American troops will be assigned to assist with African Ebola outbreak?
Sep 16, 2014 07:47:43 #
Ebola is a dangerous disease. We've all seen pictures of medical prsonnel wearing hazmat suits while around Ebola patients.
Now, Obama has committed to sending 3,000 American military personnel to African countries ... to do what? Are they going to carry guns? Are they going to wear hazmat suits? Are they going to wear masks? Are they going to get vaccinated? Are they going to get extra pay for hazardous duty?
I know the reports are that the troops will build hospitals and provide logistic support. But, where will it all lead?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2757360/US-send-3-000-troops-Ebola-danger-zone-Obama-administration-shuffles-military-s-mission-Africa.html
What if some of our troops contract Ebola? How will they be treated?
A whole lot of unanswered questions. The possibility of a whole big "can of worms" being opened?
Now, Obama has committed to sending 3,000 American military personnel to African countries ... to do what? Are they going to carry guns? Are they going to wear hazmat suits? Are they going to wear masks? Are they going to get vaccinated? Are they going to get extra pay for hazardous duty?
I know the reports are that the troops will build hospitals and provide logistic support. But, where will it all lead?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2757360/US-send-3-000-troops-Ebola-danger-zone-Obama-administration-shuffles-military-s-mission-Africa.html
What if some of our troops contract Ebola? How will they be treated?
A whole lot of unanswered questions. The possibility of a whole big "can of worms" being opened?
Sep 16, 2014 08:11:54 #
SpeedyWilson wrote:
Ebola is a dangerous disease. We've all seen pictu... (show quote)
The troops will most assuredly bring Ebola back with them. Treatment has been successful on a couple of cases here in the U.S. but what is the plan if things get out of hand? Officials claim that the chance of an Ebola outbreak here is "a very low probability" and supposedly we are bolstering our defenses. Definitely a can of worms being opened.
Sep 16, 2014 08:23:14 #
Sep 16, 2014 08:29:29 #
Part of an agenda to create as many issues as possible in this country to help justify the imposition of marshal law. Change you can be scared of. :-)
SpeedyWilson wrote:
Ebola is a dangerous disease. We've all seen pictu... (show quote)
Sep 16, 2014 10:09:49 #
We can do nothing and end up with a 1918 Spanish Flu like pandemic which killed between 50-100 million people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic
Or we can build medical facilities & train health workers who will directly treat the sick. We won't be doing that.
September 13, 2014 REUTERS
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration will assign 3,000 U.S. military personnel to West Africa "to combat and contain" what senior administration officials call an "extraordinarily serious epidemic."
This new assistance will supply medical and logistical support to overwhelmed local health care systems and increase the number of beds needed to isolate and treat victims of the Ebola crisis.
President Obama planned to announce the expanded effort Tuesday during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, amid alarm that the outbreak could spread. Officials fear the deadly virus could mutate into a more easily transmitted disease.
The new U.S. muscle comes after appeals from officials in the African region and from aid organizations for a heightened U.S. role in combatting the outbreak, which has been blamed for more than 2,200 deaths so far.
Administration officials said Monday that the new initiatives aim to:
-- Train as many as 500 health care workers each week.
-- Erect 17 heath care facilities in the region each with 100 beds.
-- Set up a joint command headquartered in Monrovia, Liberia, to coordinate between U.S. and international relief efforts.
-- Provide home health care kits to hundreds of thousands of households, including 50,000 that the U.S. Agency for International Development will deliver to Liberia this week.
-- Carry out a home- and community-based campaign to train local populations on how to handle exposed patients.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans ahead of Mr. Obama's announcement, said the cost of the effort would come from $500 million in overseas contingency operations. The Pentagon has asked Congress to redirect funds in order to carry out humanitarian efforts in Iraq and West Africa.
It would take about two weeks to get U.S. forces on the ground, the officials said.
Sen. Chris Coons, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations African Affairs subcommittee, applauded the new U.S. commitment. Coons had previously called for the Obama administration to step up its role in West Africa.
"This humanitarian intervention should serve as a firewall against a global security crisis that has the potential to reach American soil," Coons said.
Hardest hit by the outbreak are Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The virus also has reached Nigeria and Senegal.
