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September 9, 2005
The Bramble Bush
by Kevin Morford

Better Dead than Red

     The unnecessary deaths of the people who survived the hurricane, but died waiting for water, food and medical attention, once again illustrate how the Bush administration has placed ideological dogma above the public welfare. There were additional sources of assistance that could have been mobilized very quickly, except for the fact that the Bush administration refused to allow it.

     For example, on Tuesday, August 30, the government of Cuba offered to send 1,100 doctors to assist with hurricane relief efforts. According to Cuba, those doctors could have been on the ground in the disaster area the very next day. There is good reason to believe that Cuba could and would have followed through on that offer. Cuba has a very good track record of providing doctors and other assistance in disaster areas. It provided 2,000 medical personnel to help victims in Nicaragua after that nation was devastated by hurricane Mitch in 1998. Over the last four decades, Cuba has loaned more than 52,000 medical workers to needy countries around the world, and has helped to significantly reduce disease and infant mortality in those nations. Cuba has more doctors per capita than the United States does, and has provided free medical educations to students from around the world, including students from the United States. The health care statistics in Cuba rival, and in some cases surpass those from the United States.

     Cuba also has substantial experience with hurricanes. As a Caribbean island nation, it is hit by hurricanes on a regular basis. Last year, officials from the United Nations praised Cuba’s handling of hurricane Ivan, a category 5 storm which destroyed 20,000 houses in Cuba, but which reportedly killed no one, because the government evacuated 1.5 million people from vulnerable low lying areas before the storm struck.

     Yet Cuba now reports that the Bush administration has rejected its offer to send doctors to help with relief efforts. As Americans lay dying from lack of medical attention, the Bush administration thought it was more important to reject Cuba’s offer of immediate medical assistance than it was to save lives in an emergency.

     There are several possible motives that could be at work here. There is the desire to pander to the expatriate Cuban community in Florida. Remember that Jeb Bush is the Governor of Florida. The implication of that motive is that votes for Republicans are more important than the lives of U.S. residents. That motive ties in well with a more
generalized desire to vilify Cuba wherever possible. Again, the implication is that hurting Cuba is more important than saving lives.

     Then there is the strong allergic reaction of the neo-conservatives to any kind of public health care in the U.S. Any rational response to September 11 and the increased risk of terrorism would include expanded capabilities for our public health care system, but Bush and his neo-con buddies have moved us in the opposite direction. The idea that people in the United States could be exposed to competent and compassionate doctors who are produced in abundance under a socialist health care system would probably send Bush into anaphylactic shock. So what if a few hundred or even a few thousand people die waiting for medical treatment? At least they won’t learn that it is possible to have free health care that is provided in a prompt and competent manner.

     None of these motives are mutually exclusive, but my personal favorite is that President Bush just likes to kill people. As governor of Texas, he killed more death row inmates than any other governor in the country. As President, he manufactured reasons to invade Iraq and kill many tens of thousands of Iraqis. Now he has turned away an offer to provide 1,100 doctors for hurricane relief, letting hundreds or even thousands of people die from lack of medical care.

     The media is now reporting that President Bush says he will personally lead an investigation into why the relief effort was not mobilized more quickly. Perhaps when he is done with that, he can join OJ Simpson in the search for the real killer of Nicole Brown.





Kevin Morford is a political activist and an attorney in private practice in the Anchorage area.  He can be reached at kmorford@insurgent49.com.
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The
Bramble Bush
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in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership.