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Subscribe to RSSStory updated 8:35 a.m. ET:
A senior Pakistani official told NBC News the United States' decision to cut aid to Pakistan would only contribute to the growing sense of anti-Americanism within the population.
He said the cut would deepen the perception within Pakistan that U.S. interests extend so far as its own foreign policy goals and would "strengthen our resolve to formalize and renegotiate our terms of engagement with USA."
Following the NATO crossborder strike on November 26 that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, military and government officials in Pakistan have called for a reassessment of the relationship with the U.S.
The Army Chief issued new rules of engagement for his ground troops and commanders, granting them "full liberty" to respond with force if ever under attack, without any form of higher clearance.
Story published 5:35 a.m. ET:
ISLAMABAD - The United States has frozen $700 million in aid to Pakistan until it gets assurances that Islamabad is helping fight the spread of homemade bombs, a move likely to further strain ties between the countries.
A Congressional panel halted the payment to Pakistan, a nuclear-armed country that is one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid, late on Monday as part of a wider review of defense spending.
Calls are growing in the U.S. to penalize Islamabad for failing to act against militant groups and, at worst, helping them, after the secret U.S. raid on a Pakistan garrison town in which al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed in May.
At least two dozen Pakistani troops along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border were killed by NATO aircraft, straining already tense relations between the U.S. and Pakistan. NBC's Atia Abawi reports.
Homemade bombs, or improvised explosive devices (IEDs), are among militants' most effective weapons against U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan as they struggle to fight a resurgent Taliban insurgency.
Many are made using ammonium nitrate, a common fertilizer smuggled across the border from Pakistan.
The freeze on U.S. aid was agreed as part of a defense bill that is expected to be passed this week.
The U.S. wants "assurances that Pakistan is countering improvised explosive devices in their country that are targeting our coalition forces," Representative Howard McKeon, a House Republican, told reporters.
The U.S. has allocated some $20 billion in security and economic aid to Pakistan since 2001, much of it in the form of reimbursements for assistance in fighting militants.
Although the frozen $700 million is only a small portion of aid to Pakistan, it could presage even greater cuts.
Harm to Pakistan-US relations
Salim Saifullah, chairman of Pakistan's Senate foreign relations committee, warned that relations, which are already at a low point, could worsen further following the decision, by the U.S. House-Senate panel.
"I don't think this is a wise move. It could hurt ties. There should instead be efforts to increase cooperation. I don't see any good coming out of this," Saifullah told Reuters.
There have been many proposals to make U.S. aid to Pakistan conditional on more cooperation in fighting militants such as the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network, which Washington believes operates out of Pakistan and battles U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The White House is being careful in its response in part because officials don't have all the facts. NBC's Kristen Welker talks to NBC's Lester Holt about the balancing act.
But Pakistan's civilian leaders have in the past warned against aid cuts, saying it would only harden public opinion against the U.S.
Pakistan says it is doing all it can to fight al-Qaida and the Taliban and has lost thousands of soldiers since it joined the U.S.-led war in 2001, some of them at the hands of coalition troops.
Islamabad has accused NATO of deliberately killing 24 Pakistani soldiers in an air strike near the Afghan border last month and shut down supplies for foreign troops in Afghanistan in anger.
The decision to freeze aid could prompt Pakistan to harden its stance toward Washington.
"I think the Pakistan side will understand the type of signal that is coming, which shows it's not only a question of aid," said former general and security analyst Talat Masood.
"The whole attitude of the U.S. and the relationship will be affected by these measures because they know Pakistan will not be in a position to control the smuggling."
Two fertilizer factories
U.S. lawmakers said many Afghan bombs are made with fertilizer smuggled by militants across the border from Pakistan into Afghanistan.
"The vast majority of the material used to make improvised explosive devices used against U.S. forces in Afghanistan originates from two fertilizer factories inside Pakistan," Republican Senator John McCain said in the Senate last week.
