[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by classicman

After only 70 days and letting the oil hit land ... FINALLY


Link
<Rant on>This was handled so poorly, that I'm amazed. What the hell took so long to accept help. Why did this administration wait until so much damage was done. Why are they seemingly hampering every single thing that the local people are trying to do - berms, booms, vacuums, people.... This is unbelievable. Why weren't experts from EVERY industry, nation, business, everything called in the first week. WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF <Rant off>

You're a guy who espouses less government, yet here you are complaining about less government.

As for your facts, Well
from here

"To be clear, the acceptance of international assistance we announced today did not mean to imply that international help was arriving only now," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. "In fact, before today, there were 24 foreign vessels operating in the region and nine countries had provided boom, skimmers and other assistance."

He said as early as May 11, boom arrived from Mexico, Norway and Brazil.

From here

Fox's tired falsehood: Obama administration turned down foreign assistance in dealing with oil cleanup
Big Government's Flynn: "The federal government has not accepted" international assistance. While discussing the BP oil leak on Glenn Beck, Flynn said: "The Dutch have offered assistance, the British have offered assistance. There's been a lot of international assistance offered. The federal government has not accepted that assistance because of some antiquated law passed in the '20s and '30s from labor unions, the Jones Act. We have denied the use of international ships."

O'Reilly and Morris both say Obama administration turned down foreign help. On The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News contributor Dick Morris said, "We didn't get foreign ships in, because he still hasn't waived the stupid Jones Act." O'Reilly subsequently asked, "Why is the president rejecting Holland? Why doesn't he rescind the Jones Act? Why?" Morris responded, "Because he never asked the questions to understand how important it was."

North suggests Jones Act is preventing foreign assistance in the Gulf. On Hannity, Fox News' Oliver North said, "The way this administration has mishandled it, and the way that president has gone on television and lied repeatedly about what he is doing and what he's not doing -- I'll give you a perfect example." North went on to discuss the Jones Act and said, "This administration has yet to waive the Jones Act, because you've got hundreds of hundreds of skimmer ships all over the world that aren't working on solving our problem."

FACT: International assistance is part of Gulf spill response
Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center: "15 foreign-flagged vessels are involved" in response to spill. In an interview on the June 15 edition of Fox & Friends, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs stated that "foreign entities are operating within the Gulf that help us respond" to the oil spill. Further, in a June 15 press release, the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center stated, "Currently, 15 foreign-flagged vessels are involved in the largest response to an oil spill in U.S. history." The center further explained, "No Jones Act waivers have been granted because none of these vessels have required such a waiver to conduct their operations in the Gulf of Mexico."