via Bantay Spratly.
US pullout from typhoon relief a poserOk. Whats going on?
US Air Force 535th Airlift Squadron crew aid a handicapped typhoon victim into a tightly packed C-17 aircraft for an evacuation at the airport in Tacloban City on Nov. 18, 2013. An Inquirer source privy to the US efforts in the storm-battered Eastern Visayas said Wednesday, Dec. 4, it was “too good of a coincidence” that the Americans ended its work in the Eastern Visayas, and eventually folded up the Joint Task Force (JTF) 505 a week after the arrival of China’s modern hospital ship Peace Ark. AP
MANILA, Philippines—Did China’s arrival trigger the United States pullout from its Supertyphoon “Yolanda” relief support efforts in the Eastern Visayas?
An Inquirer source privy to the US efforts in the storm-battered region said Wednesday it was “too good of a coincidence” that the Americans ended its work in the Eastern Visayas, and eventually folded up the Joint Task Force (JTF) 505 a week after the arrival of China’s modern hospital ship Peace Ark.
“The US spent more effort coming in and has not yet maximized utilization of their efforts when they decided to pull out,” observed the source, who requested anonymity.
The source, who took part in the coordination of the foreign militaries’ efforts in the Eastern Visayas, said that a US Landing Craft Air Cushion and Landing Craft Utility with military trucks were supposed to distribute relief goods in Eastern Samar but eventually, “they never got off the ships.”
The source also said that on board an LHT was a US Marine battalion that was supposedly going to be deployed to Basey and Macabot in Western Samar with a Philippine Marine battalion counterpart.
“But the US Marines never made it ashore,” the source said because the JTF 505 had been deactivated.
The source also said that China’s Peace Ark had been treating a number of patients.
But because of its sheer size, the hospital ship could not dock in Tacloban City’s port, which resulted in a “double handling” of the patients, which means they would have to be flown to the hospital by helicopter.
The source described the arrival of the US in the Eastern Visayas days after the powerful storm as “a game changer” as the government was clearly overwhelmed by the massive destruction brought by Yolanda.
The US was about to begin its relief operations in the towns of Guiuan, Hernani and Borongan in Eastern Samar when the JTF 505 was “disestablished,” the source said.
A statement from the US Embassy on Tuesday did not give a clear explanation on why the JTF 505 had folded up.
You put a MEU aboard ship, have them sail all the way to the Philippines and then you call off the mission before they even set foot ashore?
Additionally, you can bet that further relief efforts are needed. That Typhoon was a monster and the Philippine people still need help. The Brits are still there as are the Japanese, other countries and now China.
This is a mystery to me. I hope the mainstream media investigates further.
It's all politics, Sol.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest mistake the Philippine Government did was to ALLOW the Chinese to come in. US Navy were about to send Mercy but the Chinese beat them first.
The US Government is telling the Philippine Government this: So you want the Chinese to help? Tell you what, we leave. Let the Chinese send in what they've got.
Like I said in my previous posts, US Government went in to tell the Philippine Government that "we've got you covered. Now sign the friggin' bases agreement OR ELSE!".
if thats the case then that's messed up. i hate politics getting in the way of helping people in need. i'm going to be keeping an eye on this...and the Chinese effort. thank God that the Japanese, UK and others are still working though.
DeleteThe stupid things in this fiasco is that the Philippine Government is trying to get the US and China to "play off". The Philippine Government is trying to extract more concessions from the US by using China. How can the Philippines play poker with the US when the US already knows what the other player's hand is?
DeleteThis is like a few years ago when Philippine Air Force (PAF) were trying to get some replacement to their non-existing F5A. They got the Russians to put a proposal for Su-25 (payment in form of CHICKENS). US proposed the Hornet. The objective of this exercise was to get the US to "donate" a few more aircraft. But the US knows better and didn't even try.
Who won? Marchetti S211. What happened? Well a lot of the planes crashed (they found SUGAR in the tanks in a few units that crashed) that there's not a lot left flying around.
As they say in the Philippines: Do not elect (film) actors as politicians because politicians are already good actors.