Real Help
Powerline has a riveting article from the Associated Press about the arrival of American aid to the tsunami racked shores of Southeast Asia. Hindrocket's concluding comments put in perspective the unseemly sniping of bureaucrats and journalists who seem to have been more concerned to seize the latest opportunity for Bush-bashing than with helping people in need. And kudos to the AP for this poignant, heart-wrenching story.
Desperate, homeless villagers on the tsunami-ravaged island of Sumatra mobbed American helicopters carrying aid Saturday as the U.S. military launched its largest operation in the region since the Vietnam War, ferrying food and other emergency relief to survivors across the disaster zone.
From dawn until sunset on New Year's Day, 12 Seahawk helicopters shuttled supplies and advance teams from offshore naval vessels while reconnaissance aircraft brought back stark images of wave-wrecked coastal landscapes and their hungry, traumatized inhabitants.
"They came from all directions, crawling under the craft, knocking on the pilot's door, pushing to get into the cabin," said Petty Officer First Class Brennan Zwack. "But when they saw we had no more food inside, they backed away, saying `Thank you, thank you.'"
"The mob decided how we distributed the food. There were so many hands outstretched I don't think any package touched the ground," added Zwack, of Sioux Falls, S.D.
It takes one's breath away. And reminds one that those who put the imperatives of Bush-bashing or American-bashing above all else are small and provincial people, even though they pride themselves on their cosmopolitanism. For they look out upon the world and see not the waves of suffering humanity, but the image of American politics. A particularly appalling sin in the present instance.
| Jan. 1, 2005 | 7:17 PM