Not even close.
Surprise, surprise. A massively wealthy NGO--the International Rescue Agency--killed a Thai woman to make a political point.
— Armand Domalewski (@ArmandDoma) February 12, 2025
The story, reported by The Telegraph, tells us that a poor Thai woman was expelled from a hospital after USAID funds dried up and subsequently died due to lack of oxygen.
The story is truly horrific, but the horror was not caused by Bad Orange Man but by the policy choice of an immensely wealthy NGO that was more interested in making a political point than taking care of their patient.
A 71-year-old woman has died after her oxygen supply was cut off when the United States announced a freeze on aid funding.
Pe Kha Lau, a refugee from Myanmar living in a displacement camp in neighbouring Thailand, died four days after she was discharged from a USAID-funded healthcare facility operated by the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
She is thought to be one of the first people to have died as a direct result of Washington’s decision to freeze all funding for aid projects for 90 days.
Her family told Reuters that she had frequently been sent to hospital in the last three years as she was dependent on a supply of oxygen, but was sent home after the IRC received a “stop-work” order in late January.
The organisation operates clinics that cater to roughly 80,000 people in nine refugee camps close to the Myanmar border, but abruptly closed and locked seven out of its nine hospitals to comply with the uncompromising US directive. The agency may be subject to an exemption as it offers lifesaving assistance, but it is not yet clear when a waiver could be issued. [Did they even apply?]
Thai authorities are trying to stem some of the gaps, with most patients in critical conditions referred to Thai hospitals and facilities and equipment to Thai health authorities. Meanwhile local people are “self-mobilising” to offer limited care, but it is already too late for Phe Kha Lau.
It truly was evil. Because the International Rescue Committee has hundreds of millions of dollars in its bank account and assets. It just chose to close down the hospitals--which, by the way, were still eligible for USAID funding under the Executive Order--out of spite.
Did you know that IRC's annual revenue is over $1.3 BILLION?
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) February 13, 2025
A big driver of their revenue? HHS and State Department grants for......assistance/resettlement for "refugees" and entrants to the US
Yep, an illegal immigration NGO! They received $430 million for it from '21-'23' pic.twitter.com/9rB3eA9yzb
“The medical workers left without even taking the equipment and the patients had to return to their homes, including some who had to be carried out,” said Sulaiman Mawlawi, a camp resident. “It was a very tragic moment for us.”
International Rescue Committee really has no excuse for doing this, other than acting in a fit of pique and wanting to propagate a story that Bad Orange Man is killing people. The money is there in their bank accounts. They are eligible for a waiver to keep the funds flowing since the EO specifically exempts food and medical care that reaches people.
Tom Kean, a Myanmar researcher at the Crisis Group thinktank, said that although “life-saving humanitarian assistance” is supposed to be exempt – as well as efforts to tackle diseases such as malaria, newborn deaths and malnutrition – many of these programmes are still waiting for confirmation they can continue.
“Without confirmation, they risk incurring expenses that USAID then refuses to reimburse – a risk they literally can’t afford to take,” he said. “It’s also very unclear at this stage whether the programmes that have definitely been suspended pending review – those that are not providing “life-saving humanitarian assistance” – will be allowed to resume or cancelled.”
They certainly didn't need to chain up the hospital entrances without notice. It's not like they get a check once a day to keep the doors open.
In 2023, IRC reported having $630 MILLION in assets, including $169 million in CASH!!!
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) February 13, 2025
Also $98 million in the stock market.
So why exactly did @RESCUEorg not just buy that old lady some oxygen? Where's the money? pic.twitter.com/eLu6G29UZW
In other words, the organization is abandoning its avowed mission and killing people just to make a point and get news organizations the hooks for stories attacking Trump.
There are literally no circumstances short of bombs being dropped on these hospitals where abandoning them without notice was necessary. Can you think of any? With total revenue of $1.3 billion a year and over $100 million of cash on hand filling any gap before services were cut would have been a cinch. Bill Gates could have written a check out of petty cash to cover the difference, and any government in the world could have spared a few pennies.
But apparently, it is too difficult of IRC to get the waiver the law permits, to draw down from its massive assets, or ask a donor to cover a minor shortfall until the waiver is granted.
This was, undoubtedly, not about funding these hospitals. It is about reopening the spigots on their illegal migrant scam, which we also fund. There are real dollars involved there, and they don't need the pesky excuse of running hospitals.
These people are sick, and shame on The Telegraph for just taking them at their word without looking into the organization's finances.
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