Maybe hiding international news from Americans is part of President Bush’s secret agenda to bolster his decreasing popularity ratings. A massive earthquake has devastated the Kashmir region in Pakistan/India, and no one seems to know or care about it.
The Tribune’s Oct. 10 headlining story regarded residents of Creston and their feelings about an old fire house. On the bottom of the page is a small blurb about the earthquake, which has a death toll of over 40,000 and counting. How can a global catastrophe impacting so many lives not be the top headline?
Though Bush raised his pledge of relief aid from $100,000 to $50 million, that amount is still peanuts compared to the billions we spend on our military located in Pakistan. Kuwait pledged $100 million, shouldn’t we give more? We spent over $4 billion on Hurricane Katrina, and that had only 1,000 casualties.
What Pakistan really needs right now are helicopters and ways of getting relief supplies to the victims, and what did we give? We sent six choppers. The U.S. has hundreds of helicopters sitting around about 100 miles north of Islamabad (capital of Pakistan and severely affected by the earthquake), yet we haven’t sent any of them.
Regardless of whether or not you pay attention to the news, a tragedy as big as this should be heard around the world, and serious help should be delegated immediately. But hey, this is America, and I guess if it doesn’t affect us, then why should we care… right?
Gautam R. Mehta
Biochemistry junior