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IN A TROUBLING report, The Washington Post revealed Sunday that U.S. officials turned down millions of dollars in foreign aid that could have helped Hurricane Katrina victims. Many of the offers came from the country’s best allies.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans were hurting and homeless after Katrina struck in August 2005. The aid could have helped many of them — and still would help today.
Only $40 million of the $854 million offered by allies immediately after Katrina was accepted. Meanwhile, U.S. taxpayers have paid more than $125 billion toward Katrina relief and repair, a government-led effort that has been its own disaster.
Many families still lack permanent housing. Private agencies have had to step in to clean up and repair. Recently the Bush administration announced it would extend until March 2009 housing programs for more than 100,000 families. Clearly, the need for help remains.
Yet while Washington officials were thanking foreign governments for their offers of cash, oil, cell-phone systems, medicines and cruise ships to house displaced families, the federal government wasted the opportunities.
Some supplies were accepted but went unused, such as shipments of medicine from Italy that spoiled while awaiting distribution.
An offer from Greece of free cruise ships for housing and hospitals was rejected; U.S. taxpayers later paid $249 million to a cruise line to use its ships.
Among the most galling refusals were to offers of help with search-and-rescue operations that could have gotten New Orleans residents more quickly off roofs and out of harm’s way.
The State Department line in response to these revelations: Katrina was a unique experience and the U.S. government will “draw on the lessons learned.”
Let’s hope these lessons have been taken to heart. But that’s little comfort to those who could have used the international help.
Investigations into the U.S. government’s mistakes with the hurricane should include the refusal to accept that help.