News outlets report on reaction to recently announced U.S. military involvement in the Ebola outbreak response.

Inter Press Service: U.S. Military Joins Ebola Response in West Africa
“The U.S. military over the weekend formally began to support the international response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Advocates of the move, including prominent voices in global health, are lauding the Pentagon’s particularly robust logistical capacities, which nearly all observers say are desperately needed as the epidemic expands at an increasing rate. … Yet already multiple concerns have arisen over the scope of the mission — including whether it is strong enough at the outset as well as whether it could become too broad in future…” (Biron, 9/8).

ScienceInsider: In Liberia, disappointment at U.S. military’s planned Ebola response
“When President Barack Obama spoke about the U.S. military helping combat the Ebola epidemic on NBC News’s ‘Meet the Press’ this past Sunday, Tim Flanigan, an American clinician working in Monrovia, Liberia, says he was ‘ecstatic.’ It was exactly what many of the people leading the Ebola effort in Liberia, the hardest hit country, had been hoping for. But that joy turned to dismay the next day, when Flanigan learned the details of the Pentagon’s plans…” (Cohen, 9/10).

Washington Post: Official: U.S. military’s response to Ebola hampered by lack of expertise with virus
“Despite President Obama’s call for increased involvement of the U.S. military in the fight against the rapidly escalating Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the United States is hamstrung by a lack of military medical personnel with expertise dealing with the deadly virus, a top official in charge of coordinating the U.S. response said Tuesday…” (Sun, 9/9).

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