Europe Offers U.S. Hurricane Assistance

[tocqueville]

By DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago


VIENNA, Austria - As the enormity of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath sinks in, Europeans have been moved to help in ways great and small: from an Austrian university proposing to take in 500 students from New Orleans, to nations agreeing to tap into strategic oil reserves.

Amid the compassion, there was also surprise that America was so vulnerable and unprepared, and dismay the Bush administration plays down the global warming threat so many Europeans link to the force and frequency of such storms.

Across the continent, the media and governments focused on the tragedy, with newspapers running photos of victims wading chest-deep in water and television screens filled with fires.

The French daily Liberation described the scenes of devastation as a cruel spectacle for President Bush, "the champion of security." Criticizing the disorder in the evacuation of hospitals, the editorial called Hurricane Katrina a "natural disaster with political implications." Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden "must be dying of laughter," it said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050902/ap_on_re_eu/katrina_europe