Charity fiasco

September 25, 2005 2:30 PM

From the American people to Iraq...six hundred dollars. Sept 9: “IraqPartnership.org demonstrates the proud American tradition of private citizens working in partnership with government,” said USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios. "At the President's direction USAID will work even harder to engage the private sector to help Iraqis create an environment where democracy and economic opportunity can take root and grow." Example: "Help provide Iraqi school children with desks, blackboards, and supplies. Need: $10,000" Sept 18: " A USAID spokesperson says that there is little advertising for this new initiative and expects most potential donors will happen upon the website as the result of a specific search for ways to support Iraqi redevelopment. As of last Friday, iraqpartnership.org has generated contributions of only $39." Sept 25: "USaid's Heather Layman denied it was disappointed with the meagre sum raised after a fortnight. 'Every little helps,' she said."
posted by iviken (37 comments total)

I'd take Bush's request more seriously if he sold his ranch and his friend Cheney donated his Halliburton payoffs to benefit la Causa.
posted by Rothko at 3:05 PM on September 25, 2005

I think this rightly qualifes as "insult to injury."

Go BushCo.! Is there a faith-based component to this enterprise, or was that all used up during the 'hope-someone-gives' phase of the exercise?

(Actually, I'm surprised they only got $39 — usually they have big donors at the Heritage Foundation and such all lined up to make the requisite astroturf donations. I guess they forgot to circulate the memo...)
posted by vhsiv at 3:14 PM on September 25, 2005

So out of the hundreds of billions of dollars you guys sent they couldn't free up 10 grand for desks, chairs and pencils for schoolkids? What IS that money being spent on then?
posted by clevershark at 3:15 PM on September 25, 2005

I imagine some people are thinking: You broke it, you fix it.
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:16 PM on September 25, 2005

"Insta-skinflint, Powerlame, Little Green Mothballs, Captains Sixteenths, QandBigO, Charging RI-NoMoney, My Vast Right Wing Bankruptcy....

I could go on but I'm laughing too hard.

The chickenhawks are as unwilling to put their money where their mouths are as they are to put their necks on the line. Figures." [Newshog]
posted by ericb at 3:20 PM on September 25, 2005

I just wish the conglomerates who instigated this clusterfuck were required to pay for it. It sucks that people can just come in, rape America for all its worth, and then hand off power to someone else when they're done.
posted by delmoi at 3:23 PM on September 25, 2005

People do have to know something exists before they're likely to give it their money. I'm hearing of this "extraordinary appeal" for the first time on Metafilter, so it's really not being advertised.
posted by techgnollogic at 3:29 PM on September 25, 2005

I mean as of right now, Google Blog Search on "iraqpartnership.org" returns 4 results.

Does USAID not have Glenn Reynolds' email address?
posted by techgnollogic at 3:33 PM on September 25, 2005

Ericb: Meanwhile on lgf. "What if they gave a protest and nobody came?" Iraqpartnership.org seems to be the charity appeal where nobody gave.

According to USAID, they didn't advertise this charity, hoping that potential givers would find their website by change. But how? I couldn't find any Google textads on seaches like "Iraq charity", "Iraq redevelopment" etc, and the website iraqpartnership.com is nowhere near the top of unpaid google searches. Maybe they should have asked this guy for advice on getting attention on the internet? He started his "charity appel" Sept. 8, and by Sept. 20 had raised £32,000 to put himself through university.
posted by iviken at 3:42 PM on September 25, 2005

[this is not good]
posted by matteo at 3:54 PM on September 25, 2005

Ericb: Meanwhile on lgf. "What if they gave a protest and nobody came?"

All three cable network news sites carried the same AP story estimating about 100,000 people at the protest. They each put their own headline on the story. No prizes for guessing the difference...

CNN
MSNBC
FOXNews
posted by Armitage Shanks at 4:15 PM on September 25, 2005

The impending overblown controversy over the lack of donations will generate the publicity necessary to attract interested donors without having Bush on a stage somewhere actually making a plea for donations to help Iraq.

Wonder how many people will donate in direct response to the crass opportunistic bush-hating "ha ha $600" fingerpointing set to ensue.

Rove's plan all along. You people are out of your league.
posted by techgnollogic at 4:19 PM on September 25, 2005

Just because this one particular charitable cause hasn't taken off doesn't mean that people aren't donating. There are many other such agencies that have been soliticing aid for Iraq for much longer, and they appear to have been successful in raising money & goods for Iraq and Afghanistan.
posted by davidmsc at 4:31 PM on September 25, 2005

Techgnollogic: How much will _you_ donate to iraqpartnership.org? How many people will you contact to get more money to this charity appeal?
posted by iviken at 4:47 PM on September 25, 2005

Wonder how many people will donate in direct response to the crass opportunistic bush-hating "ha ha $600" fingerpointing set to ensue.

Rove's plan all along. You people are out of your league.

Yes, because the last thing we want is for them to actually get the money. SCHOOL DESKS ARE THE BOOSTER SEATS OF CAPITALISM! THE OLD PHONE BOOKS OF IMPERIALISM! THE, uh, HIGH CHAIRS OF HEGEMONIC OPPRESSION!
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 4:54 PM on September 25, 2005

Anti-war rally in Washington D.C. on Saturday: 100,000 attend.

Pro-war rally in Washington D.C. on Sunday: 400 attend.
posted by ericb at 4:59 PM on September 25, 2005

"In an AP-Ipsos poll this month, only 37 percent approved or leaned toward approval of how Bush has handled the situation in Iraq; strong disapproval outweighed strong approval by 2-1, 46 percent to 22 percent." [Associated Press | September 25, 2005]
posted by ericb at 5:00 PM on September 25, 2005

U.S. Army Smashes Records as Young Republicans Rush to Enlist

/satire
posted by ericb at 5:02 PM on September 25, 2005

ericb writes "Pro-war rally in Washington D.C. on Sunday: 400 attend."

