Hugh Parmer is the President of the American Refugee Committee, based in Minneapolis. ARC does not currently have any programs in the middle east area, but is in the early stages of setting one up. They're sending someone to Kuwait to do the initial scouting, and are partnering with the Iraqi Refugee Aid Committee (based in London). Hugh says aid organizations are really NOT PREPARED to handle this crisis. He says most organizations are in the early stages, just like they are. He can compare the situation to other refugee disasters (ie, Kosovo), where aid organizations were all set to help when the disaster happened. He says the humanitarian planning has been really uncoordinated this time. The US government hasn't sat down with nonprofit agencies as usual... it seems to be doing planning on its own, and depending on the military to handle the first wave of humanitarian disaster.