Muslim Nations Stingy: American & Hollywood Doing More

Steve Yuhas

By now we’ve all seen the picture of a man in Indonesia and his t-shirt standing over a stretcher watching as Americans rescue a person injured in the day after Christmas tsunami. His t-shirt bearing the image of Osama bin-Laden may not have been the intended view of the photographer, but the cliché over a picture speaking louder than words certainly applies in this case.

Despite the fact that bin-Laden has a favorability rating in Indonesia that any United States politicians would envy, the United States is pouring financial, material and military aid into the water logged nation. Meanwhile, wealthy Muslim nations are standing by as Hollywood celebrities donate more to the disaster than they do.

Many on the left and in Europe contend that the Bush administration squandered an opportunity to show the world that we care about Muslims (forget for the sake of argument that we showed we cared when we removed the man who killed more Muslims than anyone in history and freed Afghanistan from the grips of the Taliban). Let’s just focus on our care for Muslims when it comes to Mother Nature.

Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world so it is interesting that the left and Europe believes that a statement by President Bush or a quick return to Washington, D.C. would have shown the people of Indonesia that America cares. Speeches do nothing, but the armada of American military floating into the Indian Ocean speaks as loud as the t-shirt that has captured the world’s attention.

As of this writing there are over 13,000 American military personnel supporting relief efforts in the disaster zone. This includes 14 Navy ships, 46 helicopters to deliver aid and help evacuate survivors and wounded, 16 C-130 cargo planes and a flotilla of United States Marines who can do just about anything. So far the United States military resources have delivered 158 tons of water, almost 70 tons of food and 3 tons of medical supplies – more than any other nation in the world.

Still there are those who say that if we acted sooner (sooner than what I’m not sure) we could have bribed a nation of Muslims who rejoiced when 3,000 Americans were killed into liking us.

While the United States military is leading the charge when it comes to providing relief, Hollywood is stepping up to provide relief of their own.

Sandra Bullock gave $1 million to the Red Cross and Leonardo DiCaprio gave what is being called a “significant” donation to UNICEF to help people in Thailand. NBC will be pre-empting programming for a telethon reminiscent of the one that followed the attacks on September 11th.

As critical as I am about Hollywood it is nice to see some of them using their wealth for something other than “bling bling” or producing yet another awful reality show (too bad they couldn’t pre-empt the next rendition of American Idol and that idiot Brit Simon).

Wealthy Muslim nations that preach to the world about caring for Muslims, though, seem not to be in the giving mood. If people were allowed to celebrate Christmas in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait (without penalty of losing their head) we could blame their anti-giving spirits as a symptom of not yet being visited by the ghost of Christmas past.

Unfortunately, Christmas is forbidden in Muslim nations, but for some reason the wealthiest nations in the region are giving less than Hollywood and nothing close to what the America is doing.

Kuwait, whose government will run a $10 billion budget surplus and whose homes are cleaned and gardens kept tidy by domestics imported from the affected region, has pledged a measly $10 million (less than the Emir paid for a house in Bel Air), Saudi Arabia has also pledged $10 million (the royal family spends that much every month sending Saudi princes to Monaco to escape the 120 degree summer heat in Riyadh every year) the United Arab Emirates $2 million and Bahrain another $2 million round out the region with even smaller donations.

The biggest donor in the Muslim world is Qatar, an ally to the United States that pledged $25 million.

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas wrote last week that the oil-rich nation deserved its reputation for being cheap and that comment sparked debate across the region asking if Muslim nations were doing enough to help Muslims affected by the tsunami.

The clear answer is that if oil rich nations are providing less than the Great Satan (America for those of you who forget our precious nickname in the region) and Hollywood then YES, rich Muslim nations are being stingy.

Curiously, the United Nations has only talked about the stinginess of “western” nations, but conveniently left out the rich neighbors who benefit from the domestic servants of Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The United States was initially called stingy by a United Nations underling and as time passed and the scale of the disaster became more and more apparent so too did the response by the only superpower in the world.

The United States sent the military to do the work of the Red Cross and relief agencies (without the permission of the United Nations I might add) and President Bush asked two former Presidents to lead the effort to get Americans to reach into their pockets to provide more aid to the disaster victims.

Americans are doing what Americans always do – giving to help people who are hurting. What has been lost is that the money we’re giving and the aid our nation is providing is going to people who rejoiced after 3,000 people were killed by Osama bin-Laden and who have been all but forgotten by their Muslim big brothers whose oil money goes to mansions, cars, women and all the things that their people are forbidden to enjoy.

The picture that has been seen across the globe says it all – American troops helping rescue a Muslim person in a nation that mourned the largest loss of life in America by dancing in the streets.

I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if a tape comes out calling on the Saudi people to remove the royal families of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for being stingy. If it does – that would be one tape from bin-Laden even I would applaud Al-Jazeera (not to mention the American media) for playing.

Steve Yuhas is a columnist and radio talk show host on KOGO AM 600 in San Diego. He may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com