The Japan Times Online

The Japan Times Online: "U.S. TSUNAMI AID
'Stingy' barbs don't stand up to scrutiny

By RICHARD HALLORAN
Special to The Japan Times

HONOLULU -- After the tsunami ravaged the shores of a dozen nations bordering the Indian Ocean, Americans were accused of being 'stingy' in their response -- an allegation that does not stand up in the glare of hard fact.
During a visit to the stricken region, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell noted that a majority of the victims were in Islamic nations and hoped the American relief effort would 'give the Muslim world and the rest of the world . . . an opportunity to see American generosity, American values in action.'
The criticism started with a senior U.N. official, Jan Egeland, who suggested that the United States and other economically advanced nations had been 'stingy' in their initial relief efforts. That assessment reverberated across Europe and Asia and the U.S. itself."