President Bush pledged on Saturday to help Africa in its "courageous fight" against AIDS and called on the U.S. Congress to fully fund his $15 billion plan to combat the disease. Posted on 07/12/2003 10:56:40 AM PDT by Uncle Bill
Bush Calls for Full $15 Billion for AIDS in Africa
Reuters
By Patricia Wilson
July 12, 2003 10:08 AM ET
President Bush pledged on Saturday to help Africa in its "courageous fight" against AIDS and called on the U.S. Congress to fully fund his $15 billion plan to combat the disease.
At the last stop on his five-day, five-nation African tour, Bush also said Washington would stand with its friends and allies to end regional wars. He and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo were expected to discuss the possibility of the United States contributing troops to a mainly African peacekeeping force for Liberia at their meeting on Saturday.
Bush says he will join efforts to enforce a fragile cease-fire to end Liberia's civil war, but is waiting on reports from U.S. military experts in the West African state before deciding whether to send troops.
"Progress in Africa depends on peace and stability, so America is standing with friends and allies to help end regional wars," he said in his weekly radio address.
But Bush focused mainly on AIDS, a disease he said posed "one of the gravest dangers" Africa has ever faced.
He said the need for help was urgent, with almost 30 million people in Africa living with HIV/AIDS including three million children under the age of 15.
"People in Africa are waging a courageous fight against this disease," Bush said. He cited progress in Uganda, which he visited on Friday, saying the country had significantly reduced the rate of infection through a program of abstinence, faithfulness and education.
"Yet current efforts to oppose the disease are simply not equal to the need. ... Africa has the will to fight AIDS but it needs the resources as well."
CONGRESS UNDER PRESSURE
Bush's pledge came after Republicans in the House of Representatives moved bills backing his request for $2 billion next year to fight the global pandemic -- $1 billion less than the amount provided for in a plan he signed in May.
The $2 billion is in line with the White House request for the first year, but White House officials have said Bush would seek greater amounts in subsequent years.
"I urge the entire Congress to fully fund my request for the emergency plan for AIDS relief, so that America can help turn the tide against AIDS in Africa," he said.
In May, Bush signed into law a $15 billion plan to help combat the disease in Africa and the Caribbean, tripling U.S. spending over five years.
The new law, a surprise priority in the president's State of the Union address, means anti-viral treatment will be available to about 2 million HIV-infected people in Africa and the Caribbean who cannot afford the costly cocktail of drugs that can prolong and improve their lives.
It also provides hospice care for the dying, helps some of the 13 million children who have lost one or both parents and intensifies prevention programs through strategies like sexual abstinence, education and promotion of condom use.
The White House said the plan had the potential to prevent 7 million new HIV infections within a decade.
The AIDS initiative focuses principally on Botswana, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, as well as Guyana and Haiti in the Caribbean.
President George W. Bush - Biography
SOURCE: http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html
"George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. Formerly the 46th Governor of the State of Texas, President Bush has earned a reputation as a compassionate conservative who shapes policy based on the principles of limited government,..."
I gave an example of our misguided attempts on another thread, but I'll briefly describe it:
There were several hundred tons of grain stored in an outdoor soccer field in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania which had been donated by the US to feed the poor.
When soccer season came around the local government decided they needed to clean off the soccer field.
A British entrepreneur turn-keyed the clean-up for the grain.
He cleaned off the grain on top that was sprouting, hauled it into some warehouses and later sold it back to the Tanzanian government who then sold it to the people because, after all, they had bought it so they could no longer give it away.
This is how they confuse the trail so that free grain winds up a big profit item for the local bureaucrats.
I can only imagine the manipulation which will go into effect once that 15 billion dollars is accessible.
In the meantime, the bureaucrats plead for money so they can escape Africa and go live in the UK or the US.
They couldn't care less about their fellow Africans!
Bush took a stand against veterans when he threatened veto of the Defenze Approrpiations and Authorization bills if congeess remedied that shameful action...and now, when congress can easily fund this (the money is already in the Military Retirement Fund or MTF) they refuse to bring a bill to the floor for a vote (HR 303)!
Tell congress Africa's AIDs problem can damn well take a back seat to addressing our veterans! This is a national disgrace!
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