A Congressional Research Service report in October said the Pakistani factories, owned by one of the country's biggest companies, Pakarab, have been producing over 300,000 metric tons of ammonium nitrate per year since 2004.
The United States has urged Pakistan to regulate the distribution of ammonium nitrate to Afghanistan strictly. So far, Pakistan has only produced draft legislation on the issue.
Pakistan's fragile economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, so cutting down on fertilizer output would hurt the sector.
The provision freezing $700 million in aid was agreed upon by leaders of the armed services committees from both parties in the House and Senate, including McCain. It is part of compromise legislation authorizing U.S. defense programs expected to be approved this week, McKeon said.
The bill would also require the Pentagon to deliver a strategy for improving the effectiveness of U.S. aid to Pakistan, he said.
NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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We need to be curtailing all of our foreign aid. I realize there is a strategic value to keeping certain areas stable, but we need to rethink where we are investing our money. We are taking money away from from investing in this country to invest in others - many of whom hate us. Where's the logic in that?
Needaplan yes. step 1.:stop all aid 2.leave afghanistan completely 3.leave Iraq completely{skeleton staff at our one billion dollar embassy}as we are leaving 17,000contractors 4.manhattan type project to become energy independent utilizing all our energy resources ,oil {anwar} Coal liquification to replace middle east oil,natural gas,nuclear and of course renewable sources. 4.severely limit immigration from known hostile muslim areas.{constitutes all muslim countries} 5.secure the border utilizing all the troops we will be bringing home. 6. stop the islamocrazies at the airport......This is an incredible country we live in and with the right leadership we could produce enough energy to embargo middle east oil completely.
There is just something wrong with us giving money to others while people, here in the U.S., are suffering. We are supposed to feel guilty because others, in the world, are suffering worse.
I think it is a treasonous act to give money to foreign countries with this country in such dire straits.
Stop all foreign aid which is war related. Foreign aid should NEVER be used for the war machines in this World. Foreign aid should ONLY INCLUDE food and medicine.
Definitely stop utilizing our public military for private interests. There is absolutely NO REASON to be in AfPak. No threat to US soil what so ever. American public funds (tax payer monies and the people's money) for Americans ONLY.
Stopping all foreign aid is one thing Ron Paul wants to do - I agree with him on that.
Keep the money here where it's needed! 700 million dollars can build lots of roads and bridges and employ lots of American workers. Why give it to people that hate us.
They were our enemy when we were supplying them fighter jets all the way back to their hanging days in the 70s when they toasted the PM Bhutto because they didn’t like him.
So If you thinking things will be changing any time soon you have more optimism than most people who have a clue about our foreign policy.
Illegals and gasoline policies are exactly the same as the 70s, so why should this one change.
I don't think we have any real friends.
Maybe we should ask ourselves why.
Frozen? are you kiddin me...STOP all AID to these two faced terrorists, stop everything....give that $700,000,000 to American small businesses, to Americans without jobs, to those hardworking Americans that just cant seem to find anything....cmon, common sense!!!!! Dont let me smack the sh!t outta you....
It is worth noting - for better or worse - that much of the foreign military aid that the US gives is tied directly to contracts for the recipients to purchase American military supplies. When the aid gets cut, so do big contracts with major American employers.
It seems if two manufactures in Pakistan are producing the majority of ammonium nitrate used to kill our soldiers those sales should be monitored; or if that is not allowed by the Pakistanis the production at those plants needs to be interrupted.
Most Pakistanis know nothing else but poverty and misery, while the military chiefs are helping themselves to the $ billions provided to them in so called aid. And this has been going on like this for decades, our money simply disappearing while ordinary Pakistanis don’t get a cent and continue to live in deplorable conditions.
To say that…. “Pakistan's civilian leaders have in the past warned against aid cuts, saying it would only harden public opinion against the United States.”….is only stating the obvious. Pakistanis simply don’t like us and there is absolutely nothing we can do about that. In any case their leaders prefer it that way; they need the continuing flow of aid money to maintain their living standards!
