Free Republic

MALACAÑANG was caught by surprise about reports that the United States had reduced its military aid to the Philippines from $25 million to $15 million. “We have no information about the issue. As far as we are concerned, the US government has planned some assistance program for us, particularly for the rehabilitation of conflict-affected areas in Mindanao,” the President’s spokesman and press secretary, Ignacio Bunye, said. Former senator Francisco Tatad, head of the international affairs committee of the Christian Nationalist Union, said the $25-million military aid promised by US President George W. Bush to Mrs. Arroyo for the engineering unit...

Okay, it's late at work and I'm bored... Given the impending massive Kerry loss this November, perhaps it's time to give his supporters some new flavors to celebrate with...have at it, kids... "Drink the Kool-Aid" v. To become a firm believer in something; to accept an argument or philosophy wholeheartedly or blindly. "Very s'Kerry Berry" "Cambodian Christmas Cherry" "Loser Lemonade" "Viet Vet Raspberry"

MÉDECINS sans Frontières [Doctors Without Borders]yesterday launched a stinging verbal attack on US forces in Afghanistan as it announced it was pulling out of the country after 24 years because of the deteriorating security situation. The aid group, which prides itself on tackling the toughest of humanitarian emergencies, said the US military was using aid work as part of a "heart and minds" campaign to garner support from Afghans sceptical of their intentions. Speaking on a day in which two people were killed by a blast in a mosque where Afghans were registering to vote yesterday, the MSF secretary general,...

NACO - A hot, dry wind moaned along the dirt border road, flapping the gray tent of the desert camp as Rafael Tenorio cautiously approached. Tenorio, an illegal border crosser from Mexico City, caught the attention of the aid workers and slipped back through the barbed-wire fence that marks the U.S.-Mexican border. He waited there as Scott Kerr, of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, approached. Tenorio's eyes scanned the dusty road for the Border Patrol truck that randomly drives by. "How many are you?" Kerr asked. "Fifteen," Tenorio said. "We need help." Kerr talked with him for a few minutes, then...

Champion for the unborn Posted: June 14, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com It was 1967. California state Sen. Tony Beilenson, a Democrat, along with legislators like Howard Berman and Henry Waxman, were pushing a bill to legalize abortion of unborn babies. The bill was promoted as a very restricted measure and Ronald Reagan signed it into law. Years later, Reagan lamented his role in legalizing abortion in California and became a solid champion promoting the culture of life. It was during Reagan's watch that the Republican Party drafted the party platform affirming the right to life. When Reagan...

Bin Laden 'received UN cash' Charities worldwide responded to the Sudan's famine A BBC investigation has revealed that the United Nations funded the work of a charity believed by the United States to be a front organisation for Osama Bin Laden. The UN donated more than $1.4m to a consortium of charities working in the Sudan in 1997, one of which was the Muwafaq (Arabic: blessed relief) Foundation. The US Treasury believes wealthy businessman Yasin al-Qadi set up the charity. In a crackdown following the 11 September plane attacks on the US, Mr al-Qadi's assets were among those frozen by ...

This is only a report of some good things going on for comment and discussion. Few of us mouth the words these days without a mix of irony and disillusionment. But a former Tucsonan now stationed in Iraq is still firmly committed to winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqis - especially the children. In country only since early March, 1st Lt. Alex Diefenbach, 25, has set up a Web site and plan aimed at getting supplies to Iraqi schoolchildren. Dubbed Operation I CAN, the project began as a way for soldiers and their families to help the schoolchildren...

<p>WASHINGTON - Jordanian terror master Abu Musab Zarqawi has eluded a massive U.S. military campaign to bring him to justice with help of extensive network of Middle East connections, including rogue elements of the Syrian and Iranian governments, The Post has learned. U.S. military and intelligence officials said last night that Zarqawi, the man who decapitated American contractor Nick Berg and had the horrifying act videotaped earlier this week, has managed to dodge several secret operations by the CIA and U.S. Special Forces over the past year.</p>

Hamza seeks legal aid for citizenship fight By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor (Filed: 22/04/2004) Abu Hamza, the extremist Muslim cleric, has applied for legal aid to contest an attempt by the Home Office to strip him of British citizenship. The Government had originally rejected his request for public funds to fight the case, which begins next Monday. But a review committee has now told the Legal Services Commission to "re-evaluate" that decision. Hamza, who was removed from his position as imam of the Finsbury Park mosque in north London after an investigation by the Charity Commission, is the first...

UN officials 'covered up Saddam theft of billions in aid for Iraqis' By David Rennie in Washington (Filed: 22/04/2004) Saddam Hussein diverted huge sums from the £60 billion United Nations oil-for-food programme for the poor and sick of pre-war Iraq to foreign governments and vocal supporters of his regime worldwide, the US Congress heard yesterday. Senior UN, French and Russian officials were alleged to have connived at the scandal, said Claude Hankes-Drielsma, who is leading the Iraqi Governing Council inquiry into the affair. Named: Benon Sevan He said some suppliers, mostly Russian, routinely sent out-of-date or unfit food, or sent...

