Spring Break
Charity should begin at home, not overseas
George Maynard
Issue date: 3/23/09 Section: Commentary
Even military aid to Pakistan is unjustifiable, however. According to the new administration's plan, military aid is set to increase by an unspecified multiplier from its current level of $300 million per year. Officials say that the rise in military aid would not exceed $1 billion.
Isn't that wonderful? How brave and noble of America to spend our taxpayers' money to equip and train a new force for freedom and democracy in Asia - that is, provided the Pakistani military doesn't take over Pakistan like it has twice already in the past 60 years. Besides the danger of pumping more guns into countries with unstable governments, there are other reasons why the United States shouldn't be paying to arm Pakistan's military. Our own troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are continually asked to do their jobs with outdated equipment. According to Maj. Gen. Jack Stultz, the Army Reserves are under funded by several billion dollars and lack transport and tactical vehicles necessary for victory in Iraq and Afghanistan. Stories abound of our troops having to scavenge weapons and scrap metal to supply themselves. How can our government afford to spend millions of dollars equipping the soldiers of other countries when our own forces have to weld scrap metal onto their vehicles because there isn't enough armor, or gather ammunition and weapons from fallen Taliban combatants because they don't have enough of their own?
Now, I don't mean to sound callous, as if the lives of Pakistani soldiers are worth less than the lives of American soldiers, but our tax money should be used to protect our own siblings, parents, friends and relatives before it is spent to arm troops who don't answer to our leaders.
America's budget is already running a deficit. Now is not the time to borrow money from China to arm our current allies. Rather, we ought to be taking care of our own and digging ourselves out of the debt that we've sunk into thanks to irresponsible spending by our former president.
Isn't that wonderful? How brave and noble of America to spend our taxpayers' money to equip and train a new force for freedom and democracy in Asia - that is, provided the Pakistani military doesn't take over Pakistan like it has twice already in the past 60 years. Besides the danger of pumping more guns into countries with unstable governments, there are other reasons why the United States shouldn't be paying to arm Pakistan's military. Our own troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are continually asked to do their jobs with outdated equipment. According to Maj. Gen. Jack Stultz, the Army Reserves are under funded by several billion dollars and lack transport and tactical vehicles necessary for victory in Iraq and Afghanistan. Stories abound of our troops having to scavenge weapons and scrap metal to supply themselves. How can our government afford to spend millions of dollars equipping the soldiers of other countries when our own forces have to weld scrap metal onto their vehicles because there isn't enough armor, or gather ammunition and weapons from fallen Taliban combatants because they don't have enough of their own?
Now, I don't mean to sound callous, as if the lives of Pakistani soldiers are worth less than the lives of American soldiers, but our tax money should be used to protect our own siblings, parents, friends and relatives before it is spent to arm troops who don't answer to our leaders.
America's budget is already running a deficit. Now is not the time to borrow money from China to arm our current allies. Rather, we ought to be taking care of our own and digging ourselves out of the debt that we've sunk into thanks to irresponsible spending by our former president.
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Cut Military Aid to Israel
posted 3/23/09 @ 4:03 PM EST
I totally agree with you. Moreover, everyone knows that Israel receives between $2b and $3 billion in military aid every year, which they used last January to bomb a defenseless civilian area killing 400 children and a thousand civilians in cold blood. (Continued…)
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