MEDICINE CON QUESO:

Mercy's Mission Polishes U.S. Image, Ship's Crew Says (Bruce Wallace, March 16, 2005, LA Times)

The Mercy is about to return to its home port of San Diego, leaving Indonesia several days ahead of Jakarta's March 26 deadline for all foreign troops to go.

The crew leaves behind some healthier people, as well as a minority of critics who argue that the Mercy's presence was more about political profit than responding to a disaster that demanded swift, on-the-ground first aid. Some front-line agencies scoff that the ship's technology was underused because the Mercy was late to arrive and the Navy leery of coming ashore.

"The emergency was over by the time they got here," says Dr. Sabine Roquefort of Doctors Without Borders, an organization that rejects working alongside any armed force.

But for the vast majority of humanitarian workers here, the Mercy's presence has been a blessing, says Claudia Hudspeth, UNICEF's senior global emergency coordinator.

"UNICEF has absolutely no issues working with the U.S. military as long as it separates its humanitarian and military capabilities," says Hudspeth, who is working in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital at the center of the Indonesian relief effort. "They didn't come in here telling us what they were going to do. They said, 'What do you need?' and they listened. The collaboration has been excellent."

So this Dr. Roquefort would rather people die than she sully her hands by working with the military?

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 16, 2005 8:45 AM