goodness of our hearts. by helping out the philippines, the united states and others are hoping to gain more influence on china s doorstep in order to keep that country s power in check. joining our panel now is gordon challenge, columnist with forbes.com and author of the coming collapse of china. what do you make of that argument, yes, we re great humanitarians, americans have a great spirit and all of that, but this is in part strategic, this aid to the philippines? it does have a strategic benefit, but i think we would do this regardless of the pivot. remember, december 2004, the great tsunami, more than 250,000 people died and remember, the bush administration was there. now, the bush administration ignored asia. a terrible asia policy, yet humanitarian assistance was extensive. and so i think this is something we re going to do, pivot, no pivot, asia focus, no asia focus. so you think the fact that the philippines are there on china s doorstep is incidental. and yet, countr
being affected. there are seven islands that make up that country. several thousands populated. how long is this going to take? aid workers say it could be many days. experienced veterans of these types of things, the damage of devastation looks the same as the the sort of scenes that were seen after the december 2004 asian tsunami. and that is not a comparison you make lightly. so this devastation, what we re starting to see and what we will see over the coming days is much, much worse than people have feared. that is saying something. this is a country well used to something like this. most killed by flooding from a massive storm surge. this is just the beginning of covering this story. angus, thank you so much dramatic developments
off. roads are blocked. power is down. and there s no phone coverage. experienced aid workers are saying they haven t seen anything like it since the december 2004 asian tsunami. and that s not a comparison you make lightly. a lot of people have managed to get away now. i spoke to survivors. they were rescued by the philippine air force earlier today. and they spoke of many people dead and also of most houses being swept away by a massive storm surge. the death toll has now gone up to over 1,000. it s risen very quickly today as more and more aid teams get in and discover what is a growing tragedy. the u.s. military is standing by ready to give assistance. i spoke to a colonel in the u.s. marines today. he d been up with the air force surveying the worst-affected areas. the government of the philippines has now accepted the u.n. offer of international assistance.
honey maid teddy grahams. two new flavors now made with real fruit. in december, 2004, a tsunami devastates southeast asia. in a moment of worst-case horror, lives and livelihoods are swept away. a tragedy of such magnitude requires a massive relief effort, and the face of the american response must abe statesman of stature. i thank you all for coming.
in december, 2004, a tsunami devastates southeast asia. in a moment of horror lives and livelihoods are swept away, a tragedy of such magnitude requiring a massive relief effort and the face of the american response must be a statesman of stature. i thank you all for coming. president bush appoints two former presidents to the task his father and bill clinton. together, the two men take to it with gusto. they believe it s their moral responsibility not only as former presidents but as representatives of the united states of america we are truly the one global leader and with that comes responsibility to help people in dire need. the two electoral rivals from 1992 strike an unusual