NGO: ‘U.S. Soldiers Should Not Distribute Food’

“NGO” stands for Non-Governmental Organizations. It’s a group associated with the (surprise!) U.N.
It claims to have no affiliation to any government, but in cases in which NGOs are funded totally or partially by governments, the NGO maintains its “non-governmental” status and prohibits government representatives from membership in the organization.  
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organization)

Which means it will take government money and still claim it’s “non-partisan”. How convenient.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Food handouts were shut off Tuesday to thousands of people at a tent city here when the main U.S. aid agency said the Army should not be distributing the packages.
It was not known whether the action reflected a high-level policy decision at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) or confusion in a city where dozens of entities are involved in aid efforts.

“We are not supposed to get rations unless approved by AID,” Maj. Larry Jordan said. 

Jordan said that approval was revoked; water was not included in the USAID decision, so the troops continued to hand out bottles of water. The State Department and USAID did not respond to requests for comment. 

Jordan has been at the airport supervising distribution of individual food packages and bottled water since his arrival last week. Each package provides enough calories to sustain a person for a day. 

The food is flown by helicopter to points throughout the capital and distributed by paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division. At the tent city, set up at a golf course, more than 10,000 people displaced by the Haitian earthquake lay under makeshift tents. Each day, hundreds of people, many young children, line up for a meal. 

Tuesday morning, the helicopters came only with water. Soldiers carried boxes of water in the hot sun and supervised Haitian volunteers who handed the supplies out.
http://www.usatoday.com/NEWS/usaedition/2010-01-20-haitifood20_ST_U.htm?csp=34

 
Via Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit: 

A reader emails that this is common:
The “aid” agencies did the same thing in Afghanistan. Being a logistics specialist, I volunteered to help an American NGO with rebuilding schools, and was on the ground in Kabul in January of ‘02. (I later ended up in charge of UNICEF’s warehouse/distribution operation for all of the new school supplies…leaving me with a complete and total disdain for all things UN-related.) 

For the NGO community, to be seen co-operating with the US military was the kiss of death. NGO co-ordination meetings specifically warned against co-operation with the US military, as opposed to UN agencies. The supposed reason was that they wanted a clear line between the “killers” and those that were “there to help”. They would actually COMPLAIN that the military was out doing things like rehabilitating wells and such, whining that these were things that should be left to the aid agencies. The irony of the fact that we were all sitting in a meeting, DISCUSSING it, while the US military had already been out DOING it, was completely lost on them. 

The “killers” should stay home next time and let the NGO “aid agencies” conduct the food, shelter, and medical logistics. If the NGO assholes think they can do so much better and handle these kinds of international emergencies themselves, then by all means, step up to the plate and do it.
Otherwise, shut the fuck up.