Bush Appoints Former ‘Big Dig’ Manager As Special Envoy To Darfur

[Ian David]

Bush Appoints Former ‘Big Dig’ Manager As Special Envoy To Darfur

Andrew NatsiosThe Bush Administration’s efforts to end the genocide in Darfur has been plagued by serious errors. Now, the President Bush is appointing Andrew Natsios as special envoy to Darfur to get things back on track.

Who is Andrew Natsios?

– As director of U.S. Agency for Intenational Development Natsios promised that the U.S. contribution to reconstruction of Iraq would be no more that $1.6 billion. Congress has already appropriated nearly $20 billion for reconstruction in Iraq. The CBO estimates the total cost of reconstruction will be between $50 and $100 billion.

– Natsios was the manager of Boston’s “Big Dig,” widely considered one of the most mismanaged public works projects in history.

Sounds like just the guy to help solve the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”

More:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/19/natsios-darfur/

[pooja]

1. wow. it gets better and better everyday.

[Armstead]

2. Doing a heck of a job Andy

Big Dig is the construction world's equivalent of Katrina

[soothsayer]

3. I had no idea we hated Darfur

[etherealtruth]

4. "They" don't even PRETEND to want ...

... to run our government competently. Yet there is no public outcry ... the fools poll numbers go up ... What the heck is this?

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Michael Brown on crack

When does this END?????

[AllegroRondo]

6. This has "international incident" written all over it

this admin just loves to reward incompetence.

[Ian David]

7. Natsios also argued against sending AIDS drugs to Africa

He said that Africans don't own watches to tell time, so they wouldn't be able to take their medication effectively.


See:

AIDS activists in uproar over official's remarks on Africa
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
Friday, June 8, 2001

Controversial remarks by a top Bush administration official are sowing confusion over the future of international efforts to bring cheap AIDS drugs to Africa and other impoverished regions of the world.

U.S. Agency for International Development administrator Andrew Natsios suggested in an interview published yesterday that the proposed multibillion- dollar global AIDS fund be devoted almost solely to prevention instead of treatments.

A Massachusetts Republican, Natsios began his new job on May 1.

Many Africans "don't know what Western time is," he told the Boston Globe. "You have to take these (AIDS) drugs a certain number of hours a day, or they don't work. Many people in Africa have never seen a clock or a watch their entire lives. They know morning, they know noon, they know evening, they know the darkness at night."

Natsios said lack of doctors, hospitals and even electricity make widespread use of the difficult-to-follow AIDS drug regimens unrealistic. He indicated that treatment money should be spent only on anti-malarial and tuberculosis drugs, as well as low-cost anti-retroviral medications that reduce HIV infection from infected mothers to their children.

More:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/06/08/MN164875.DTL



Of course, the Republican idea of "prevention" is "Abstinence-Only" which is really just part of their plan to help SPREAD AIDS:

See:

Broken Promises & Betrayals
Africa Action Talking Points on President Bush's AIDS Policies
September 2003

<snip>

* President Bush named a pharmaceutical executive, Randall Tobias, as the Coordinator of the new AIDS initiative that was announced earlier this year. Tobias has no experience in public health or international affairs - he represents the pharmaceutical industry, which has sought to deny Africans access to essential drugs. One prominent example of such was the lawsuit brought against Nelson Mandela by several major pharmaceutical companies in the 1990s, which sought to prevent the South African government gaining access to essential anti-AIDS treatment for its people. This suit was only withdrawn in 2001 under international pressure.

<snip>

* In June 2001, the Administrator of USAID, Andrew Natsios, said that AIDS treatments would not work in Africa because "Africans don't know what Western time is." He used this racist and ignorant logic to oppose the provision of essential treatments to people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa. Africa Action wrote to Secretary of State Colin Powell (Natsios' boss) to demand a retraction, and to call for Natsios' dismissal. But the Bush Administration issued no retraction or apology.

* The Bush Administration continues to stall on providing low-cost AIDS treatments to African countries, claiming that inadequate infrastructure means that funding for treatment must wait. But treatment programs throughout Africa need money now. The solution to weak infrastructure is urgent investments to improve capacity. These delays in extending treatment access are costing thousands of African lives every day.

* The Bush Administration supports conservative measures that undermine a comprehensive response to the AIDS crisis in Africa. These include emphasizing abstinence-only measures, prioritizing prevention over treatment, and opposing the use of condoms. This emphasis on fundamentalist ideology over science and public health represents a dangerous step backward in the fight against AIDS.

More:
http://www.africaaction.org/action/brokenprom0309.htm



Also:

In fact and fiction, US officials play games with AIDS in Africa
by Gumisai Mutume

Washington, 17 Jun 2001 (IPS) - With words reminiscent of a television show, the top US aid official has provoked calls for his resignation, gales of scientific derision, and complaints of serious problems in the Bush administration’s attitude toward the millions of Africans living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Andrew Natsios, newly installed administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), used a recent news interview and subsequent testimony before Congress to explain his position that the US government need not spend millions of dollars on anti-retroviral drugs for Africa. In the process, he delivered a shocker.

“Many people in Africa have never seen a clock or a watch their entire lives. And if you say, ‘One o’clock in the afternoon’, they do not know what you are talking about,” Natsios said. “They know morning, they know noon, they know evening, they know the darkness at night.”

At least three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) - Africa Action, Religious Action Network and Health GAP Coalition - have called for Natsios to resign.

More:
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/games.htm