Posted on 01/29/2003 4:45:54 PM PST by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, today welcomed the announcement by United States President George W. Bush of a total of $15 billion in funding to help in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
Referring to Mr. Bush's pledge, made last night in his State of the Union address, the Secretary-General congratulated the US President on his promise to provide stronger US leadership in combating the devastating impact of the global AIDS epidemic.
"An additional $10 billion - making a total of $15 billion over the next five years, with a new emphasis on access to life-saving treatment and care for millions of people - will make a vital impact, not only in saving lives but also in staving off the very real threat to stability that AIDS represents in the worst affected regions," the Secretary-General said in a statement released in New York.
Mr. Annan also expressed appreciation that $1 billion will initially to go to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which he described as a "key instrument for the international community in giving strategic direction to the global struggle against HIV/AIDS."
The Secretary-General stressed that while experiences on every continent have shown it possible to prevent infection and treat and care for those infected, too often the lack of resources has prevented projects from growing into the full-scale national strategies required for success.
"President Bush has confirmed his belief that AIDS can be defeated," Mr. Annan said. "I hope the US Congress will accept the President's challenge and ensure that the needed funding is made available as quickly as possible, in keeping with the urgency of this crisis. And I hope that this example will encourage other governments to follow suit."
Echoing that theme was Stephen Lewis, the Secretary-General Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, who said that Mr. Bush's announcement challenges every other member of the Group of Seven most industrialized nations - the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada - to follow suit before its next summit in June in France.
"Between now and then, every single member must announce its contribution to the struggle against AIDS overall, and to the Global Fund in particular," he said. "The summit itself should initiate the most far-reaching, imaginative plan of action to confront this communicable scourge that the world has ever seen."
Mr. Lewis also warned that imminent war in Iraq could overshadow any efforts to fight the scourge. "And with the best will in the world, wars have a way of distorting, however unintentionally, every intended human priority," he said. "Wars have their own dynamic, in the wake of which hopes can be strangled and dreams can be suffocated.
"We cannot allow HIV/AIDS to become collateral damage."
$15 billion of our tax dollars down the drain.
Next year he'll say that $15 billion isn't enough. The new extortion target will be $30 billion. Then we'll have to subsidize all the fatal illnesses in Africa. In ten years Africa will be on Hillarycare, funded by the US taxpayer.
That's because most of us can see far enough to understand what is really being done here. The entire continent of Africa is in the grip of TWO plagues. The first is AIDS the second is the attempted takeover by Islamic fundamentalists. Weakened by the first the contenent could fall easy prey to the second. W is fighting the war on terrorism, whether some recognize it or not.
The entire federal budget is $2 trillion.
So W is now following Patty Murray's advice, and the FReepers cheer.
BUT it ticks me off that half my pay check goes to the IRS and HAVE TO budget to eat and yet trillions of bucks go like monopoly money all the time every day from every President we had.
Thank you. Somebody else gets it.
I guess people who make six figures and over- a year think this is notbhing.
He is pandering to the left, nothing more. And it will get him nothing.
Africa was going down the tubes to the communist long before the AIDS crisis. And Muslim extremist have been there for decades.
No amount of money will change the outlook of either of these groups.
Nice try. Apparently you didn't watch the speech. He denounced Hillarycare.
Regardless, nobody seems to understand Africa's role in world terrorism. Moslems have determined to make Africa an Islamic continent. The planned takeover is in doubt.
I have a friend who travels to African areas dominated by Islam. He says there is much worry about our pending invasion of Iraq. Their reasoning goes like this: America is a Christian country. If America invades Iraq, it will not only win but will establish a US-friendly government. A US-friendly government will not permit Islamic oppression of other religions. Therefore Iraq will become a Christian country which will cause other Islamic governments to fall. The reasoning is obviously flawed but the panic is interesting which is why I think there may well be some brilliance behind the AIDS assistance in Africa.
The move not only shows compassion to the suffering countries but is likely to increase the popularity of the US and decrease the popularity of Islam.
the only other reason I could think that he was trying this is that we'd make a US organization and send it all over Africa trying to do the job. When that failed (or US workers were killed) the US military would then have a tailor made reason for taking a foothold into Africa. After all, the Chinese have some troops there already in Chad. We'd just be doing the same.
He has no other choice. It is like some huge globalist tyranney like the U.N. had tried to stop us from getting Hitler, throw them some cash and emphasize on it in a speech does he have any other choice, really?
The left look like the bunch of a$$holes they are, more so daily.
Korea is a grave concern of mine, and we are having to beg the U.N. to get So damn Insane when they better shut up or they can deal with Korea as well. We all lose if these things aren't dealt with, so what if some sucking up happens.
He says one thing and does another. The only details he offered were spending increases both here and in Africa. And now the Democrats will have to outspend him to show that they are more compassionate. In the meantime, neither side will declare that AIDs is a preventable disease.
You have got to be kidding me??? What is the difference? So what happens if the "sucking up" still doesn't get him the support? Is he going to say, OK, then we will not give any money to the African AIDS crisis? How do you think that will play out?
How many times do you folks have to get scammed by a con-artist before you quit putting your money on the table?
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