Bush plans overhaul of US foreign aid system

[sabra]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10427037/

Bush plans overhaul of US foreign aid system

President George W. Bush's administration is drawing up plans to carry out the biggest overhaul of the US foreign aid apparatus in more than 40 years in an attempt to assert more political control over international assistance, according to officials and aid experts.

The proposed reorganisation could lead to a takeover by the State Department of the independent US Agency for International Development. USAID was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, managing aid programmes, disaster relief and post-war reconstruction totalling billions of dollars each year.

Critics in the aid community fear the reorganisation will lead to a politicisation of foreign assistance, where aid will become subordinated to the Bush administration's drive to promote democracy.

Supporters of the proposed reforms argue that USAID must be brought more in line with policy goals focused on post-conflict reconstruction and democratisation rather than pure development aid where they allege funds are squandered and the agency is driven more by efforts aimed at self-perpetuation.

[Darranar]

1. "Democracy" meaning "subordination to neoliberalism."

Nice to know what sort of kind, generous people we have in charge.

[Newsjock]

2. Like a giant game of whack-a-mole

You never know where the 1000-head hydra of the Bush crime family is going to rear its ugly head next.

Beyond being shocked.

[pinto]

3. Here's a glimpse of the real agenda of the Bush adminstration...

Every federal department is being politicized to the max. While there may be some kernel of truth in efficiency claims, that nugget is being used to place political ideologues or campaign cronies in administrative positions...regardless of experience or expertise...as in the Mr. Brown/FEMA debacle....or gut 'n restructure federal agencies solely along ideological lines, as in this instance.

[Lindacooks]

4. So he's going to destroy that too, huh?

Remember, everything the chimp boy king touches is destroyed.

[0007]

10. Harriet Miers, with that raccoon look, sez it cool, and gave

it a big okay along with Brownie baby, that sez, that's a heck of a plan Georgie.'

[Kazak]

5. Ugh!

Someone, make it stop! :puke:

[deadparrot]

6. More examples of small-government conservatism come to light.

:eyes:

[Connie_Corleone]

7. 3 more years of this crap. Damn. nt

[SoCalDem]

8. Amazing.. the least respected president ever..is busily dismantling

everything he can get his hands on..

Reminds me of a guy who squats in someone's apartment, and starts knocking walls down and selling all the plumbing & appliances..

[0007]

9. Flash! Flash!! Flash!!! straight from the White House Bulliest Board

to the Famous National Favorite MSNBC.

What a brilliant move by junior, who'd thunk it? This will be good for seven points in his poll numbers. Soon junior will be in middle 80's and he'll have new clichés to throw at us. Not like that, so yesterday one, "You're either with us or against us" but new brassy ones that will curdle your milk.

[Demeter]

11. Bush Foreign Aid=Selling countries to Highest Bidder

Ask Haitian born, Texas-based Millionaire Simeus how much it cost for him to get Bush to evict Aristede from Haiti with the help of Dominican mercenaries, so that he could be "elected" president?

Ask Karzai how he managed to get into power in Afghanistan (I think Afghanistan is lucky to have him, but I'm sure he had to pay a pretty large chunk of change for the right to be a good leader in his native land--probably partly why opium production is back in full swing). Of course, it could be that Karzai is a crook, but we may never know, with the kind of 4th Estate we have today--the bought and paid for press.

Ask Chalabi what promises he's made to Bush so he can have his own little dictatorship, in oil-rich Iraq. Then ask Saddam Hussein if Chalabi should trust any promises that come out of the mouth of a Bush.

It's enough to make one sick.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. Tell the world to look at New Orleans after Katrina, because that....

...will be typical of our foreign aid to other countries if this gets approved.

[Spinzonner]

13. Presumably the effort will be headed by Paul Bremer

because he did such a fantastic job in Iraq

[justasoldier]

15. Kind of hard to make lemonade from camel excrement

Having been in Iraq under Bremer, I actually think he did a good job considering the circumstances. You couldn't pay me to take on that kind of challenge.

[eppur_se_muova]

14. "Overhaul" = cripple, dismantle as always in **speak. eom