"U.N. Oil corruption" Jacques Chirac, Kofi Annan, United Nations political cartoon.  April 20, 2004 U.N. financed terrorby Roger Wm. Hughes The United Nations has long been an irrelevant debating society that has wasted funds in ways that would have made Tammany Hall bosses green with envy. Now, the U.N. is clearly involved in corruption on a grand world scale, amounting to over $10 billion in kickbacks and corruption. Money that helped Saddam Hussein continue his reign of terror. Money that helped allow Hussein to do things like lower his own people into shredders -- feet first. It was also...

FBI files stolen from the home of Vietnam war historian Gerald Nicosia detail at least one secret 1970 meeting in Paris between future Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and representatives of the communist government of North Vietnam during the height of the Vietnam War. In an interview last week with California's Marin County Independent Journal, Nicosia said the FBI files contained information on Kerry's May 1970 trip to Paris, where he spoke to Hanoi negotiators who were beginning peace talks with the Nixon administration. Kerry revealed his secret meeting with then-enemy negotiators during a little noticed question and answer session...

BELGRADE, March 24, 2004 (RIA Novosti correspondent). Serbia is expressing gratitude to the Russian people and the Russian authorities for their support for the Serb population of Kosovo, which has suffered "the bloodiest ethnic cleansing," Chairman of the Serbian Co-ordination Committee for Kosovo Nebojsa Covic said at Belgrade aerodrome where two Russian aircraft arrived today with humanitarian aid. Mr. Covic told reporters that a plan of the Russian aid distribution among Serbs all across Kosovo had been worked out. Labour and Employment Minister Slobodan Lalovic stressed that Russia had become the first country to deliver humanitarian aid to Serbs. According...

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) -- Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday that Russia plans to set up two tent camps for refugees in Serbia-Montenegro and a temporary hospital to help in the aftermath of the violence last week in Kosovo. Shoigu said after talks in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia-Montenegro, that the camps, each able to hold 1,000 people, will be equipped with food and a first-aid center. Shoigu said he was sent to the Balkans by President Vladimir Putin to see "what can be done to help those trying to survive." The hospital, to be run by the Emergency...

The alleged participation of two Indians in the Madrid bombings brings to mind the difference in the way each nation attends to its foreign policy. Look at how China's long-standing foreign policy of equal treatment for poor, small and rich, big nations is finally bearing fruit. You can hardly find one third world nation that feels a notch inferior to the Chinese in national status. They have learnt over the years that China and her people are their trusted nation and friends. China is the safest and least controversial nation on earth today because she had been fair and helpful...

<p>WASHINGTON -- In the ashes of Howard Dean's failed presidential campaign lies a valuable and coveted asset: a list of 700,000 people willing to work, organize and give money for a political cause.</p> <p>The Democratic Party wants the list of Dean's supporters. John Kerry's presidential campaign would like to benefit from it. And several interest groups allied with Democrats would love to harness the list for their own causes.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- President Bush Friday authorized the State Department to use up to $20 million to aid Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.</p> <p>The money will come from the U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund through the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, department spokesman Richard Boucher said.</p>

Quake survivors protest at lack of aid By Robin Gedye (Filed: 26/02/2004) Survivors of an earthquake that killed nearly 600 people in Morocco protested yesterday at the lack of aid. The demonstrators blocked the main road out of the largest affected town, the port of Al Hoceima. "We spent the night under the rain, in the cold," said Ahmed Mnabhi, 26. "We want this to end. We want building materials, bricks, cement and iron to rebuild our homes." Demonstrators on the streets of Al Hoceima Mohamed Benhaddou said grocery shops were closed for fear of looting. "On TV they said...

The British economist Peter Bauer once described foreign aid as "taxing poor people in rich countries and passing it on to rich people in poor countries." The unambiguous failure of foreign aid over the past fifty years proves that Bauer was correct. Instead of stimulating economic growth, foreign aid has bred poverty and corruption. This is especially true of Africa, the world's poorest region. Regrettably, Bauer's message did not reach Brussels, where European bureaucrats seem to be more immune from rational arguments than ever before. That is why the EU demands that even the poorest among the new EU members...

ISLAMABAD, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The United States has approved $395 million in aid to Pakistan, almost half of which will be used to write off debt to Washington, a government minister said on Tuesday. Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said under the agreement, Pakistan would repay $200 million to the United States, which would save it about $400 million-$500 million in interest payments over the period of the loan. The rest of the money would mainly be used to improve health and education in Pakistan, he told a news conference. Pakistan has total foreign debt and liabilities $35 billion of...