and out.

Amid the unfolding disaster left by Hurricane Katrina, Colorado State University researchers said Friday they expect more storms over the next two months.
"The very active season we have seen to this point is far from over," researcher Philip Klotzbach said. "We expect that by the time the 2005 hurricane season is over, we will witness seasonal tropical cyclone activity at near-record levels."
The CSU hurricane forecast team of William Gray and Klotzbach said there is a 43 percent chance an intense hurricane will hit the U.S. coast in September and a 15 percent chance in October. The long-term average is 27 percent in September and 6 percent in October.
The CSU team predicted five named storms, four hurricanes and two major hurricanes for September, traditionally the most active month for hurricanes. The team predicted three named storms, two hurricanes and one major hurricane in October.
The season already has seen 12 named storms, four hurricanes and three major hurricanes. The 50-year average per season from 1950 to 2000 is 9.6 named storms, 5.9 hurricanes and 2.3 intense hurricanes.

[imported_Counts]

I really have to question wheather rebuilding New Orleans where it currently stands (below sea level) is a good Idea why not "Move the city to Higher ground" or do something to elavate the land NO sits on?

[Monkeyhead]

There are many countries that I have heard on the news who are offering help. The biggest is Israel. This is what I have heard.

[beamer_ball]

World leaders offer sympathy, aid

I said the same thing Counts and got blasted by some for saying it. I was told well peole have right to live where they want. I said yes they do. But New Orleans was an engineering feat to begin with.
And if anyone watches anything other than the happenings the worry was when and if something as big as Katrina hit, it would do this kind of damage.
I think the plan for such an event was looked at two years ago and put into place.
The problem was. No one told the other agencies the plan. That is why the relief effort has been so slow.
I know it sounds stupid. But states in the US had things ready to go out to New Orleans but before they could, there was tons of unneeded red tape that had be done.
Some even had to call FEMA just to send what they did or wait for FEMA to request it to be sent.

[imported_elp6n]

Reuters) -- Hurricane Katrina has devastated New Orleans and U.S. Gulf Coast states, killing hundreds of people and possibly thousands, and drawing support pledges from rich and poor, traditional friends and foes of the United States.

The State Department said offers of help had been received from:

Australia, Austria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, China, Columbia, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Greece, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, South Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.

International organizations also offered help ranging from medical teams to tents to cash donations. They include NATO, the Organization of American States, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, and the World Health Organization.

A State Department official said a needs assessment was being done to determine which offers would be accepted.

The United Nations has offered to help coordinate international relief. Following is a list of some of the aid offered by governments.

Asia
AUSTRALIA: "We're going to provide A$10 million ($7.6 million) and the bulk of that money, if not all of it, will go to the American Red Cross," said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. The Australian government said there may be up to 24 Australians trapped in Louisiana in the aftermath of Katrina.

CHINA: China offered $5 million in aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina which devastated the Gulf Coast ahead of President Hu Jintao's U.S. visit. If needed, the Chinese government is also prepared to send rescue workers, including medical experts, officials said.

JAPAN: Will provide $200,000 to the American Red Cross to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said on Friday. Japan will also identify needs in affected regions via the U.S. government and will provide up to $300,000 in emergency supplies such as tents, blankets and power generators if it receives requests for such assistance, the ministry said.

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Armed Forces, responding to requests by the United States Texas Army National Guard, has sent three Chinook helicopters to Fort Polk, Louisiana, to help in relief efforts. The government said the Chinooks will help to ferry supplies and undertake airlift missions.

SOUTH KOREA: Has pledged aid and is waiting for a U.S. response, a government official said. "We have sent our intention to offer recovery aid," a Foreign Ministry official said on Friday.

SRI LANKA: Will donate $25,000 to the American Red Cross.

Americas
CANADA: Offered to help in any way it can and the navy is preparing a ship full of emergency disaster relief supplies to be sent when a request comes.

CUBA: Cuban President Fidel Castro offered to fly 1,100 doctors to Houston with 26 tonnes of medicine to treat disaster victims.

MEXICO: The country is sending 15 truckloads of water, food and medical supplies via Texas and the Mexican navy has offered to send two ships, two helicopters and 15 amphibious vehicles.

VENEZUELA: President Hugo Chavez, a vocal critic of the United States, offered to send cheap fuel, humanitarian aid and relief workers to the disaster area.

Europe
EUROPEAN UNION: EU countries are ready to give the United States oil if it requests help, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Friday. But British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said this was not what the EU had in mind when it discussed how to help.

FRANCE: Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said France was ready to offer support, telling TF1 television: "We have rescue teams based in the Caribbean and we are naturally ready to provide aid to the Americans, and that is what we have told them."

GERMANY: Has offered mobile units to provide clean water, military hospital facilities and medical aid.

ITALY: Has offered to "immediately" send aid and evacuation specialists, Italy's civil protection unit said. Authorities have prepared two military transport planes to fly amphibious vessels, pumps, generators, tents and personnel to New Orleans and other areas. They were awaiting word from U.S. officials, the unit said.

NETHERLANDS: Will provide teams for inspecting dykes and for identifying victims if there is a formal request from the United States. It will also send a frigate from Curacao to New Orleans shortly to provide emergency assistance, the government said.

RUSSIA: Has offered to help with rescue efforts, but is still awaiting a reply from Washington. "Above all with heavy transport planes, which can be loaded with helicopters and generators -- as there is no electricity in the area of the catastrophe," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

SPAIN: Expects to receive a formal request to release gasoline stocks to the United States and is prepared to grant it, an Industry Ministry spokesman said.

SWEDEN: The Rescue Authority said it was on stand-by to supply water purifying equipment, healthcare supplies and emergency shelters if needed.

Middle East
SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Refining, a Houston-based subsidiary of state oil firm Saudi Aramco, will donate $5 million to the American Red Cross to support relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

[starbuck]

I don't know about anyone else, but maybe I'm feeling like we are not as hated as I thougt we were, or the news would lead us to believe [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[starbuck]

Homeland Securiety has failed. What did they do with the 40 Billion that was sunk into the program? (40 Billion is what i heard on the news anyway) 5 days to get help to these people? It it were a foreign it would have been done in 3 days probably. Crazy [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]