I would like to see aid money to Pakistan stopped altogether or until such time they get serious about sponsoring and promoting peace in the whole region.
Stopping all Aid to Pakistan is a no brainer.
Stopping all financial aid to other countries is a great sound byte and election propaganda but has no value.
The combined foreign aid in 2010 was about 27 billion dollars. Chump change when compared to the size of overall US economy and small price to pay for furthering US strategic interests and project soft power in the larger world.
Sincerely. Stop all aide, invest it in our children's education and small business. We have our own issues we need to take care of and since we have been "kicked" out, i'm sorry but saying that "we won't like you if you don't give us money", sounds like childish blackmail. About equal to leaders of a gang coming to my house and telling me that if i don't give them money they will my my life unpleasent. Enough is enough.
$700m would pay for a lot of roads. Transit benefits for workers here are also about to be cut. We should be spending this money here in the US if we are so broke we're cutting back on teachers, policeman, and heating oil for the elderly.
I definitely agree - stop all Aid to Pakistan. They knew were Laden was.. as for cutting of all other aid to the rest of the world. VERY dumb idea. Our citizens should be taken care of first, but I believe that less than 1% of our GDP is given in foreign aid. Besides, if we would NOT have invaded Iraq, that would have been about oh.. 1 TRILLION dollars that we could have used right here at home.
More B.S. reporting by MSN...700 mil in aid stopped 20 Billion in aid given since 2001 but they don't list how much is given yearly so the readers don't know what the impact of a 700mil freeze is...looked it up on line and it seems we give approx 2 billion annually to them so the 700 mil almost cuts their aid in half 1,3000,000). Still not enough cut for these blood sucking Paki scumbags genetic peices of trash.
I think 700 Million would definitely have saved the food stamp mother who killed herself and her children because she could not get food stamps. I would rather save ONE AMERICAN. 700 Million is not chump change and neither is the 2 Billion in total we give Paki.
Hit the pause button on all foreign aid and review all of them on a one by one basis. Also, give a report card on how the funds are and have been applied as well as how well these 'allies and friends' are treating us.
Obama: Put your money where your mouth is, give the $700 million to America's shrinking middle class.
Feed, clothe, and educate Americans first with American tax payers dollars.
It disturbing to know that all the killing in Afghanistan has been fueled by Pakistan and we haven't done this ten years ago...If we were to have frozen their assets way back then how many lives would have been saved especially our troops having to go after IED's...This is B.S. Politics.
If 700 million dollars is chump change, I'd like to be that "chump." Pakistan has NEVER been the US's friend. With friends like that, who needs enemies. I don't care if they don't like us. As a matter of fact, I would prefer they didn't. I don't want people like that on my "friends'" list. It demeans me. I have better taste in my relations.
Pakistan can just buddy up with the Taliban; oh, wait . . . .
Someone said that overall foreign aid adds up to 27 billion dollars which is "chump change" in the US budget. It also is suppose to go for keeping the areas stabilized. Well, let's have some other "super power" try their hand at it and see how long they'll last at doing it. You think China would spend 27 billion dollars of their equivalent money to give in foreign aid. Doubtful; they might try it but they're in financial trouble too and can't spread themselves thin. Only trouble is, their citizens can't protest about it like us Americans can about our government. So let's do an experiment and pull out all foreign aid from the area and see what happens. It will be a gamble, are you ready to roll the dice?
Give free money to a friend every month then stop it all together and then you will see how long the friendship stays in place.
Yet we still give them money (Paki) and they are no more friends of ours then Chavez is.It is all about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ nothing more
We give them money, then they give us the ability to use their country for launching assults on Taliban. They allow us to move goods and services into our war zone on their roads - and assist us with "safe passage" so the necessary materials make it to our troops.
As long as we have troops in the area, we need to keep up the aid (bribe, rent, whatever...). As soon as the troops are gone, THEN pull the aid.
