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Tuesday, April 14, 2009
How Would You Spend It?
End the War. Build the Peace.This request for U.S. spending in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan has a 20:1 ratio of military to nonmilitary expenditures. $75.5 billion would go to support military operations, while only 3.7 billion would go to nonmilitary assistance.
In Afghanistan, the U.S. spends twenty times more on military operations than on development. The U.S. military currently spends $35 billion a year in the country, nearly $100 million a day: yet USAID spending for 2008 was only $1.6 billion, some $4.4 million a day. A RAND Corporation report says that there is only a 7 % chance of military success in Afghanistan.
Military solutions aren't working. Instead we should be funding refugee assistance, Iraqi-and Afghan-led development, and diplomacy.
Citations:
USAID Country Profile: Afghanistan: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADN479.pdf
Caught in the Conflict, A briefing paper by eleven NGOs operating in Afghanistan, April 2009: http://www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/Afghanistan_CaughtInTheConflict.pdf
RAND Corporation report: How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering Al Qaeda. RAND, 2008: http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9351/index1.html
Supplemental Funding Breakdown: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/budget_amendments/supplemental_04_09_09.pdf
American Friends Service Committee www.afsc.org
Labels: Afghanistan, AFSC, Iraq War
posted by Carol at 10:50 AM
9 Comments:
I'm not sure we have anything to offer that they want or need. Maybe it's time to call it a day and bring everybody home.
Indigo Incarnates
I think we really need to get the budget, economy, and borders fixed before we fund any more wars. I hope Obama is being thruthful when he says we'll be out of Iraq in 13 months or so.
Agreed, Thomas.
Indigo,
Even if we "get out" in a few months, we will still have 35,000 to 50,000 troops there that can become combat troops in no time. I'm not impressed with any plans to get out.
I think status quo politicians try to make getting out of these wars harder than it needs to be. We went in, we can come out. Yes, it is that simple.
I'm mostly a small government guy, but I would so much rather have money invested in education, health care, infrastructure, science and especially NASA. I saw a nighttime space shuttle launch last month, and it was really great to feel pride in what my country was doing ~ for a change.
Godwhacker,
I'm afraid that this administration is too status quo, and it will be to our detriment.
Watching that launch must have been amazing!
I have never been any good with money. If I were president I would propose a budget in which all of it was given to people in accordance with their need.
Oh, Nick. There are many people out there who would call you the "C" word! ;-)
The "C" word? Which one, "Communist" or "Christ-like?"
[:-)
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