Earthquake victims, writhing in pain and grasping at life, watched doctors and nurses walk away from a field hospital Friday night after a Belgian medical team evacuated the area, saying it was concerned about security.So obviously they all got ordered out. Say what you want about Belgians, Canadian military doesn't abandon wounded civilians without orders. Pretty hefty orders too. Shades of Romeo Dallaire in Rwanda, I swear.The decision left CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta as the only doctor at the hospital to get the patients through the night.
CNN initially reported, based on conversations with some of the doctors, that the United Nations ordered the Belgian First Aid and Support Team to evacuate. However, Belgian Chief Coordinator Geert Gijs, a doctor who was at the hospital with 60 Belgian medical personnel, said it was his decision to pull the team out for the night. Gijs said he requested U.N. security personnel to staff the hospital overnight, but was told that peacekeepers would only be able to evacuate the team.
He said it was a "tough decision" but that he accepted the U.N. offer to evacuate after a Canadian medical team, also at the hospital with Canadian security officers, left the site Friday afternoon. The Belgian team returned Saturday morning.
Two questions occur to me.
- why aren't all these medical personnel ARMED? Like, with GUNS? As in, with real bullets in them?
- what kind of military hospital installation isn't guarded in a riot zone? Are you kidding me?
Quote of the new century goes to Lt. Gen. Russel "You are stuck on stupid!" Honore:
F-in' A, General sir.Retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who led relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina in 2005, said the evacuation of the clinic's medical staff was unforgivable.
"Search and rescue must trump security," Honoré said. "I've never seen anything like this before in my life. They need to man up and get back in there."
Honoré drew parallels between the tragedy in New Orleans, Louisiana, and in Port-au-Prince. But even in the chaos of Katrina, he said, he had never seen medical staff walk away.
"I find this astonishing these doctors left," he said. "People are scared of the poor."
Also, Sanjay Gupta and his CNN camera crew win the Phantom's "Balls Of Steel!" award for today. Way to have a pair, Dr. Gupta and team! Non-government guy steps up where government issue WUSSES fear to tread.
The "run away, run awaaaaay!" Phantom
2 comments:
I really like your comments on SDA about Gert Wilder's. Right on the dime. You wrote it well, unlike my ramblings.Good Job.
Waaaay back at #1, ET asks: "How can the state, and it is the state that makes the laws, define truth as illegal?"
How is the wrong question, but I'll answer it anyway: because they can! They have disarmed the populace (gun control, state supported pacifism, "hate" speech laws) and as a result they have the ability, the physical power, to do any g*d d*mn thing they want.
A better question is why. Why take the astonishingly stupid step of making the plain and obvious truth illegal?
Because Geert Wilders' party is WINNING, obviously.
The current socialist order in Holland is becoming ever more unpopular every single day. Nobody likes the EU, nobody likes the messy immigrants f-ing up the downtown of every Dutch city (neatness is a Dutch obsession, let us all remember), most particularly nobody likes the obscene levels of taxation and regulation they toil under.
Its the same as the Liberals here. People are quietly getting fed up with the BS. Looking for an alternative.
Here's Wilders saying that if you're going to ban Mein Kampf you should ban the Koran too, there being little difference between them. Appealing to the average Dutch guy, and the average dutch guy is voting for him. Because its sensible for a change.
This represents a positive change for Joe Sixpack, but it is a world ending catastrophe for the privileged political class. Their carefully constructed policies are being threatened, their power is draining away because some guy named Geert is pointing and laughing at them.
So, naturally they are attacking him with everything they've got. Including denying him state protection, any weapon of self defense, or even the truth to protect himself in court. Which is clearly insane, clearly tyranny, and also is -exactly- what people like Wilders have been warning us about for 20 years.
Wilders must be laughing his @ss off. What a perfect set-up. He couldn't -buy- a more perfect election campaign with all the money in the world.
Here endeth the rant du jour.
Thanks Rev. Nice to be of service. :)
As to that particular post, I thought most people were missing the point. I'm suspicious of Wilders myself, he's certainly playing "don't throw me in the briar patch" with the stupid Lefties as hard as he can.
OTOH, whatever form of goof Wilders may be, he's nothing compared to the goofs running the place now.
I must say that many of your SDA comments are extremely to the point. You should have a Blogger blog to rave on. Its free. :)
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