Too many people on here demanding the payments stop... What happens to our fighting men if we loose the ability to move the necessities to them out of Pakistan? Slow down and think about this. Just like a chess game, sequence is quite important.
Stop All AId to all foriegn countries;I see posts all the time about "well 700 million is chump change and 250 million is'nt that much and on and on. 27 billion in foriegn aid distibuted equally here would make every American a millionaire so much for the chump change arguement.
Let India, China, and the former Soviet republics take care of them. bring our troops home and redeploy them along the Mexican border. It will be amazing what troops, helicopters, planes and drones would due to the drug trafficing and cartels and we would save billions. We are idiots if we keep throwing money down the rat whole, especially with the need for help here at home. If American troops must die, let it be defending American soil and our way of life.
The Cia and other alphabet agencies will never allow the war on drugs to end it's how they make and launder money that the average citizens never here about.I'm not a conspiracy nut,the feds make a great deal of cash money from the war on drugs.I do agree though bring ALL of our troops home,guard our borders assist in infrastructure work any number of things that benefit the country and the people
So, if we don't give you money, you threaten us? Isn't that extortion?
Robert - No, it's prostitution. But as long as we are getting a service out of Pakistan, we MUST pay the prostitute!
This country is the greatest in the world and to live free is the goal of all, but men and women need to realize the politicians are just trying to buy compliance with Dollars. Stop most of it. Then see who are really ''friends''. Iran is also sending in arms and other weapons to kill USA military people. Iran spends many millions on aid to Pakistan - Lots of it in the form of cash to certain Pakistan Government leaders. Its all about chasing the money and who will give it. We need to use it at home. We don't need to help any of those countries anymore. We have more oil than the Saudi's according to new reports coming out of the big find out west (USA). Heavy Employment has given rise to Boom towns again for the domestic oil trade. Go look it up. Lets help those industries instead of Pakistan towelheads. I had to laugh when Iran outlawed Dogs for pets - Still OK to eat them Like Pakistan does too-. LOL
"Its about time, this Country must stop with all this aid and putting it on a Chinese credit card.
I've said for months, no more aid to Pakistan. I suspect most of it gets siphoned off by the so-called Pakistani Security & Military to fund the Taliban and terrorists.
Its about time we grew a pair!
It should have never been started. It's like global welfare. Once you get on the tit, it's hard to get them off. I say we stop aid to all these muslim POS nations that are in cahoots against the USA at every turn. First off, we are broke. And secondly, it's stupid to borrow money, just to give it away.
$700 million is a tiny fraction of the aid we give Pakistan this is nothing more than a congressional public relations puff peace. We attacked that Pakistan border base because they were firing at our helicopter it was not a mistake on the part of NATO troops it was a mistake by Pakistan troops and a big one there is no way they can claim the taliban have helicopters that they fly across the border there. The most telling part of this story is the Pakistan response to the with holding of this tiny bit of aid. They suggest cooperation by the military and the overall public opinion will be harmed by the cut in aid and even suggest an increase in aid is what is in order. If the kind of cooperation we have gotten like our helicopters being shot at and the worlds #1 terrorist living two blocks from their militaries largest garrison and their factories making the explosives being used against NATO troops is what we are paying for I think we can do without any more of it. NATO needs to hand them an ultimatum either join the fight against the taliban in a real way or be on your own. We know where the nukes are and we have them under constant watch let Pakistan fall to the islamist's
$700 million is a tiny fraction of the aid we give Pakistan this is nothing more than a congressional public relations puff peace. We attacked that Pakistan border base because they were firing at our helicopter it was not a mistake on the part of NATO troops it was a mistake by Pakistan troops and a big one there is no way they can claim the taliban have helicopters that they fly across the border there. The most telling part of this story is the Pakistan response to the with holding of this tiny bit of aid. They suggest cooperation by the military and the overall public opinion will be harmed by the cut in aid and even suggest an increase in aid is what is in order. If the kind of cooperation we have gotten like our helicopters being shot at and the worlds #1 terrorist living two blocks from their militaries largest garrison and their factories making the explosives being used against NATO troops is what we are paying for I think we can do without any more of it. NATO needs to hand them an ultimatum either join the fight against the taliban in a real way or be on your own. We know where the nukes are and we have them under constant watch let Pakistan fall to the islamist's
