-By Warner Todd Huston
Five months late, President Obama is all of a sudden saying that the Ebola virus poses a “growing threat to regional and global security.” This is after over two thousand Africans have died from the virus. Talk about a day late and a dollar short!
Appearing before African leaders at the United Nations in New York on Thursday, the President said, “There’s still a significant gap between where we are and where we need to be.”
“Stopping Ebola is a priority for the United States,” Obama continued. “We will continue to lead and do our part. But this must also be a priority for the world.”
Last week Obama ordered 3,000 troops to Africa to help fight Ebola as experts began warning that up to five million Africans could die from the virus.
Also, on September 16, the administration released a plan to “contain and combat” the threat.
But despite the rhetoric, aide workers in Africa warn that little action has been seen in affected areas and as the death toll exceeds 2,600 victims, some are worried that the fight against Ebola is already lost.
“Pledges of aid and unprecedented U.N. resolutions are very welcome. But they will mean little, unless they are translated into immediate action,” Joanne Liu, president of Doctors Without Borders said in a statement. “Fear and panic have set in, as infection rates double every three weeks. Mounting numbers are dying of other diseases, like malaria, because health systems have collapsed… Today, Ebola is winning.”
Several countries in Africa have completely shut down and now doctors are being murdered by angry, suspicious, ignorant locals who fear that it is the doctors bringing the disease as opposed to doctors helping the victims.
Just last week eight medical workers were murdered in the African nation of Guinea as they went out into the community to help victims of the virus.
The medical crew had arrived at a small village near the city of Nzerekore to help villagers understand the virus and learn how to prevent outbreaks. But the suspicious villagers attacked the group killing all but one, a reporter who was along to document the effort.
The eight members of the team were beaten and hacked with machetes and left in a septic tank. Authorities arrested several members of the village and the place has been abandoned.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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