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Roundeye · 04-20-2008, 05:02 PM

This touches on most of what the US has done with Africa during President Bush's time in office:

Africa Policy

This next link provides charts that really put things into perspective. The US only spent .17% of it's gross national income on foreign aid in 2006, which is substantially less than the top five contributors. However, the US gave almost twice as much in dollars than the next country.

US and Foreign Aid Assistance - Global Issues

The ammount we spend on foreign aid is not even felt in the US. Seriously, put the IPOD down, and be thankful that at least one child may not die tonight because a very small portion of your tax dollars allowed him/her to eat.

US contributions to Africa provides aid for malaria and HIV patients. THIS is a world problem, not an Africa problem. In some of these countries, HIV is transmitted by rebel soldiers raping multiple women, further spreading this disease. This brings me to the US military part of my post.

AFRICOM, it's not just there for terrorism. The US military lost focus in Africa after 9/11. As an example, prior to that we used to make numerous trips to several countries in Africa, where we would train and equip peace keepers that were sent to various troubled regions. Some of our teams kept going to Africa after 9/11, but because we were on rotations to Afghanistan and later Iraq the JCETs were less frequently conducted. 2000 was the last time I went to Africa, I kept getting sent to Afghanistan after that.

AFRICOM and Special Operations Command Africa will bring mil to mil relations back to Africa, which will allow the JCETs to return in record numbers, which will put better trained soldiers on the ground during PKOs. The US military has also been responsible for many relief operations in the past. With a command directly focused on Africa, military aid will be easier to coordinate and faster to react in a crisis.

Anyhow, I still don't think we do enough. I seriously think we should look into debt relief for a lot of African countries as well. Some of these countries pay more in interest on their debts than what they make from exports.

04-20-2008, 05:02 PM	#29 (permalink)
Roundeye Squire Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Hawaii Posts: 146 Country:	This touches on most of what the US has done with Africa during President Bush's time in office: Africa Policy This next link provides charts that really put things into perspective. The US only spent .17% of it's gross national income on foreign aid in 2006, which is substantially less than the top five contributors. However, the US gave almost twice as much in dollars than the next country. US and Foreign Aid Assistance - Global Issues The ammount we spend on foreign aid is not even felt in the US. Seriously, put the IPOD down, and be thankful that at least one child may not die tonight because a very small portion of your tax dollars allowed him/her to eat. US contributions to Africa provides aid for malaria and HIV patients. THIS is a world problem, not an Africa problem. In some of these countries, HIV is transmitted by rebel soldiers raping multiple women, further spreading this disease. This brings me to the US military part of my post. AFRICOM, it's not just there for terrorism. The US military lost focus in Africa after 9/11. As an example, prior to that we used to make numerous trips to several countries in Africa, where we would train and equip peace keepers that were sent to various troubled regions. Some of our teams kept going to Africa after 9/11, but because we were on rotations to Afghanistan and later Iraq the JCETs were less frequently conducted. 2000 was the last time I went to Africa, I kept getting sent to Afghanistan after that. AFRICOM and Special Operations Command Africa will bring mil to mil relations back to Africa, which will allow the JCETs to return in record numbers, which will put better trained soldiers on the ground during PKOs. The US military has also been responsible for many relief operations in the past. With a command directly focused on Africa, military aid will be easier to coordinate and faster to react in a crisis. Anyhow, I still don't think we do enough. I seriously think we should look into debt relief for a lot of African countries as well. Some of these countries pay more in interest on their debts than what they make from exports.