$700 million is a tiny fraction of the aid we give Pakistan this is nothing more than a congressional public relations puff peace. We attacked that Pakistan border base because they were firing at our helicopter it was not a mistake on the part of NATO troops it was a mistake by Pakistan troops and a big one there is no way they can claim the taliban have helicopters that they fly across the border there. The most telling part of this story is the Pakistan response to the with holding of this tiny bit of aid. They suggest cooperation by the military and the overall public opinion will be harmed by the cut in aid and even suggest an increase in aid is what is in order. If the kind of cooperation we have gotten like our helicopters being shot at and the worlds #1 terrorist living two blocks from their militaries largest garrison and their factories making the explosives being used against NATO troops is what we are paying for I think we can do without any more of it. NATO needs to hand them an ultimatum either join the fight against the taliban in a real way or be on your own. We know where the nukes are and we have them under constant watch let Pakistan fall to the islamist's
Patriotic American U.S.A.- We give about 25 billion a year in direct aid. Do you honestly think that is going to make a dent in our debt? Why don't we cut our defense spending and stop buying $400.00 toilets? When you are one of the richest countries in the world, consume at least 35% of the world's resources, and give nothing back.... you are Ebeneezer scrooge.
Ditto. All of the above.
Cut the foreign aid to the middle east and to Africa. They hate us anyway. We're just paying them so they can afford to fight us. Its ridiculous. Put the troops on the border and we'll still have our military machine in place and the troops will still be employed. Problem solved. Its always just us Britain and Australia anyways.
I see that our 'Amateur in Chief' has turned his incompetent attention to foreign policy now, and has managed to do the same dismal job of managing foreign policy that he's done with domestic economic policy.
How can anyone think that Obama deserves a second term, with 3 years of abject failure. Is anyone buying his policy of 'Class Warfare' in blaming the 'rich' for all of his policy debacles, including the 6,298,000 net jobs that he LOST between 2008 and 2010? Need proof? Just look at the following official Bureau of Labor Statistics site - Just look under Employed - Total for 2008 and 2010;
http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat1.pdf
Average number of people employed in 2008 (Bush's last year) = 145,362,000.
Average number of people employed in 2010 (Obama's second year) = 139,064,000, for a loss of 6,298,000 jobs.
How's that "Change we can believe in" working for YOU?
Ron Paul wants to cut social security also, and lots of American families would suffer if he gets elected. Ron Paul has some good views, but the bad greatly outweighs the good and he won't be getting my vote.
P.S. Aid to Pakistan is a joke, why not cut out the middle man and give the money directly to the Taliban.
Pakistan is really good at making promises so they can get money to make the politicians rich and then reneging on the promises. If this country were energy independent, we wouldn't have to worry about what happens in the Middle East.
Good. Then it will match the growing sense of anti-Pakistanism here in the US population.
As it seems that we are all in agreement regarding this topic, perhaps it's time we elect a Congress that will reflect and do the work of the people, by the people, and for the people. There is entirely to much broke in our own country to be trying to fix other nations, with borrowed money. Sure they don't care, they get free money and we accumulate debt. Something just doesn't seem right.
WWW dot FREEDOMISNTFREE2012 dot COM
Who gives a flyin' f*ck if these crazies like us? With friends like these we sure don't need any enemies.
Cut 'em off.
Immediately stop all foreign aid to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Tell Pakistan they have 1 week to decide on their commitment.
Tomorrow, announce that an aircraft carrier fleet is being moved into the Gulf of Oman.
Thursday, Hillary Clinton makes a surprise visit to India to announce an alliance with our new global partner in the war on terrorism.
