Capt'n Ed posts a terrific story:
Thirteen years ago, a natural disaster in the South Pacific killed hundreds and left thousands more homeless. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo created an emergency for Filipinos and the American dependents of the servicemen and servicewomen station in the Philippines. George Bush (41) sent the US Navy to provide disaster relief and to evacuate Americans from the area, in a manner similar to what we are doing with tsunami relief today.One of the people sailing to the relief of the tsunami victims understands exactly what they have experienced -- because she was rescued from Pinatubo by the same ship she serves now:
Standing in the hangar bay of this mammoth aircraft carrier, Seaman Joviena Kay looks across the waves toward the devastated coast of Sumatra, remembering a time 13 years ago when she huddled on the same deck with evacuees from another great Asian disaster.
Joviena was 6 years old then, a refugee from a volcano. The Filipino-American eventually joined the U.S. Navy, and she is serving on the ship that rescued her as its sailors help the survivors of an earthquake and tsunami.
As Ed suggests, read the whole story.
I wish to hell Colin Powell would keep his frickin' pie-hole shut. He is such a thin-skinned sap, all the left or the MSM need do is take a jab at the administration's relief policy and he leads with his chin. Video of Powell strolling around with officals signing autographs as this unfolds, makes my skin crawl.
We're not in South Asia to win Muslim hearts and minds. I can't imagine any of us who recoiled in horror and leap to donate money, goods and/or time ever stopped to consider the politics for a nanosecond. I can't speak for you, but my reaction was OHMYGOD!!! Not, Oh goodie! A political opportunity. Jeebus. What sort of crimped soul views a natural disaster as a PR exercise?
Would I rather that a man receiving a food packet from a US Navy helo not be wearing a UBL t-shirt? Damn straight, and perhaps, just perhaps, he will remember who was there when he needed help most and turn away from radical Islam, if and when they come to call, but it cannot and should not be our immediate concern nor a condition of our assistance, explicit or implied.
We're there because human beings, like the 6-yr old Joviena, are in extremis. Period.
