Saturday, January 01, 2005
January 1, 2005DIPLOMACY
U.S. Vows Big Increase in Aid for Victims of Asian DisasterBy DAVID E. SANGER and WARREN HOGE
CRAWFORD, Tex., Dec. 31 - President Bush announced Friday that he would increase emergency aid to stricken areas of Asia to $350 million from $35 million, and said the United States would probably add more resources as the scope of what he called an "epic disaster" became clearer.
At the United Nations, Jan Egeland, the emergency aid coordinator, said the new American money had increased the overall amount donated to nearly $1.2 billion from 40 nations, with new pledges continuing to come in hourly. "I've never, ever seen such an outpouring of international assistance in any international disaster, ever," he said.
Mr. Bush's ninefold increase in the amount of aid was the second time this week that the United States had committed more money to the effort, and it came after criticism that the president, who has stayed on his 1,600-acre ranch all week and spoken publicly about the disaster once, had reacted too slowly.
President Bush reacted angrily on Wednesday to a suggestion from Mr. Egeland that the leading economies of the world had been stingy in providing foreign aid generally, and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell spent much of the week defending the speed with which the United States was responding to the calamity.
In a written statement on Friday, Mr. Bush said he decided on the increase after Mr. Powell and the director of the Agency for International Development, Andrew Natsios, told him that "initial findings of American assessment teams on the ground indicate that the need for financial and other assistance will steadily increase in the days and weeks ahead."
As recently as Thursday, a senior State Department official deeply involved in the rescue efforts said Washington had not received any word from any assessment team asking for more money. But the official added that when such requests came in, he was certain the money would be available.
Mr. Powell was visibly annoyed later on Thursday when asked about other nations, with far smaller economies, which had initially committed more funds than the United States. "I don't know yet what the United States' contribution will be," he said on ABC's "Nightline," "and what we have to do is make a needs assessment and not just grasp at numbers or think we're in some kind of an auction house where every day somebody has to top someone else."
Asked about the new, higher figure at the United Nations on Friday after he met with Secretary General Kofi Annan, Mr. Powell said he had received information in the morning from Mr. Natsios that justified the rise. "What I wanted to do is to make sure that I had a basis to go to the president and make the recommendation that he commit this amount of money, and not just that each day everybody was trying to play, 'Can you top this ?' " he said.
With the newly announced commitment, the United States moves from the middle of the pack of countries that have announced aid to the region to the top. The $350 million is more than three times the amount committed by Britain, and it is $100 million more than the World Bank's contribution so far.
A White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, said that the $350 million would come "from existing accounts," but that the administration might have to ask Congress next month to replenish emergency funds. But he dismissed suggestions by Democrats, including Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, that the United States could draw on some of the $16 billion authorized for Iraq reconstruction that has not been spent.
"It's not coming from Iraq money, if that's what you are asking," Mr. Duffy told reporters.
White House officials are clearly sensitive about the charge that they responded too slowly, and Mr. Bush listed Friday a series of actions the United States had already taken. They included the dispatch of an aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, and an amphibious ship carrying a Marine expeditionary unit. But the ships are not in position, and several officials said the distance they have to travel would cost precious time.
The United States surrendered its bases in the Philippines more than a decade ago, and one senior American diplomat in Asia noted Thursday that "we're all paying the price for that a bit" because those bases would have put American forces closer to the destruction at the tip of Sumatra.
In his statement, Mr. Bush noted that the United States had created a coordination "core group" with Australia, India and Japan.
"I am confident many more nations will join this core group in short order," Mr. Bush said in his statement. "Reports of strong charitable donations are also very encouraging and reflect the true generosity and compassion of the American people."
Mr. Powell sought to allay suspicions at the United Nations that in setting up the core group, the United States was competing for leadership of the relief effort with the world organization, with which the administration has had strained relations.
"We created the core group earlier in the week because we saw a need for a coordination mechanism to be created rather quickly and rested on countries that were nearby in the region with assets, experience and capability that could be brought to bear right away," he said. Its ultimate purpose, he added, was to bring international organizations "into play under the overall supervision and leadership of the United Nations."
