“We’ve got to solve problems. We’re problem-solvers.”–President George W. Bush, speaking from somewhere inside his own intestines.

Elizabeth Williamson writes in today’s Washington Post that among the problems the Bush Administration is solving are ways to prevent offers of foreign aid from reaching people who need it.

Offers of foreign aid worth tens of millions of dollars — including a Swedish water purification system, a German cellular telephone network and two Canadian rescue ships — have been delayed for days awaiting review by backlogged federal agencies, according to European diplomats and information collected by the State Department.

Since Hurricane Katrina, more than 90 countries and international organizations offered to assist in recovery efforts for the flood-stricken region, but nearly all endeavors remained mired yesterday in bureaucratic entanglements, in most cases, at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Just one example cited by Williamson:

Soon after the flooding, the government of Sweden offered a C-130 Hercules transport plane, loaded with water purification equipment, and a cellular network donated by Ericsson.

“As far as I know, it’s still on the ground,” said Claes Thorson, press counselor at the Swedish Embassy in Washington. He said that along with 20 other European Union nations that have pledged aid, “We are ready to send our things. We know they are needed, but what seems to be a problem is getting all these offers into the country.”

So far, Thorson said, the State Department has denied Sweden’s request for flight clearance. “We don’t know exactly why, but we have a suspicion that the system is clogged on the receiving end,” he said. “But we keep a request alive all the time, so we are not forgotten.”

The State Department, of course, is headed by our gal Condi, who has been busily handing our press releases thanking other nations for their help, even though the State Department isn’t enabling the help to get through.

New Skies even arranged transport, securing a C-130 cargo plane from the Israeli air force, to pick up the equipment and technicians from Germany and bring them to Louisiana. “With one call, I got an airplane,” Hemy said. And then, over four days, she and the owner of Unisat, Uri Bar-Zemer, called contacts at FEMA, the American Red Cross, the State Department, even members of Congress, trying to find someone to accept the gift.

Finally the State Department told them that to receive flight clearance, the gift must have a specific recipient. “I was ringing, ringing, ringing — and nothing,” Hemy said. Finally, yesterday, she got a call from the U.S. Air Force’s Joint Task Force Katrina Communication Operations division, thanking the companies for the gift and inquiring about the system’s technical specifications.

Is this brilliant, or what? But this is just the beginning. Click back later today for another installment of Adventures in Problem Solving!

More stuff: The blind seeing-eye dog and other tales.

Cross-posted on The Mahablog.