"U.N. OFFICAL BACKTRACKS AFTER CALLING U.S. 'STINGY'"

Old but annoying article. What a bitter dork. Should he be even representing the U.N. after such biased comments that stem from deeper emotions? Huge lack of professionalism, and slanted views that blind him from the facts:

Despite his claim of being "misinterpreted," a review of the transcript of Mr. Egeland's initial press briefing confirms that he asked reporters at the United Nations why Western countries are "so stingy" and specifically cited the United States as an example of a country whose citizens want to pay more taxes so that foreign aid can be increased.

"An unprecedented disaster like this one should lead to unprecedented generosity," Mr. Egeland said in his Monday briefing.

Mr. Egeland complained that the United States gives only 0.14 percent of its gross domestic product to foreign development aid, compared with 0.92 percent given by his native Norway. In this category, Norway ranks first and the United States ranks last on a list of 22 industrialized nations compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

"The foreign assistance of many countries now is 0.1 or 0.2 percent of their gross national income," Mr. Egeland said on Monday. "I think that is stingy really. I don't think that is very generous."

He pointed out that only Scandinavian countries like Norway, Sweden and Denmark, as well as the Netherlands and Luxembourg, give at least 0.7 percent of their gross national income, a level suggested by the United Nations 25 years ago.

Mr. Egeland — a former journalist, deputy foreign minister of Norway and head of that nation's Amnesty International chapter — did not mention that the U.S. government gave $15.8 billion, more than any other nation, to development aid last year, compared to $2 billion by Norway.

The U.S. figure does not include massive infusions of cash to Iraq and Afghanistan. Nor does it include the category of food aid, where the United States is the largest donor in the world, or charitable contributions by private American individuals, churches and other organizations.

MORE from Power Line:

Via Tim Blair, Chuck Simmins has tried to tabulate contributions by American individuals and companies to tsunami relief efforts. His total so far: $169 million.

And that doesn't even count the aircraft carriers.