Cuban doctors listen to a speech by Cuban President Fidel Castro in Havana, Sept. 4, 2005, as he extends his offer to send 1,100 Cuban doctors with two backpacks of medicine each to help people affected by Hurricane Katrina in the southern US. Pres. Castro earlier said in a radio and television address that some 100 doctors would arrive in Houston, Texas by September 9, and 1,000 would arrive by the 10th and 11th. During his speech Castro said that US authorities had yet to inform the Cuban government of their decision yet. Photo: Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images

Over 20 months later, more reports are coming forth that the United States government officials were turning down numerous offers of aid from foreign allies, while images of death, suffering and destruction went throughout the world..

According to news reports, allies offered $854 million in cash, and in oil that was to be sold for cash, but only $40 million has been used. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups, such as the Red Cross, which has been under fire post-Katrina for its apathy towards helping the hurricane survivors. Also on the list of rejected items were supplies and services such as cell phone systems, medicine and cruise ships which were halted, refused or wasted.

U.S. taxpayers have carried the weight of the government’s poor recovery efforts to the tune of $125 billion in taxes post-Katrina. Since 2005, news reports have circulated that the government had rejected aid from several foreign nations. Administration officials acknowledged in February 2006 that they were ill prepared to coordinate and distribute foreign aid and that only about half the $126 million received had been put to use.

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) obtained several Hurricane Katrina relief-related documents, under the Freedom of Information Act, which they shared with the Washington Post and displayed on their website to break the news. The file consists of over 10,000 pages of cables, telegraphs and e-mails from U.S. diplomats around the world and gives an in-depth look into the problems and mishandling of greatly needed foreign assistance.

There are 77 recorded offers made from three of America’s strongest allies: Britain, Canada and Israel. However, 54 of those offers were declined, according to The Washington Post.

In one e-mail dated September 7, 2005, one U.S. Official wrote: “Bottom line—U.S. cannot accept help of foreign medical professionals or foreign drugs for liability reasons. Only assistance of that type we are prepared to accept is forensics to deal with identification of human.”

The acceptance and decline of foreign aid was based upon a decision-making process between the U.S. Department of State (DOS), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the United States Agency for International Development’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA).

In describing the bureaucratic process of accepting foreign aid, one official emailed on September 9, 2005: “For your information, the way the process is working is that State submits to USAID/OFDA the offers of international assistance. OFDA then submits them to FEMA. Everyone is left waiting until FEMA makes a decision. Once FEMA makes a decision, they notify OFDA, which tells State, and the logistics process for the flights begins. Throughout the last week, as you have seen, it often takes quite some time for FEMA to make a decision about accepting aid. State’s role in the issue is really to act as a liaison between the foreign govt’s and OFDA and FEMA.”

In another e-mail by a U.S. official dated September 16, 2005, it was stated “It is getting downright embarrassing here not to have a response to the Estonians on flood relief…everyone at FEMA is swamped, but at this point even a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ is better than deafening silence.”

More than 150 countries and foreign groups pledged $454 million, however, only $126 million from 40 donors was actually received. Of that $126 million, $60 million was supposed to be allocated for the rebuilding of schools, colleges and universities, but that has yet to fully occur. To date, only Dillard University in Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College have been able to benefit from the funding. The largest donations were from the United Arab Emirates, $100 million; China and Bahrain, $5 million each; South Korea, $3.8 million; and Taiwan, $2 million. Kuwait pledged $100 million in cash and $400 million in oil, but their offer was rerouted to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund and the American Red Cross in February 2006.

In a Hurricane Katrina International Relief report on CREW’s website, the following was obtained from the Department of State:

• Bangladesh offered $1 million in aid and a disaster management team. The monetary aid was accepted, but the disaster management team was ultimately turned down on September 14, 2005.

• Pakistan offered doctors and paramedics, $1 million to the American Red Cross, tents, sheets and pillows. The monetary aid was accepted, but the material aid was ultimately turned down on September 14, 2005.

• Honduras offered experts on flooding, sanitation and rescue personnel. This aid was turned down on October 6, 2005.

• Peru offered to send doctors, food, blankets, bandages and clothing. The bandages were accepted on September 5, 2005, but delivery was delayed pending an assessment of needs. Although the bandages were delivered, on November 9, 2005, Peru was informed that the other aid was not needed.

• The Netherlands offered a frigate carrying emergency assistance and a levee inspection team. The aid was accepted on September 6, 2005, and arrived on September 12, 2005.

• Denmark offered blankets, shelters and first aid kits. The aid was delivered to Little Rock Air Force Base on September 9, 2005. Other aid, including water purification equipment, was turned down on September 10, 2005.

• Israel offered medical equipment, tents, baby formula and electric generators. A relief flight containing some of this aid arrived in the United States on September 10, 2005. The electric generators were turned down on September 12, 2005.

• Sweden offered telecommunications aid from Ericsson and a relief flight. While Sweden was ready to fly the materials over to the United States by September 4, 2005, miscommunication delayed the go-ahead on the flight until September 7, 2005. The equipment and transport were formally accepted on September 9, 2005, and the equipment was delivered September 13, 2005.

Senators urge FEMA to move faster on reforms

In a Senate hearing on May 22, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., called on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FEMA to boost hurricane preparedness efforts and move quickly to implement recently passed emergency response reforms.

“Americans need to hear we are making progress, because Hurricane Katrina didn’t just devastate New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. It also dealt a body blow to our national sense of safety as well,” Senator Lieberman said. “FEMA must be more forward-leaning, efficient and proactive.”

“While FEMA’s effective response to the recent tornadoes in the Midwest and to the April nor’easter in Maine is encouraging, and while they were certainly devastating to the many communities that were struck, obviously neither disaster approached the scope of Hurricane Katrina,” said Senator Collins. “To this day, residents of the Gulf Coast still point to a cumbersome bureaucracy that hinders the delivery of aid and reconstruction assistance.”

In another hearing on May 24, the Senate committee examined the goals, costs, management and impediments facing Louisiana’s Road Home Program by questioning Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding Donald Powell. The committee also produced a 740-page report titled “Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared,” which is the most comprehensive investigation of preparations for and responses to Hurricane Katrina.