I guess that's what LGF meant when they asked "what if someone had a protest and nobody came"...
posted by clevershark at 5:05 PM on September 25, 2005

"Americans responded quickly to Hurricane Katrina, donating $1.2 billion to relief efforts in the four weeks since the hurricane struck, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, with 70 cents of every dollar going to the Red Cross." [ABC News | September 25, 2005]

"An extraordinary appeal to Americans from the Bush administration for money to help pay for the reconstruction of Iraq has raised only $600..." [The Observer | September 25, 2005]

"A USA Today/CNN Poll last week showed that a majority of Americans give the war effort a low priority compared to domestic needs. Asked for the best way to pay for Hurricane Katrina damage, 54% recommend cutting spending for the Iraq war." [USA Today | September 22, 2005]

Compare and contrast.
posted by ericb at 5:07 PM on September 25, 2005

Anti-war rally in Washington D.C. on Saturday: 100,000 attend.

Pro-war rally in Washington D.C. on Sunday: 400 attend.

NOT Fair! You know the other 96,000 pro-war people were busy volunteering thier time helping the wounded vets at Walter Reed.
posted by tkchrist at 5:14 PM on September 25, 2005

War Supporters Follow Anti-War Rallies

"Military families and others defending the war in Iraq took their turn Sunday to demonstrate on the National Mall, if in much smaller numbers, and counter the massive protest against the war a day earlier.

About 100 people had gathered before a stage set up on the eastern portion of the mall as the noon rally began....organizers were prepared for 20,000 people to attend the pro-military rally."

posted by ericb at 5:16 PM on September 25, 2005

"Last weekend, Karl Rove said that I was a clown and the antiwar movement was 'non-existent.' I wonder if the hundreds of thousands of people who showed up today to protest this war and George's failed policies know that they don't exist. It is also so incredible to me that Karl thinks that he can wish us away by saying we aren't real. Well, Karl and Co., we are real, we do exist and we are not going away..." [Cindy Sheehan | September 25, 2005]
posted by ericb at 5:50 PM on September 25, 2005

Posts like this are why GWB won term 2.
posted by shoos at 6:18 PM on September 25, 2005

And the homos. Don't forget the homos.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 6:26 PM on September 25, 2005

tkchrist - NOT Fair! You know the other 96,000 pro-war people were busy volunteering thier time helping the wounded vets at Walter Reed.

I think you meant 99,600 people.

the pro-war activists wish they could've garnered 4,000 protestors.
posted by pruner at 6:38 PM on September 25, 2005

So, that's 400 votes for Bush, 100,000 votes for Kerry.

Run that through the electronic voting machine and... Yes!

A Bush landslide! My, that Karl Rove is such a genius.
posted by cleardawn at 7:14 PM on September 25, 2005

we don't have to hold a rally because we elected a guy who isn't going to bitch out on us.
posted by techgnollogic at 7:27 PM on September 25, 2005

What if they called an election, and nobody came?
posted by cleardawn at 7:31 PM on September 25, 2005

The reason this failed was in the marketing. Instead of talking about "helping the iraqi people" and showing cute Iraqi schoolkids they need to refer to it as "spreading democracy" and showing american soldiers holding some iraqis at gunpoint. They need to appeal the basic instincts of the type of people their hopeful donors and start selling "kicking ass for the USA."
posted by my sock puppet account at 7:40 PM on September 25, 2005

we don't have to hold a rally because we elected a guy who isn't going to bitch out on us.
posted by techgnollogic at 10:27 PM EST on September 25 [!]

To "bitch out", like, say, Katrina?
posted by Rothko at 8:01 PM on September 25, 2005

I'm happy the weather held out for the anti-war protesters. It looked like it was going to rain up here in Maryland this afternoon.
posted by bardic at 8:05 PM on September 25, 2005

techgnollogic, for some reason your statement reminds me of the frat boy who would never rat out his date-raping brothers. Just sayin'.
posted by bardic at 8:06 PM on September 25, 2005

we don't have to hold a rally because we elected a guy who isn't going to bitch out on us.

That's what the Baathists said too.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 9:06 PM on September 25, 2005

So out of the hundreds of billions of dollars you guys sent they couldn't free up 10 grand for desks, chairs and pencils for schoolkids? What IS that money being spent on then?

To hazard a guess? Weapons and developmental research. Oh, and probably fuel.
posted by deusdiabolus at 10:21 PM on September 25, 2005

I'm hearing of this "extraordinary appeal" for the first time on Metafilter, so it's really not being advertised.
posted by techgnollogic at 3:29 PM PST on September 25 [!]

Funny thing that. I've heard it on NPR and seen it on the BBC site.

Guess you are too busy doing whatever it is you do.

The chickenhawks are as unwilling to put their money where their mouths are

Yup. That is why the citizens have to give at the paycheck, the future paycheck, and THEN are asked to send batteries or 'adopt a sniper' or send body armour.
posted by rough ashlar at 12:32 AM on September 26, 2005

And let's not forget the boffo biz pulled in by the recent Twin Peaks III: America Firewalks With Me (or whateverthefuck it was called). Not counting Rummy, Clint Black, and scads of wo/men in uniform given the time off for photo-op rank-swelling, exactly how many people did show up, one wonders?
posted by rob511 at 5:34 AM on September 26, 2005