70 Days After Spill, Obama Finally Accepts International Aid

Jillian Bandes | June 30, 2010 7:59 AM

He's only taking it from 12 of the 30 countries that have offered it, without giving a reason why. And he's still "working out the details," as in, the aid isn't actually being given right now, but might at some future date. This announcement just opens the door to that actually happening.

To be fair, some other foreign vessels have been operating in the Gulf since the spill began — but their participation was spotty, and mostly for show. Let's be clear what we're talking about here. Oil has affected nearly 80,000 square miles of fishing area nearly 1/3 of the total Gulf of Mexico — and inflicted lesser contamination onto even more mileage. We need every boom, skimmer ship and oil technician on the planet working around the clock, without our federal bureaucracy delaying their help even an instant.