Does anyone remember the earthquake in Bam, Iran?

[quaoar]

It was almost one year ago to the day that the tsunami struck.

Millions in aid were pledged, but a year later much of those pledges have yet to materialize.

This was one of the points being made by the UN official who said Western governments were being stingy: Aid is promised and then doesn't materialize or gets tied up in bureaucracy or whatever.

[donsu]

1. yeah, I remember & it's smirk's MO to promise money

promised money never fed a child

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[quaoar]

3. Oh?

http://msnbc.msn.com/ID/3808904/

BAM, Iran - As survivors of Iran’s earthquake scavenged for clothes and jostled for handouts Tuesday, President Mohammad Khatami thanked the United States for aid but played down talk that Washington’s contribution would thaw frosty relations.

Khatami’s remarks came after Secretary of State Colin Powell said he sees a “new attitude” in Iran that could lead to a restoration of ties between the United States and the Islamic republic that President Bush has called part of an “axis of evil."

“There are things happening, and therefore we should keep open the possibility of dialogue at an appropriate point in the future,” Powell was quoted as saying in Tuesday’s Washington Post.
Iranian leaders have agreed to permit unannounced inspections of the country’s nuclear energy program and made overtures to moderate Arab governments. They also accepted an offer of U.S. humanitarian aid after last week’s devastating magnitude-6.6 earthquake.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

4. Do you have a link for that assertion?

Seems to be baseless from what I've read.

[CatholicEug]

5. Iran refused aid from Israel. n/t

[Maine-i-acs]

6. We offered aid with conditions

One being that Liddy Dole go and make a high-profile chimp-promoting trip to deliver the goods. Iran said, please just send money and help, not your flag-wavers.

We could have had a lot of goodwill there for a cool 20 million. Another opportunity to raise our status internationally - squandered.