PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii
(AP) — The U.S. Navy is spending more than $20 million each year sending
ships to poorer nations in the Asian-Pacific region to provide cataract
surgery, dental fillings and other medical care.
The Navy and its
sailors are more often recognized for sending aircraft carriers to help
troops in Afghanistan, fighting pirates off the Somali coast or
intercepting ballistic missiles in missile defense tests off Hawaii. But
the U.S. Pacific Fleet and analysts say the humanitarian missions are
key to promoting U.S. national security, with relatively low costs even
during a time of shrinking budgets.
Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said the missions strengthen relationships with other countries.
"You're
building trust, bonds, and how to communicate," Haney said in an
interview at his Pearl Harbor headquarters. "We give it a fancy term,
interoperability — it's more than just technology. It's cultural. It's
this business of building trust with like-minded nations."
Haney spoke shortly after the hospital ship USNS Mercy and its 1,200-member crew stopped in Pearl Harbor on its way back to San Diego following a five-month long tour of Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The
ship spent two weeks in each country. During its most recent tour,
medical personnel from 13 other countries — from Japan to Malaysia, came
aboard to help out, along with 28 non-governmental organizations from
the United States and other countries.
Capt. William Cogar, the
Mercy's executive officer, said the ship faced particularly high demand
for cataract surgery, even from patients in their 30s and 40s. Many
people in the countries visited don't wear sunglasses, he said.
"Now they can see again," Cogar said.
Animals — including livestock like water buffalo and pigs — also got treated by veterinarians on board.
Abe
Denmark, senior director of the National Bureau of Asian Research, an
independent, non-partisan think tank, said the missions help people
develop a better opinion of the United States.
"The image of
American power going abroad and bringing benefits to people all around
the world who otherwise wouldn't have access to this kind of care — to
this kind technology — it builds the image of American power, of
American soft power, in a way that's almost unquantifiable," Denmark
said.
The U.S. learned the public relations value of such
deployments when the U.S. Pacific Command sent ships and planes to
deliver food, tents, and medical care for victims of the 2004 Indian
Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
U.S. approval ratings in Indonesia,
which is predominantly Muslim, climbed to 38 percent in 2005 from 15
percent two years earlier because of the help, according to a poll by
the Pew Global Attitudes Project.
The Navy started sending
hospital ships and other Navy vessels on annual humanitarian tours
shortly afterward. The program — called Pacific Partnership — is now in
its eighth year.
Unlike several decades ago, the Navy isn't
focused on defeating the Soviet threat. It can make something like
humanitarian aid an important part of its overall strategy. Population
growth and other demographic change in the Asia-Pacific have also
created more demand for humanitarian assistance, he said.
Seth
Cropsey, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said the aid will
likely continue even as budgets tighten. The cost is low, Cropsey said,
compared with the $16 billion a year the Navy spends building ships.
"It's a good deed, and people are grateful for it as well they should be," Cropsey said. "No one loses."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
