Posted on 05/10/2004 3:27:01 PM PDT by yonif
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday formally announced the 16 countries, including eight in Africa, that have been chosen to participate in a new foreign aid program that ties U.S. assistance to political, social and economic reforms.
Standing in front of flags from the 16 nations, Bush said that under the new program, known as the Millennium Challenge Account (search), America is pledging to increase development assistance by 50 percent over three years.
"This divide between wealth and poverty, between opportunity and misery, is far more than a challenge to our compassion," Bush said. "Persistent poverty and oppression can spread despair across an entire nation, and they can turn nations of great potential into the recruiting grounds of terrorists."
Bush outlined the program in March 2002. It sought an extra $5 billion annually starting in 2006, a 50 percent increase over the base foreign aid budget of $10 billion. Earlier this year, Congress approved $1 billion for the program for the fiscal year that began last Oct. 1.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
No kidding. What I wonder is there anyone in charge of following this money. I know this is too much to expect, but if nations keep getting aid year after year and those nations still haven't "learned to fish" should we not actually evaluate our aid programs - you know, find out if it is actually going where it should?
This guy Bush and his "limited government" clownfest sure love giving away other people's money, don't they?
Instead of propping up hellholes like Zimbabwe and North Korea, we need to leaflet their peasants with a message something like . . . "You overthrow those corrupt pieces of crap running your country, then we'll sit down and talk about feeding your ass."
IIRC, we still send stuff to ol' Highhair and his murdering cohorts.
Yup.
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