Ebola is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of sick patients, making doctors and nurses especially vulnerable to contracting the virus that still has no vaccine or approved treatment.
Mr. Obama's trip to the CDC comes a day after the United States also demanded increased international response to the outbreak. On Monday, The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday. She warned that the potential risk of the virus could "set the countries of West Africa back a generation."
Power said the meeting Thursday would mark a rare occasion when the Security Council, which is responsible for threats to international peace and security, addresses a public health crisis.
In addition to addressing representatives from the affected countries, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was expected to brief the council along with World Health Organization chief Dr. Margaret Chan and Dr. David Nabarro, the recently named U.N. coordinator to tackle the disease.
On Monday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest responded to criticism that the U.S. needed a more forceful response to the outbreak.
Earnest said Mr. Obama has identified the outbreak "as a top national security priority," worried it could contribute to political instability in the region and that, left unchecked, the virus could transform and become more contagious.
He said the administration responded "pretty aggressively" when the outbreak was first reported in March.
"Since that time our assistance has steadily been ramping up," Earnest said.
The Senate was also to weigh in Tuesday with a hearing to examine the U.S. response. An American missionary doctor who survived the disease was among those scheduled to testify.
Four Americans have been or are being treated for Ebola in the U.S. after evacuation from Africa.
The U.S. has spent more than $100 million responding to the outbreak and has offered to operate treatment centers for patients so far.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-sending-3000-military-personnel-to-fight-ebola-in-west-africa/
If we sit back & do nothing, Ebola will be coming to your state, city, neighborhood soon enough.
Or we can build medical facilities & train health workers who will directly treat the sick. We won't be doing that.
September 13, 2014 REUTERS
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration will assign 3,000 U.S. military personnel to West Africa "to combat and contain" what senior administration officials call an "extraordinarily serious epidemic."
This new assistance will supply medical and logistical support to overwhelmed local health care systems and increase the number of beds needed to isolate and treat victims of the Ebola crisis.
President Obama planned to announce the expanded effort Tuesday during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, amid alarm that the outbreak could spread. Officials fear the deadly virus could mutate into a more easily transmitted disease.
The new U.S. muscle comes after appeals from officials in the African region and from aid organizations for a heightened U.S. role in combatting the outbreak, which has been blamed for more than 2,200 deaths so far.
Administration officials said Monday that the new initiatives aim to:
-- Train as many as 500 health care workers each week.
-- Erect 17 heath care facilities in the region each with 100 beds.
-- Set up a joint command headquartered in Monrovia, Liberia, to coordinate between U.S. and international relief efforts.
-- Provide home health care kits to hundreds of thousands of households, including 50,000 that the U.S. Agency for International Development will deliver to Liberia this week.
-- Carry out a home- and community-based campaign to train local populations on how to handle exposed patients.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans ahead of Mr. Obama's announcement, said the cost of the effort would come from $500 million in overseas contingency operations. The Pentagon has asked Congress to redirect funds in order to carry out humanitarian efforts in Iraq and West Africa.
It would take about two weeks to get U.S. forces on the ground, the officials said.
Sen. Chris Coons, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations African Affairs subcommittee, applauded the new U.S. commitment. Coons had previously called for the Obama administration to step up its role in West Africa.
"This humanitarian intervention should serve as a firewall against a global security crisis that has the potential to reach American soil," Coons said.
Hardest hit by the outbreak are Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The virus also has reached Nigeria and Senegal.
Ebola is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of sick patients, making doctors and nurses especially vulnerable to contracting the virus that still has no vaccine or approved treatment.
Mr. Obama's trip to the CDC comes a day after the United States also demanded increased international response to the outbreak. On Monday, The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday. She warned that the potential risk of the virus could "set the countries of West Africa back a generation."
Power said the meeting Thursday would mark a rare occasion when the Security Council, which is responsible for threats to international peace and security, addresses a public health crisis.
In addition to addressing representatives from the affected countries, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was expected to brief the council along with World Health Organization chief Dr. Margaret Chan and Dr. David Nabarro, the recently named U.N. coordinator to tackle the disease.
On Monday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest responded to criticism that the U.S. needed a more forceful response to the outbreak.
