White House Fascists Stung By Stingy Word

There’s Colin Powell again, standing before the world, defending the indefensible. This morning, The New York Times reported that Powell “displayed irritation” after the UN’s emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland suggested the West had been stingy in aiding poor countries. Powell immediately went on the stump to refute Egeland’s allegation. He started with ABC's "Good Morning America“ where he claimed, “the US has been the most generous of aid donors in recent years.” That’s bullshit, Colin. Farhad Manjoo reported in Salon.com yesterday that, ”The United States contributes about a tenth of one percent of its income in aid to poor countries--an abysmal rate that falls below that of all industrialized nations, and is dwarfed by the giving rate of Canada (0.26 percent), Germany (0.28 percent), the United Kingdom (0.34 percent), and France (0.42 percent).” In addition, Manjoo said, “the Bush administration has quietly reduced its commitments to global anti-poverty programs, cutting its contributions to groups like Save the Children and Catholic Relief Services by as much as $100 million.” In other words, we can pony up $87 billion to invade Iraq for no good reason but the USA gives the lowest percentage of its Gross National Product of any industrialized nation in the world to poor countries. The US trumpets that we give the highest dollar amount. That may be true. But that is because we give emergency funds during disasters, while cutting back on permanent aid to poor countries. Our giving increased in 2001 only because we dispersed $600 million to Pakistan for economic support after 9/11. And the US will give aid only when we are shamed into it, like increasing aid to the recent tsunami victims after Egeland said we were stingy. We give aid during disasters if it gets headlines. But when the US reaches into its deep pockets to throw pennies to the hungry, it invariably is the wrong kind of aid. We airlift rice and wheat and dump it in starving countries where we know it will be stolen by bandits and warlords. Or worse, it will lie in heaps to rot in the rain or shrivel in the sun because the poor have no way to get to it. However, the airlifts have gotten what the US wanted...headlines...the richest nation in the world gives compassionate aid to the poorest countries. Baloney! The facts are, the US is pisspoor at giving real aid where it counts. We could change the world if we spent our aid money on teaching poor and starving countries how to increase their crops and that drinking contaminated water will kill them, or that women don’t have to have a baby a year during all of their adult lives. And we could send top-of-the-line medical supplies instead of allowing drug companies to contribute outdated, untested or unneeded drugs to the needy of the world. The US is not just stingy. The US’s neglect of poor and starving countries is arrogant, venal, corrupt and mean--which is a perfect description of the Bush fascist empire.