US declines Swedish aid - for nowThe United States has declined water sanitation aid from Sweden in the wake of the deadly Hurricane Katrina, saying it was currently unable to accept foreign aid packages, the Swedish Rescue Services Agency said on Sunday.
Sweden had offered to send medical and technical aid to the hurricane-ravaged southern United States, and had been planning to send a military cargo plane filled with water sanitation equipment as well as five water sanitation experts on Sunday morning.
Early Sunday however, Swedish authorities received word that the US logistically could not immediately accept the aid.
"The planned... flight to the US with aid equipment from the Rescue Services Agency will not take place on Sunday," the agency said in a statement.
http://www.thelocal.se/2018/20050904/Most Katrina Aid From Overseas Went UnclaimedBy John Solomon and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, April 29, 2007; A01
As the winds and water of Hurricane Katrina were receding, presidential confidante Karen Hughes sent a cable from her State Department office to U.S. ambassadors worldwide.
Titled "Echo-Chamber Message" -- a public relations term for talking points designed to be repeated again and again -- the Sept. 7, 2005, directive was unmistakable: Assure the scores of countries that had pledged or donated aid at the height of the disaster that their largesse had provided Americans "practical help and moral support" and "highlight the concrete benefits hurricane victims are receiving."
Many of the U.S. diplomats who received the message, however, were beginning to witness a more embarrassing reality. They knew the U.S. government was turning down many allies' offers of manpower, supplies and expertise worth untold millions of dollars. Eventually the United States also would fail to collect most of the unprecedented outpouring of international cash assistance for Katrina's victims.
Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. 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 Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/28/AR2007042801113_pf.htmlU.S. declines some foreign offers of hurricane aidThe United States has accepted help from about 40 countries for the victims of Hurricane Katrina - fewer than half of those that offered - including high-speed water pumps, food, cruise ships and more than $400 million in cash, U.S. officials said yesterday.
Although no offer has been rejected officially, proposals from Cuba and other countries to send doctors or nurses have not been accepted because there is enough U.S. medical personnel to deal with the crisis for now, the State Department said...
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-135895814.html