E-Mail This Article to a Friend Apocalypse now Bush follows up his pathetic first response to tsunami relief with more missed opportunities. Plus, unwanted controversy for Israel; China reassesses; and how you can help.

GEORGE W. Bush’s initial response to the Indian Ocean tsunami was pathetic and embarrassing. His first offer of assistance — $15 million — was less than half the cost of his upcoming inauguration party. Fortunately, within a few days the White House had boosted its aid package to $35 million, and then to $350 million. Secretary of State Colin Powell and other administration officials have suggested that even that figure may turn out to be just a down payment on what’s needed in the months and years ahead. Still, Bush’s emphasis on private charity shows that he hasn’t a clue about how to express solidarity with the countries that have been devastated by this tragedy, which so far has claimed an estimated 150,000 lives. Ironically, after Australia’s $764 million, the two countries that have offered more aid than the US are Germany ($674 million) and Japan ($500 million). Obviously those nations learned the lessons of our post–World War II rebuilding effort better than Bush did.

Beyond the sheer dollar figures, Bush is also missing opportunities to improve America’s standing in the world — and thus to offset the ill will engendered by his irresponsible war in Iraq. Despite Powell’s professed hope that we can take advantage of the disaster to buy respect, the personal touch is needed at least as much. Indonesia, the epicenter of the catastrophe, is the largest Muslim country in the world — and it has not gone unnoticed there that the $350 million pledge is dwarfed by the estimated $228 million the United States spends in Iraq every day. University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole, an expert on the Islamic world, wrote last week on his widely read weblog, Informed Comment, "If Bush were a statesman, he would have flown to Jakarta and announced his solidarity with the Muslims of Indonesia." Needless to say, Bush isn’t, and he didn’t.

Indeed, the extent to which the White House has relied on others to bolster the president’s credibility is more than a little disturbing. At first reluctant to disturb his vacation, the president did not publicly speak about the disaster for several days. Then the administration announced that Powell and Florida governor Jeb Bush, the president’s brother, would tour the devastated areas. That was followed by this week’s announcement that the president’s father and Bill Clinton would head up an effort to encourage private donations.

Leaving aside the suspicions of those who wonder whether Jeb Bush’s trip is aimed at burnishing his political credentials for a future presidential run, it’s telling that the administration is relying on current and former officials who are more energetic (most definitely including the 80-year-old George H.W. Bush), more popular, and more credible than the recently re-elected president. This is not the occasion for George W. Bush to delegate his presidency.

BUSH IS PAYING a price for his delayed, barely adequate response. Israel, on the other hand, is getting hammered simply for doing the right thing. According to a report by the Associated Press based on anonymous Israeli-security sources, Sri Lanka — the second-hardest hit country — has gladly accepted medical and humanitarian aid from Israel, but has rejected Israel’s offer of 150 military medics and support workers. The implication was that Sri Lanka, a largely Muslim nation, did not want to be seen publicly as welcoming military personnel from the Jewish state.

Trouble is, the AP story may not be accurate, according to Meir Shlomo, Israel’s consul general to New England. In an interview with the Phoenix this week, Shlomo said that Israeli personnel, upon landing in Sri Lanka, decided that not all of them were needed for the relief efforts in that country. Half were dispatched to Thailand, and the other half remained in Sri Lanka. "It’s simply not true," Shlomo said. "This is not the time to play politics. This is really a humanitarian catastrophe."

But wait — it gets worse. Catholic World News passed along a dispatch from L’Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, reporting that the Vatican had condemned Israel for refusing to send a rescue mission to Sri Lanka. It turns out, though, that the news service had mistranslated the original Italian; it issued a correction reporting that the Vatican had actually criticized the Sri Lankan government for refusing Israeli help. Except, as Shlomo notes, that appears not to be the case either.

According to information provided by the Israeli government, Israel has provided — among other things — 82 tons of medicine, water, food, blankets, tents, and generators to Sri Lanka, as well as some $600,000 worth of assistance to Thailand. At a time like this, such good deeds may be their own reward. But it’s sad that even this mitzvah has resulted in more unwarranted controversy and criticism aimed at the people of Israel.

THE CATASTROPHE has led officials of the world’s most populous nation, China, to rethink their country’s role in the international community. An emerging economic superpower, China is nevertheless in many ways still a poor nation, an aid recipient that is unaccustomed to helping others. But according to an account in Monday’s New York Times, that may be changing.

Within less than a week of the disaster, China had increased its initial aid pledge from just $2.6 million to $63 million. But that lags considerably behind the packages put together by Australia, Germany, Japan, and the United States. According to the Times account, even China’s relatively modest level of assistance is not universally popular at home, with some criticizing the government for helping Indonesia, a country that has historically discriminated against the ethnic Chinese who live there.

If the earthquake forces an inwardly looking giant such as China to reassess its global responsibilities, that’s a small good to come out of this awful tragedy. But the situation is likely to remain desperate in the affected countries for many months. Rebuilding will take years. More than anything, we all need to understand that this is not going away anytime soon — and that the outpouring of aid and donations thus far, though heartening, must be only the beginning, lest an entire region slide into chaos and despair.

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