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August 15, 2006

May I Offer Another Theory Why

...THIS might be true?

Charities fail to attract cash as 'human crisis overlooked'
CHARITIES are facing difficulties paying for humanitarian relief work in Lebanon because the public has shunned their appeals.

... Mark Astarita, the director of fundraising at the British Red Cross, told The Times that the complex political issues surrounding the Middle East conflict were deterring even the most generous. “It has proved very tough indeed to raise money from the general public and, although we are usually successful with corporate donors, this has proved a very difficult appeal for them to respond to,” he said.


I would submit it's difficult to raise the money for two reasons. One is the less-than-a-week-old foiled KoolAid bombing plot and the British Muslim community's very public but less than condemnatory reaction to it...
ON FRIDAY last week I agreed to add my name to a letter to the Government from Oxfam, other non-governmental organisations and individuals to express, in the wake of the Middle East crisis, our commitment to the fundamental humanitarian principle that all innocent lives should be valued equally.

As has been made apparent to me over the past few days, the letter was open to several interpretations. It has never been my contention that the Government ought to change foreign policy because of terrorist threats within our borders. We must never be held to ransom by those who would deliberately shed innocent blood in the name of their cause. I firmly believe that justice, righteousness and national interest should be our policy compass. So when ministers such as Kim Howells and Douglas Alexander argue that “no government worth its salt would allow any policy to be dictated by threats of terror”, we are at one.


The second would be the fact that people, despite their earnest wishes and generous giving, are sick of their hard earned, well intentioned dollars going to the bad guys.
Money sent to Pakistan for earthquake relief may have ended up in the hands of the alleged airplane bomb plot ringleader, Rashid Rauf, thanks to a charity set up by his father and uncle.

Documents examined by ABC News show that Rauf's father, Abdul Rauf, and his uncle, Mohammed Mumtaz, established the London-based Crescent Relief in 2000. The charity, currently run by Mumtaz, has since sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to Pakistan for humanitarian purposes.

Officials say they believe Rauf, who has lived in Pakistan for the last few years, helped distribute the charity money and may have diverted some of the funds for his alleged terror plot.


It's like buying the stick used to poke your eye out and you can only do that so many times before you smarten up. Or run out of eyes.


Posted by tree hugging sister at August 15, 2006 08:34 AM