Mr. Powell plans to leave for Indonesia and Sri Lanka on Sunday along with the president's brother, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. Mr. Bush said he was sending his brother because the series of hurricanes that hit Florida had given him a particular expertise in disaster relief. There was also symbolism in sending a member of his family who has instant access to the president.
Lionel Rosenblatt, president emeritus of Refugees International, a Washington-based advocacy group, said that he thought the visit by Mr. Powell would help to free up needed resources but said that it was a mistake not to include a high-level United Nations representative. "We see in places like Aceh that they are still without any sort of relief presence yet and it may involve opening airports, bulldozing new airstrips and bringing in other help, and those are the kinds of problems that Powell can begin to solve with a phone call that would take the normal machinery days to turn around," he said.
"But I also think it is imperative to take a very senior member of the U.N. along," he added, "so that the U.N. leadership of the relief system remains intact and indeed enhanced."
Traditionally, Mr. Bush appears around New Year's at the one coffee shop in this single-stoplight town a few miles from his ranch, sometimes holding an impromptu news conference by the gas pumps outside. But Mr. Bush never left the ranch on Friday. His spokesman said he was entertaining friends.
The question about donation levels also sparked a new spat with France. The French ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte, wrote a letter to Mr. Natsios saying he was "surprised to learn of the shocking and uncalled for comments you thought fit to make during an interview" on Wednesday on Fox news.
Mr. Natsios had observed that France was not a major donor to other nations, saying "they do not tend to be dominant figures in aid." He praised Britain, Japan, the European Union, Canada and Australia.
Mr. Levitte disputed that assessment, saying that France, with an economy a fraction of the size of the United States', had already given about $28 million for tsunami relief, or only $7 million less than the United States until its announcement on Friday. "I would be interested in learning your reasons for misguidedly impugning France this way," he wrote.
David E. Sanger reported from Crawford, Tex., for this article and Warren Hoge from the United Nations.
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U.S. Vows Big Increase in Aid for Victims of Asian DisasterBy DAVID E. SANGER and WARREN HOGE
CRAWFORD, Tex., Dec. 31 - President Bush announced Friday that he would increase emergency aid to stricken areas of Asia to $350 million from $35 million, and said the United States would probably add more resources as the scope of what he called an "epic disaster" became clearer.
At the United Nations, Jan Egeland, the emergency aid coordinator, said the new American money had increased the overall amount donated to nearly $1.2 billion from 40 nations, with new pledges continuing to come in hourly. "I've never, ever seen such an outpouring of international assistance in any international disaster, ever," he said.
Mr. Bush's ninefold increase in the amount of aid was the second time this week that the United States had committed more money to the effort, and it came after criticism that the president, who has stayed on his 1,600-acre ranch all week and spoken publicly about the disaster once, had reacted too slowly.
President Bush reacted angrily on Wednesday to a suggestion from Mr. Egeland that the leading economies of the world had been stingy in providing foreign aid generally, and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell spent much of the week defending the speed with which the United States was responding to the calamity.
In a written statement on Friday, Mr. Bush said he decided on the increase after Mr. Powell and the director of the Agency for International Development, Andrew Natsios, told him that "initial findings of American assessment teams on the ground indicate that the need for financial and other assistance will steadily increase in the days and weeks ahead."
As recently as Thursday, a senior State Department official deeply involved in the rescue efforts said Washington had not received any word from any assessment team asking for more money. But the official added that when such requests came in, he was certain the money would be available.
Mr. Powell was visibly annoyed later on Thursday when asked about other nations, with far smaller economies, which had initially committed more funds than the United States. "I don't know yet what the United States' contribution will be," he said on ABC's "Nightline," "and what we have to do is make a needs assessment and not just grasp at numbers or think we're in some kind of an auction house where every day somebody has to top someone else."
