By Judi McLeod ——Bio and Archives--September 17, 2014
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“Their work and our efforts across the government is an example of what happens when America leads in confronting some major global challenges. Faced with this outbreak, the world is looking to us, the United States, and it’s a responsibility that we embrace. We’re prepared to take leadership on this to provide the kinds of capabilities that only America has, and to mobilize the world in ways that only America can do. That’s what we’re doing as we speak.” ...“Our Armed Services are better at that than any organization on Earth.”In his closing remarks on the Ebola outbreak, Obama said: “And please know that you’ve got your President and Commander-in-Chief behind you. Thank you.” When has America being “fundamentally transformed” by him ever had its back covered by Obama? Ebola as a cause must be the most powerful one when it took six long years for Obama to say anything positive about America and Americans.
“Atlanta (AFP) - President Barack Obama issued a global call to action to fight West Africa's Ebola epidemic, warning the deadly outbreak was unprecedented and "spiraling out of control," threatening hundreds of thousands of people. “Speaking as he unveiled a major new US initiative which will see 3,000 US military personnel deployed to West Africa to combat the growing health crisis, Obama said the outbreak was spreading "exponentially." "Here's the hard truth. In West Africa, Ebola is now an epidemic of the likes that we have not seen before," Obama said. "It's spiraling out of control. It is getting worse. It's spreading faster and exponentially. Today, thousands of people in West Africa are infected. That number could rapidly grow to tens of thousands. "And if the outbreak is not stopped now, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people infected with profound political and economic and security implications for all of us." “As well as the military deployment, the US will also set up a command and control center in the capital of Liberia, the hardest-hit country, build new treatment centers and train health workers. “Precise timing on deployment was still unclear. "No deployment in the coming days. The troops have to be properly trained and equipped," a Pentagon official said privately. Among the US soldiers sent to West Africa will be doctors and also engineers to set up the field hospitals, the official said. “Meanwhile, the United States moved to fund these plans. Specifically, the Department of Defense plans to ask Wednesday to have reprogrammed "an additional $500 million in Fiscal Year 2014 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to fight Ebola," an administration official said. “This is separate from the funds already put toward the effort, including the $175 million already dedicated, and the $88 million requested through a continuing resolution. “The Ebola epidemic has killed more than 2,400 people in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone this year. “The virus can fell its victims within days, causing severe fever and muscle pain, weakness, vomiting and diarrhea -- in some cases shutting down organs and causing unstoppable bleeding. “No licenced vaccine or treatment exists.This sounds like a plan if you are Obama hiding the real truth of Benghazi and hunting down the world spotlight weeks before midterm elections. But world experts are already deflating the ‘Obola Balloon’: “The mobilization that is happening is coming late, and it's coming while exponential growth of the virus itself is just outstripping everyone,” said J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. (The Hill, Sept. 16, 2014)
“The collapse of security and flight access, the closure of borders, the regression of the economy, the fear of the people — all of those things create this absolutely formidable environment.” “I'm very distressed,” said Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. “I don't think we're even close to playing catch up, much less mount a response that will get us ahead of the virus.”Meanwhile, Ebola is far more frightening and deadly than ISIS decapitation. Just ask Barack Obama.
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