bush, as usual, misses another opportunity.

[LynnTheDem]

Per DKOS:

Pittance hurts 'war on terror'

As John F. Harris and Robin Wright of the Washington Post cannily note, US President George W. bush has missed an important opportunity to reach out to the Muslims of Indonesia. The Bush administration at first pledged a paltry $15 million, a mysteriously chintzy response to what was obviously an enormous calamity. bush himself remained on vacation, and now has reluctantly agreed to a meeting of the National Security Council by video conference. If bush were a statesman, he would have flown to Jakarta and announced his solidarity with the Muslims of Indonesia (which has suffered at least 40,000 dead and rising).

Indeed, the worst-hit area of Indonesia is Aceh, the center of a Muslim separatist movement, and a gesture to Aceh from the US at this moment might have meant a lot in US-Muslim public relations. Bin Laden and Zawahiri sniffed around Aceh in hopes of recruiting operatives there, being experts in fishing in troubled waters. Doesn't the US want to outflank al-Qaeda? As it is, the president of the United States is invisible and on vacation (unlike several European heads of state), and could think of nothing better to do than announce a paltry pledge. As Harris and Wright rightly say, the rest of the world treated the US much better than this after September 11.

http://www.juancole.com/2004/12/tsunami-toll-nearly-70000-and-rising.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32337-2004Dec28.html

And so of course bush just misses another opportunity, because in fact he is NOT a Statesman.

HOW IMPORTANT is it to improve the US-Muslim public relations? VERY.

bush's own Pentagon released a report blaming the Iraq quagmire on negative attitudes toward the US in the Muslim world and weak presidential leadership in reversing that global hostility.

The information campaign -- or as some still would have it, "the war of ideas," or the struggle for "hearts and minds" -- is important to every war effort. In this war it is an essential objective, because the larger goals of U.S. strategy depend on separating the vast majority of non-violent Muslims from the radical-militant Islamist-Jihadists. But American efforts have not only failed in this respect: they may also have achieved the opposite of what they intended.

http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2004-09-Strategic_Communication.pdf
bush; just a total failure every single time.

[hoi polloi]

1. Bush doesn't care about those countries

Bush is only interested in soon being coronated as King George the First of the United Fascist States of America.
Don't you know he is spending more money on his Kingly coronation than on helping those victimized people?

[LynnTheDem]

2. Yes I know, but he also doesn't give a shit about AMERICA or our TROOPS.

As his own Pentagon report pointed out, we are losing troops in Iraq because of the "very weak presidential leadership" for failing to improve US-Muslim public relations.

So instead of taking the opportunity to IMPROVE that US-Muslim PR, bush makes it WORSE.

That means MORE troops will die because MORE people will hate us and view us as uncaring hypocritical bastards waging another Crusades.

Making more people hate us only makes us LESS SAFE. That's the only thing bush is doing a damn fine job of.

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

3. Even more ridiculous

when we consider that Spain and Germany, both with much smaller GDPs than the USA (especially in the case of Spain), have pledged tens of millions more dollars and aid than the US. Considering the scale of this tragedy, it's an outrage.

[antigone382]

4. Welcome to DU, Muddy Waters Guitar!

Very astute observation.

And on top of his not taking enough action, soon enough, he also manages to blame everybody else, as usual. It's Clinton's fault for "rushing to the cameras," it's the U.N. officials' faults for pointing out our own stinginess, and I'm sure that tomorrow, on Hate Radio talk shows everywhere, it'll be the "liberal" media's fault for making Bush look bad by not thoroughly glossing over his unconcern and lack of statesmanship, like they're s'posed to.

It just makes me sick.

[LynnTheDem]

5. Except that the UN DIDN'T call us "stingy"

That was -SURPRISE!- totally made up bullshit by the rightwing rag Washington Times.

And Canada has also pledged more than the USA; $40 million and NONE of it as a LOAN.

That bush has to always be FORCED (forget "shamed", he's a sociopath, they have no shame) into doing right by others sure says everything about bush.

[opihimoimoi]

6. Yup, its SO revealing..... He wants the war to escalate and go on forever

He ain't doing shit for PEACE, its so obvious.