8/29/2024
Not only did the pier fail to meet its goal, but three service members were injured — one critically — during operations there.
More money going down the rat hole- they have no idea what they are doing.
Never mind the trillions they have printed/spent/inflation screaming – saying – STOP!
Biden had disastrous $230M Gaza aid pier built despite warnings: watchdog (msn.com)
ttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/biden-had-disastrous-230m-gaza-aid-pier-built-despite-warnings-watchdog/ar-AA1pB6Km?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=df32292d30bf413c90b706ca40ce81b3&ei=16
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US completes humanitarian pier off Gaza, opening way for transport of hundreds of pounds of aid ‘in the coming days’
WASHINGTON — President Biden charged ahead with a $230 million pier to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza despite the urgings of multiple federal aid workers, according to an internal report on the project, which delivered less than a third of the intended assistance to the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave.
Biden, 81, announced the pier plan with great fanfare during his March 7 State of the Union address to Congress, with the White House projecting it would help convey enough provisions to feed an estimated 1.5 million Palestinians over a three-month period.
But thanks to “rough weather and high seas,” the pier only operated for 20 days, delivering enough food and medical aid for just 450,000 Palestinians before it was decommissioned on July 17, according to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report issued Tuesday.
Not only did the pier fail to meet its goal, but three service members were injured — one critically — during operations there.
via REUTERSPier pressure
With far-left Democrats calling for Biden to stop supporting Israel’s war efforts against Hamas, the president pitched the pier as a way to placate concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day,” Biden told lawmakers.
Behind the scenes, however, “multiple” USAID staff members were expressing “concerns that the focus on using [the pier] would detract from the agency’s advocacy for opening land crossings, which were seen as more efficient and proven methods of transporting aid into Gaza,” the watchdog found.
“However, once the president issued the directive, the Agency’s focus was to use [the pier] as effectively as possible,” it added.
President Biden and his son Hunter Biden depart Old Mission Santa Ines Catholic Church after attending Mass in Solvang, Calif., on Aug. 24. REUTERS
In addition, almost no implementation planning had taken place before Biden’s announcement, according to the report, forcing State and Defense Department officials to quickly work to
In fact, it took USAID another 20 days after Biden’s announcement before it could submit its formal request to the Pentagon for official assistance.
“In the week following the State of the Union address, DoD and USAID held several meetings on the initial operational planning to use [the pier], according to multiple USAID staff,” the report said. “On March 27, USAID formally requested that DoD ‘facilitate maritime delivery of humanitarian supplies and associated logistics support’ from Cyprus to Gaza to support its humanitarian response operations.”
While the Defense Department had put such systems in place before, it had never done so in the “non-permissive environment” of an active combat zone, according to the report.
Not even the United Nations’ World Food Program was on board with Biden’s plan, according to the IG’s office.
“Before its launch, WFP highlighted in its USAID award documentation that lack of community buy-in among Palestinians for the maritime corridor could result in significant safety and security risks and compromise its operations,” the report found. “Further, the WFP documentation stated that its participation … ‘potentially entailed significant risk exposure for WFP.’”
US soldiers stand near trucks arriving loaded with humanitarian aid at the US-built floating pier before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip on June 25, 2024. APPier review
The IG’s office, which launched the review citing the “critical need for humanitarian assistance in Gaza, the US government’s investment in the [pier] system and USAID’s commitment of more than $350 million in humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank,” ultimately concluded that the operation “fell short” of what was promised by the president.
However, the report did not blame Biden for pushing forward with the pier, instead blaming “issues related to operating in a conflict environment [that] were compounded by weather, security, and humanitarian access challenges that affected how much assistance could enter the region through the maritime corridor and safely reach partner distribution centers in Gaza.”
The damaged floating pier after it was suspended due to adverse weather conditions and rising sea levels in Gaza on May 27, 2024. Anadolu via Getty Images
The WFP’s warnings turned out to be valid, with humanitarian staff “citing multiple instances of looting after aid was collected from the beach and transported into Gaza, attacks on WFP warehouses, and drivers being detained or shot,” according to the report.
“Moreover, concerns about the perceived militarization of the pier and Palestinian community views about the neutrality of humanitarian operations further limited the distribution of aid.”
On top of security concerns, the environment made consistent operation nearly impossible.
“Rough seas and high winds began earlier than anticipated,” the report noted, while “[o]vercrowded roads and limited safe, passable land routes also created significant challenges to moving aid from [the pier] to UN warehouses for distribution, including several instances where aid trucks were looted.”
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby speaks to reporters about the pier during the daily news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on May 17, 2024. Getty Images
Meanwhile, USAID warned, roughly 1.9 million displaced Palestinians still face “unsanitary, overcrowded conditions alongside acute shortages of food, water, medical care, and other essential supplies and services,” according to the report.
“According to a global authority on food security, about 96[%] of the population of Gaza faces severe good insecurity and is at a high risk of famine.”
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The problem is the terrorists, Hamas, who started this don’t care about their people. They continue to use them as human shields when necessary.
Why is it the countries surrounding the Hamas area won’t allow any of these people into those countries?
kommonsentsjane
kommonsentsjane 