Germany has 'duty' to aid hurricane victims: Schroeder

[Kellanved]

BERLIN - Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Friday that Germany had "an historic duty" to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina on the southern U.S. Gulf Coast.

Schroeder told a hastily arranged news conference he has offered to send medical evacuation jets to the U.S. and to airlift field hospitals, water purification systems, vaccines and portable shelters to the disaster area.

"It is our historic duty not just because of help we got from the U.S. after the war ...," said the Chancellor.

Schroeder also announced he would allow part of Germany's strategic oil reserves to be released to the market to make up for lost production in the Gulf of Mexico.
...

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23327&name=Germany+has+%27duty%27+to+aid+hurricane+victims%3A+Schroeder+

According to less official sources, there are several planes waiting in cologne. The specialists and equipment would be in the region within 8 hours, should the US give the go-ahead.
Also, nobody understands, why the Dutch (or, for that matter, the German)levee teams weren't called yet - when those guys say that they would have the city dry in a matter of days, they are only bragging a little.

[AspenRose]

1. I am proud to say I was born in Heidelberg, Germany.

Danke, Deutschland.

[wtbymark]

2. are you crazy?

Chimpo couldn't accept anyone elses help, he would be seen as failable. The primate will insist that we can handle it while thousands more die in the streets. Those planes will sit on the German runway, they aren't going anywhere.

Chimpy should be simply lifted by his shirt collar and tossed out of the White house (shouldn't even be called the White House while he's in office, should be called the Black House because he's just a stain!)

[Dr Fate]

3. Is The Drunken Monkey going to take this help or what?

?

[DiverDave]

4. Remember all the goodwill after 9-11?

That this fucking junta threw away?

The world understands, I hope, that this lunatic doesn't represent all of us.

[ticapnews]

8. They did believe that once...

they understood that the election was screwed up in 2000.

But we re-elected the idiot. They don't want to hear about Diebold machines. I have spoken with many people from Europe and explained about Diebold but they don't care. The bottom line is he was re-elected. As one friend from Holland put it "With your debt load we now consider you a third-world nation with a first-world military."

[Karmadillo]

5. I wish our government felt the same way.

nt

[Endangered Specie]

6. cheers for Germany

:) :hi:

[peacetalksforall]

7. Exactly what we need.

Schroeder told a hastily arranged news conference he has offered to send medical evacuation jets to the U.S. and to airlift field hospitals, water purification systems, vaccines and portable shelters to the disaster area.

Technical know-how from the Dutch.

My Lord... our 'leader' is not helping your children. My Lord.

[JPZenger]

9. So Much Valuable Material and Skilled People are Wasted

So many countries offered so much valuable equipment and highly skilled people, including urban rescue teams. Many nations would have been able to send it very quickly because they have the equipment and personnel standing by in case of disasters in their own country.

However, the U.S. government has refused to let any of these nations provide the assistance. Worse of all, the Canadians have been refused permission to land their planes full of emergency supplies.

Each nation has said "we are awaiting a U.S. response to our offer." I have searched for any U.S. response - and the only offer that has been accepted is the Canadians were asked to send some firefighters and the South Koreans were asked by the Texas Air National Guard to provide three helicopters (I'm guessing they were already in the U.S. for maintenance or war games.)

[iverglas]

16. getting it there ...

The good thing about the British Columbian urban search & rescue team was that it belongs to a province -- so a state governor could request it directly from the provincial premier. Which is what the Governor of Louisiana did. (It's gone both ways in other disasters, like the workers and equipment that Canada got from the US during the ice storm.) Direct state-to-province, governor-to-premier relations are quite well developed in many respects, and can obviously be very beneficial.

Things that belong to the feds here, and particularly things that belong to the military, can't really be sent without an invitation from the top. The Governor of Louisiana can't call in the Canadian Armed Forces ... although I kind of wish she'd given it a shot.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Kellanved]

11. what exactly are you trying to say?

If you have a point: write it clearly.

If you are just trying to smear the international relief effort, which is being hindered for reasons beyond my understanding, then I have to wonder.

Besides, since when is an apostrophe used in the plural?

[Frederik]

13. What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

[Koeln]

18. by the way

rumsfeld is a german name and his roots ( heritage) are from northern germany.


At the beginning of the iraq war they ask people called rumsfeld in northern germany what they think about the secretary of defense in the Us.

believe me this was really very funny and i don´t believe that he would have a warm welcome there.

[Karenina]

19. His family has, in fact

"disowned" him.

[teryang]

12. The Germans and Europe need to defend the Euro

If the dollar falls too precipitously, the Euros climb will harm exports. So they are releasing their reserves because of the emergency. It is a fiscal emergency as well as a humanitarian diaster.

[pippin]

14. Would it were that W would have a similar

sense of duty to his own people. :mad:

[LifeDuringWartime]

15. why dont they go anyway?

what the hell would happen to them if they sent people in to assist anyway? it's very clear that they are NEEDED down there

[Maple]

17. Because that would be considered

an invasion, and then you'd be having foreign planes shot down.