Asked about the new, higher figure at the United Nations on Friday after he met with Secretary General Kofi Annan, Mr. Powell said he had received information in the morning from Mr. Natsios that justified the rise. "What I wanted to do is to make sure that I had a basis to go to the president and make the recommendation that he commit this amount of money, and not just that each day everybody was trying to play, 'Can you top this ?' " he said.
With the newly announced commitment, the United States moves from the middle of the pack of countries that have announced aid to the region to the top. The $350 million is more than three times the amount committed by Britain, and it is $100 million more than the World Bank's contribution so far.
A White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, said that the $350 million would come "from existing accounts," but that the administration might have to ask Congress next month to replenish emergency funds. But he dismissed suggestions by Democrats, including Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, that the United States could draw on some of the $16 billion authorized for Iraq reconstruction that has not been spent.
"It's not coming from Iraq money, if that's what you are asking," Mr. Duffy told reporters.
White House officials are clearly sensitive about the charge that they responded too slowly, and Mr. Bush listed Friday a series of actions the United States had already taken. They included the dispatch of an aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, and an amphibious ship carrying a Marine expeditionary unit. But the ships are not in position, and several officials said the distance they have to travel would cost precious time.
The United States surrendered its bases in the Philippines more than a decade ago, and one senior American diplomat in Asia noted Thursday that "we're all paying the price for that a bit" because those bases would have put American forces closer to the destruction at the tip of Sumatra.
In his statement, Mr. Bush noted that the United States had created a coordination "core group" with Australia, India and Japan.
"I am confident many more nations will join this core group in short order," Mr. Bush said in his statement. "Reports of strong charitable donations are also very encouraging and reflect the true generosity and compassion of the American people."
Mr. Powell sought to allay suspicions at the United Nations that in setting up the core group, the United States was competing for leadership of the relief effort with the world organization, with which the administration has had strained relations.
"We created the core group earlier in the week because we saw a need for a coordination mechanism to be created rather quickly and rested on countries that were nearby in the region with assets, experience and capability that could be brought to bear right away," he said. Its ultimate purpose, he added, was to bring international organizations "into play under the overall supervision and leadership of the United Nations."
Mr. Powell plans to leave for Indonesia and Sri Lanka on Sunday along with the president's brother, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. Mr. Bush said he was sending his brother because the series of hurricanes that hit Florida had given him a particular expertise in disaster relief. There was also symbolism in sending a member of his family who has instant access to the president.
Lionel Rosenblatt, president emeritus of Refugees International, a Washington-based advocacy group, said that he thought the visit by Mr. Powell would help to free up needed resources but said that it was a mistake not to include a high-level United Nations representative. "We see in places like Aceh that they are still without any sort of relief presence yet and it may involve opening airports, bulldozing new airstrips and bringing in other help, and those are the kinds of problems that Powell can begin to solve with a phone call that would take the normal machinery days to turn around," he said.
"But I also think it is imperative to take a very senior member of the U.N. along," he added, "so that the U.N. leadership of the relief system remains intact and indeed enhanced."
Traditionally, Mr. Bush appears around New Year's at the one coffee shop in this single-stoplight town a few miles from his ranch, sometimes holding an impromptu news conference by the gas pumps outside. But Mr. Bush never left the ranch on Friday. His spokesman said he was entertaining friends.
The question about donation levels also sparked a new spat with France. The French ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte, wrote a letter to Mr. Natsios saying he was "surprised to learn of the shocking and uncalled for comments you thought fit to make during an interview" on Wednesday on Fox news.
Mr. Natsios had observed that France was not a major donor to other nations, saying "they do not tend to be dominant figures in aid." He praised Britain, Japan, the European Union, Canada and Australia.
Mr. Levitte disputed that assessment, saying that France, with an economy a fraction of the size of the United States', had already given about $28 million for tsunami relief, or only $7 million less than the United States until its announcement on Friday. "I would be interested in learning your reasons for misguidedly impugning France this way," he wrote.
David E. Sanger reported from Crawford, Tex., for this article and Warren Hoge from the United Nations.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections RSS Help Back to Top