Friday start carpet bombing all the poppy fields, drug labs, Taliban and Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Next Monday begin breaking down our bases in Afghanistan and Pakistan demolishing any infrastructure we provided.
Next Tuesday announce the fleet is on alert and the Pakistani's have 24 hours to notify us of their decision.
Next Wednesday, if no decision is made begin full mobilization of troops and equipment out of Afghanistan and Pakistan to be removed within one month.
Bring our brave men and women home. It's time to let our military rest, regroup and become strong once again on OUR soil.
If any movement of Iran is noticed into Iraq unleash the full fury of our carrier fleet against them.
Put this 700M+ into developing alternative energy sources. And then we could care less about Pakistan and co hating us.
letsrock,
American military personal are not allowed to engage in civilian law enforcement, Due to interpretation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, restrictions are in place to limit direct involvement of military forces to
secure the border.
Where have you been? The Pakistanis already threw us out of the base we used to supply our troops. We need to get out of Afghanistan too. That is a sewer no one can win in. We should have let the Russians take it a long time ago.
Hey, - ItsAboutTime: The total foreign aid is 27.8 Billion, lets put that money into paying down our Debt. Wake up and stop supporting the world on a Chinese credit card. The idiots we have in Congress are destroying this Nation.
What is with this 'our strategic position' or what ever it is called.... playing world police as usual?
It realy is true that many folks in this country do not keep up on what is happening in the world or about history or even the recent past for that matter....
Many people forget or do not realize that there were 'terror' groups doing all sort of activities in Europe not all that long ago..... think about the the 1960-80s and called themselves by rather strange names.... yet the Europeans have lived with the hand they have been dealt and moved on with their lives. They simply keep an eye on these groups and do arrests as needs be, while we simply start a war with the country we suspect that may have harmed us and/or start a war with another that had nothing to do with the activity that harmed us.
Our leaders are are busy continuing to play world police and big spender/aider to exclusion of all else that is destroying our own country, which is more than any terrorist could do...... We are being destroyed and terrorized by canibalistic capitalistic greed of/by the few at the expense of the many, poverty, homelessness, lack of medical and mental healthcare, lack of affordable housing even as buildings are boarded up in the inner cities and now even in the suburbs (with all the forclosures) the deteriorating bridges, levees, dams, roads, contaminated water tables, being fracked for gas, lack of fast paced public transportation like trams, high speed rail etc, the necessity for protection of our land, seas and air, securing our own borders including our ports by employing enough folks to actually inspect these containers coming into our country and actually encourage and invest in technology that can/could be used to inspect these containers..... like putting TSA at the ports to pat down and x-raying containers LOL.... employing more folks to investigate and stop this human trafficking and closing down of sweat shops etc and taking care of our own elderly, disabled, veterans, children and people who are unemployed etc.
We spend enormous amounts of money on defense, giving military weaponry aid and even financial aid to other countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan yet we balk at spending monies to pay teachers, firefighters, police officers, nurses, or providing free higher education, providing trade schools etc or even providing free lunch for poor children and are trying to decrease funds to FEMA and other important departments like NOAA, FDA, EPA, IRS, the USPS, the FBI and a mirad of other things like the public safety nets, Medicaid, Medicare, and wanting to cut Social Security and food for poor starving people in our own country.
All the crap we are funding in the name of stratigic interest that is not helping us while having to borrow these monies from other countries who are benefitting in 2 ways...1. from us providing protection for them thus they do not have to spend much of their monies on providing protection for themselves and 2. they are still making a profit on the money we borrow from them as we must pay interest to them on the monies we borrowed..
Another thing is that we think so poorly of our military that we pay them so poorly that some even have to apply for welfare, while private soldiers for hire are now working in the field are paid thousands of dollars for their questionable quality of service, while being protected by our military, yet our military are paid at a fraction of what these soldiers for hire cost to do jobs that our military could and used to do before 2001.
