Report details US refusals of foreign aid after Katrina

Many of you have perhaps read my post about my experience traveling to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Having seen the disaster first hand and witnessed how inadequate the aid to residents was, it leaves me incredulous that the US Government turned down huge quantities of relief aid. The lives of many Katrina victims could have been better but for such huburistic conduct:

A new report reveals the US government turned down offers of help from across the globe in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, telling one diplomat "human assistance of any kind is not on our priorities list."

The report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington relies on a review of 25,000 documents obtained from the State Department. The report reveals the US was interested mostly in cash assistance and materials, rather than direct aid from foreign relief workers and doctors, after Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005.

"A review of the State Department documents reveals distressing ineptitude," CREW's executive director Melanie Sloan said in a prepared statement. "Countries were trying to donate desperately needed goods and services, but as a result of bureaucratic bungling and indifference, those most in need of these generous offers and of aid never received it."

Offers to help came from 145 countries and 12 international organizations. The US did accept help from its top allies around the globe, but CREW's report shows it left unclaimed hundreds of thousands of prepared meals, water pumps, doctors and medicine.

As of today, thousands still are displaced and areas of New Orleans look little different than shortly after the storm. These images are images of Chimperator Bush's America. He allowed special chartered flights to remove members of the Bin Laden family from the USA after 9-11, but denied foreign assistance to US citizens.