Earnest said Mr. Obama has identified the outbreak "as a top national security priority," worried it could contribute to political instability in the region and that, left unchecked, the virus could transform and become more contagious.
He said the administration responded "pretty aggressively" when the outbreak was first reported in March.
"Since that time our assistance has steadily been ramping up," Earnest said.
The Senate was also to weigh in Tuesday with a hearing to examine the U.S. response. An American missionary doctor who survived the disease was among those scheduled to testify.
Four Americans have been or are being treated for Ebola in the U.S. after evacuation from Africa.
The U.S. has spent more than $100 million responding to the outbreak and has offered to operate treatment centers for patients so far.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-sending-3000-military-personnel-to-fight-ebola-in-west-africa/
If we sit back & do nothing, Ebola will be coming to your state, city, neighborhood soon enough.
Sep 16, 2014 10:41:14 #
I agree that America should help with the Ebola problem, but there needs to be a better solution than sending in troops.
The current administration isn't properly handling our own internal affairs. It is violating the trust of our own citizens and taxpayers. How can we trust them to do otherwise in other countries?
The current administration isn't properly handling our own internal affairs. It is violating the trust of our own citizens and taxpayers. How can we trust them to do otherwise in other countries?
Sep 16, 2014 11:28:15 #
We can't.
SpeedyWilson wrote:
I agree that America should help with the Ebola problem, but there needs to be a better solution than sending in troops.
The current administration isn't properly handling our own internal affairs. It is violating the trust of our own citizens and taxpayers. How can we trust them to do otherwise in other countries?
The current administration isn't properly handling our own internal affairs. It is violating the trust of our own citizens and taxpayers. How can we trust them to do otherwise in other countries?
Sep 16, 2014 12:20:13 #
I agree that assistance needs to be given to help combat the African Ebola outbreak however I do not think that sending 3000 American troops is a very wise decision unless voluntary. I think that it opens a door to bringing the disease to our shores. I'm aware that contagion is through bodily fluids and seemingly that cuts down the risk if they are far removed from local populations. However, all it would take is one local worker in their midst in an early yet undiagnosed stage to cause infection. Since we don't have the answers on this disease so overwhelming fatal, we don't need any exposure risks.
Sep 16, 2014 12:49:56 #
So then you're opposed to sending troops to fight ISIL?
A whole lot of unanswered questions. The possibility of a whole big "can of worms" being opened?
A whole lot of unanswered questions. The possibility of a whole big "can of worms" being opened?
SpeedyWilson wrote:
Ebola is a dangerous disease. We've all seen pictu... (show quote)
Sep 16, 2014 12:51:53 #
Elle wrote:
I agree that assistance needs to be given to help ... (show quote)
It is voluntary, there isn't a draft in place. These men and women are in the military because they chose to be.
Sep 16, 2014 16:25:01 #
As an immediate precaution, let's immediately stop all travel to and from the affected countries by anyone who is not a medically trained person with proper safeguards.
Sep 21, 2014 06:57:05 #
dljen wrote:
It is voluntary, there isn't a draft in place. These men and women are in the military because they chose to be.
Of course I know that joining the service is voluntary...I'm referring to the choice of being sent on this particular mission. To me, this is above and beyond the normal risks a military person expects to face...3000 troops on the ground...to do what?
Sep 21, 2014 08:40:40 #
Sounds like they'll be setting up facilities and training medical staff but no direct contact with sick people.
Elle wrote:
Of course I know that joining the service is voluntary...I'm referring to the choice of being sent on this particular mission. To me, this is above and beyond the normal risks a military person expects to face...3000 troops on the ground...to do what?
Sep 21, 2014 09:27:31 #
Alashisan wrote:
Part of an agenda to create as many issues as possible in this country to help justify the imposition of marshal law. Change you can be scared of. :-)
Before the screaming liberals and sheeple on this site flame you for your comment, I would like to say that judging from the past performance of our executive branch you have made a logical conclusion.
What you say makes perfect sense. :thumbup:
Sep 21, 2014 09:29:01 #
SpeedyWilson wrote:
As an immediate precaution, let's immediately stop all travel to and from the affected countries by anyone who is not a medically trained person with proper safeguards.
:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
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