To those who keep bringing up Ron Paul's name..... what has he done in the past 30 or so years that he has spent in Congress to solve and resolve these infrastructure deterioration and destruction of the middle classes being wroth by rampant greed of the few at the expense of the manyetc issues? What has he done to stem the tide of jobs being outsourced overseas, to bring about safety changes in the mines etc to protect workers, to improve the lives of the ordinary citizens of this country?
Will he be refusing the pension that he will be receiving or the continued free healthcare that he will continue to enjoy in retirement.... pension money that he does not need and free healthcare that he can afford to pay for? What has he done to make sure that we have the most educated American workerforce on the planet for example? What has he done to make sure that our citizens are fed, have affordable housing, reliable affordable transportation, keep industries/factories in our country? What has he actively done to cut the enormous wasteful defense budget, provide medical, rehab and mental healthcare, housing, food and jobs for the veterans that are here and those that are returning from the battle field..... what has he done to bring about or even encourage enlightenment and understanding amoung American citizens regarding issues of race, creed, colour religious beliefs etc instead of breeding, tolerating encouraging misunderstand, angst, negativity, selfishness and selfcenteredness etc?
We all know the mirad of problems facing and are actively at work in our own country that need to be address and resolved... so i'll not bother to list more of them. If you are not a part of the solution then you are a part of the problem imo.
People need to realize that the more we spend on wars, conflicts and pay or give to other countries -outside of food and medicines- just so they will not act up or do something stupid is the less we have to spend for the improvement of the lives of our own citizens and our own country imo.
Countries like Saudi Arabia, and the other Arab countries, China, Russia, South Korea, Australia and the European countries need to help or deal with countries like Pakistan, Iran and N.Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan etc. as they will be the first ones impacted by untoward or terror activites that may arise from those countries imo.
Signed.....Enough Already, 'Nuff Said, USA
THIS IS GREAT. We cut off, not their funds, but the United States contributions to Pakistan. Now Pakistan states this contributes to the growing sense of anti-Americanism. Does Pakistan really think we care. I don't ever want Pakistan to ask us for anything ever again. The United States should stop giving away American money.
I love reading what my fellow Americans think. It proves to me that my fellow Americans know little or nothing about what goes on around them.
I think only 2 people noted that Paki aid isnt really aid. We give them money to buy U.S. manufactured military equipment. So everyone crying about Paki aid should realize you are shooting McDonald Douglas, Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed, and all of the subsidiary businesses in the foot.
Give the 700 million to the public? That's rich. People seem to forget that those idiotic stimulus checks we got a few years ago, a whole whopping $300, cost this country around $800 billion per pop.
Our GDP is around 10 trillion. As one poster pointed out, our global aid budget is around $28 billion. That is a drop in the bucket compared to what it allows us to do. How many roads do you think you can build with 700 million? Most metropolitan road budgets are nearly 100 million. So we can hook up the roads in maybe 10 cities in our entire country. How many illegals will that employ? Anyone remember that program to get America back to work that started in the beginning of Obama's administration? Did you have a roads project in your town? How many workers did you see that spoke English?
One white rich POS with a crew of 50 illegals. That is America today.
cooch-1922964, you said that "27 billion in foriegn aid distibuted equally here would make every American a millionaire so much for the chump change arguement.". Actually, i did the math. Us population of 312,768,530 gives us each around $86. That's a long way from a million, but it would also pay my power bill!!!
He wants to phase it out not cut it immediately that would be irresponsible, it would allow for people under the age of 25 to opt out of the system, people over that age would still be paying in but gradually it would be less and less as people no longer need it, because they were able to invest in their own futures.
issues2000.org/Ron_Paul.htm
I think halting aid is a wonderful thing screw Pakistan, they've shown us time and time again how much they despise us. Though I wonder how we would get our supplies to landlocked Afghanistan without them?
You sure seem to have a Hard On for Ron Paul...But let Me ask You this/ What have any of those FOOLS in DC. done? Their all Scumbag Nutjobs that only care about themselves! None and I mean None of them Give a Dam about Us.....Or will they ever!
