Red tape is preventing badly needed aid from being distributed in Haiti. That aid is piling up at the UN’s wi-fi enabled “cold beer” compound, while people suffer a short distance away.
‘I have been begging for help but they just keep telling me it’s too dangerous to bring food and supplies in. But if it’s not too dangerous for you and it’s not too dangerous for me, why is it too dangerous for United Nations troops with guns? It’s disgusting that there is so much food and medical stuff so near and yet these people who are in desperate need are not getting it.’
[...] ANOTHER UPDATE: Bad news: Quake Victims Go Without Aid While Supplies Pile Up At UN’s “Cold Beer” Compound. [...]
I wonder if the reporter is feeling guilty about the fact that her very presence on the Island is draining resources for the locals. Her being there means one less person that the aid workers can help. Put down pen, get on the first plane out, and fund the transportation of a doctor to the island instead.
UN at it’s finest. (And they want to govern the world).
And disgusting, camera face time hungry reporters.
I saw the same thing when I was supporting a medical team in Bandeh Aceh afte the tsunami. The UN personnel were driving in air conditioned Land Rovers and never got out of their vehicles when when they would visit a village we were working in. There were TONS of supplies in containers at the docks that just sat there.
Same Story, Different Place
I saw the same thing in Liberia back in the 90s during their civil war. UN driving very fast around town in their air-conditioned SUVs. The Peacekeepers were Nigerians. No aid distributed by the UN. People say they are just here to write reports.
Before that I strongly supported the UN. Now I just strongly support the idea of a highly reformed UN.
Assuming that reporters haven’t totally swamped the area (i.e., far too many have shown up), getting daily pics and tales back to moneyland through on-the-ground reporting is the best way to ensure donations continue after the initial four-day front-page period ends.
Why doesn’t someone just TELL the UN to distribute the food or GET OUT OF THE WAY. The UN is less than useless; isn’t it time that the United States establish a New Organization of Democratic States.