This One Goes Back a Ways

In 2004 an earthquake in the Indian Ocean set in motion a devastating tsunami causing over a quarter of a million deaths and incredible devastation in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.

America came to the rescue immediately.

Paul Wolfowitz - then deputy secretary of defense said the following.


There were nearly 16,000 military personnel in the region focused on the relief effort. In addition to the personnel, there were 26 ships, including a Coast Guard cutter, 58 various helicopters and 43 fixed-wing aircraft that were mostly used for transport.

In all, 10 million pounds of food and 400,000 gallons of water were delivered to those left in need by the tsunami.

Wolfowitz said a "thank you" is owed to the American taxpayer, "because the assets that made it possible to conduct this operation are way beyond the cost of the supplemental." The supplemental he referred to was an announcement at the briefing that President Bush will ask Congress for a total of $950 million to support areas recovering from the tsunami. That figure, according to Undersecretary of State Alan Larson, who made the announcement, includes the initial U.S. commitment of $350 million.

In addition individual American's donated $480 million to charities specifically for Tsunami relief.

Yet only a couple of days after the disaster we get this from the UN.....


U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland suggested that the United States and other Western nations were being "stingy" with relief funds, saying there would be more available if taxes were raised.

"It is beyond me why are we so stingy, really," the Norwegian-born U.N. official told reporters. "Christmastime should remind many Western countries at least, [of] how rich we have become." "There are several donors who are less generous than before in a growing world economy," he said, adding that politicians in the United States and Europe "believe that they are really burdening the taxpayers too much, and the taxpayers want to give less. It's not true. They want to give more."

I guess Jan agrees that...

Yes Michelle, America is a mean country.