Opinion Editorials, February 2011

Foreign Aid:

The Sly Hand that Feeds Tyrants, Like Mubarak 

By Charles E Carlson

Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, February 15, 2011

 
The standoff in the streets of Cairo, Egypt has stimulated press coverage of issues rarely revealed to us.  For the first time, Americans - even those who view Fox News - have learned undisputed facts like these:
 
(1)  The Mubarak Regime was a dictatorship backed by both the US and Israel
 
(2)  US military aid has kept him in power for 30 years.
 
(3)  Mubarak's chief of security Omar Suleiman (who became Egypt's Vice President for few days) tortured prisoners for the US before "water-boarding" became a "legal" practice at Guantanamo.
 
(4)  The Egyptians’ revolt was triggered by high food prices in a region where poverty is endemic.
 
(5)  The Arab people there are displaying bravery in the face of possible overwhelming force.
 
Americans, especially Christ followers, should be asking why it is the ongoing policy of the world's great democracy, bridging five presidents from both parties, to use our American dollars to support some of the world's most brutal dictators.  Professing Christians should recognize and be disturbed about their own tacit support for those who ignore the God-given right to life.
 
The 2011 Statistical Abstract of the US Census Bureau, Foreign and Military Aid, reveals that the US government supports dictators and revolutionaries with Foreign Aid.  The largest recipient governments, in order of money received, are Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, and Sudan.  All but Israel and Sudan have unelected governments, or mock elected officials.
 
Afghanistan received an amazing $6.0 billion in military aid in the last reported year, 2008, and Iraq received $4.4 billion.  Both countries were conquered and occupied by the US and have held elections run by the occupier, resulting in US puppet presidents.
 
Israel received $2.4 billion, which is by far the most per capita, about $500 each.  Egypt received $1.5 billion, about $21 per capita. Neighboring Jordan received $530 million.
 
Egypt is given enough money to maintain armed soldiers at every tourist site and street corners, as you will see if you go there.  Mubarak consistently sided with Israel, even against the Gazan Palestinian Arabs.  He has repeatedly denied or severely restricted passage of aid convoys across its land into Gaza.  "Gaza and the West Bank" are listed as receiving $570 million in non-military aid, but all of this goes to the unelected government, the Palestine Authority and Fat-ah, both of which were rejected by voters in 2008.  Democratically elected Hamas receives no military or humanitarian aid.
 
The census bureau reveals that the US craftily funds revolutions in countries that do not get along with the state of Israel, including Sudan. US support of revolution in Sudan is an especially abusive case of using our money against humanitarian interests.  Sudan's Omar El-Bashir-led government has been under sanction by the US and since 2005, so it could not possible receive military aid.  It is considered an enemy of Israel.  Yet "Sudan" is listed on the census report as receiving $199 million in military aid from the US in 2008...how cans this be?  
 
Those dollars, tanks and guns were in fact delivered to the unelected Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) a rebel operation in Southern Sudan, a faction working to overthrow the elected President, Omar El Bashir...with US military aid.   Every dollar of foreign aid is printed out of thin air, most of it awarded to US military contractors, and paid for by diluting Americans’ savings with higher priced food and fuel.  
 
Sadly, US history of Foreign Military aid tells the story truthfully when our press and politicians only tell us what we want to hear.  We can expect the USA, with Israel in the background, to attempt to broker the status quo in Egypt, denying Egyptians the freedom for which they are struggling for in the interest of Israel.  Our germ of hope is found in the certainty that American complacency is ending in the mushroom cloud of our war-based economic dilemma. 
 

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah & ccun.org.

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