We would do better fixing our tax code to create more income and cutting programs than we would cutting aid to other countries.
It's a bargain considering what it does for us. Do some research.
And start voting responsibly! Uneducated, easily swayed voters who value baby Jesus and stem cells over true politics got us into this mess, why not try to get us out?
Roy Wilson,
right wing rhetoric. How about the avg of people working the last six months of the bush administration not the year of 2008. We were loosing jobs at an alarming rate in the last 5 months of 2008. Turn your spin cycle off and actually get some facts. You are so full of it.
"Score" 1 for Obama.
I think he is finally "getting" it.
Let the Pakistani's uprise their own Government.
America Today Anthony - The highway workers in my state have are unionized. You don't tend to see illegals in the unionized work force. They fight for the same jobs and HATE each other. Yes, democrat-voting unions HATING the Hispanic laborers. Kind of contradicts what the DNC would have you believe: Democrats are the friends of the Hispanic work force, until their jobs are affected...
You make some very good points. Voted up!
Neither Russia nor China have been happy with the presence of the US in Afghanistan. They are extremely happy to see us having trouble - they see our troubles with Pakistan as a game changer to extend their own influence into the region. They would love to see us leave. Pakistan is ours to lose and theirs to win, and looks like we are doing a great job of it. Well-done!
Can I have some of that money? I can pay off my mortgage and debts and stimulate the economy with it? By giving foreign aid to the 99% we can avoid a depression and make this country whole again.
Coach - 27 billion dollars distributed among 350 million US citizens will yield each of us a princely sum of almost $78.
Hardly the amount that would make us millionaires individually.
27 billion dollars of foreign aid gets us the gratitude and therefore the support of our allies. This support could be in the form of their votes in international forums or material assistance during one of our military endeavors in their region or intelligence sharing or any other way that countries assist and collaborate with each other. This is a time honored method of sharing and projecting soft power right from he ancient times.
Most of the comments here reek of selfish populist jingoism. Many of them colored by racism - stop giving our money to the colored mofos - or even a hatred for all things Obama - even something as mundane as Foreign aid which every one of the 44 presidents of USA have been distributing since the USA was established.
Patriotic American - Like i said ...nice sound byte for whatever emotional appeal it is worth but in reality of no value.
Our current debt is about 14 trillion dollars. If you cut off all foreign aid and used that 27 billion to pay down the debt, it will take roughly 518 years to pay it all off.
That money is better spent buying friends in foreign countries and projecting the image of US as a caring and humane nation.
This article begins with:
"A senior Pakistani official told NBC News the United States' decision to cut aid to Pakistan would only contribute to the growing sense of anti-Americanism within the population."
The intent is that we continue feeding these Pakistanis taxpayer money or else. Or else, what? Can they possibly have more contempt for us than they already do?
If this threat isn't a classic example of extortion, nothing is.
BTW, I predict this administration will cave and the Pakistanis, after some vague and meaningless assurances, will get the money anyway.
this country is a complete disaster.. No doubt we are the great Satan.. always sticking our noses in the worlds business, arming the world with our weapons, and setting up dictators that do our bidding
how about we just take care of America and Americans 1st and maybe some day when our social security is fixed, we have national health care that leads the world we can think about doing this stupid crap again
wet willy I saw the same comment and thought it was hilarious.
"the United States' decision to cut aid to Pakistan would only contribute to the growing sense of anti-Americanism within the population." OK, so who Gives a F.ck?
Thank you mr India. Finally, someone else who understands that importance of providing foreign aid.
I do however, think aid to Pakistan should be put on hold, until they make a committment.
Mr UnPatriotic American - First, thank you so much for correcting me on the '28' billion vs '25 billion' we give in aid. I guess that extra 3 billion makes a HUGE difference in the GDP of the United States. Do you honestly think Congress would use this money to pay off the debt even if we gave no aid? Get real. They would CUT more taxes for the wealthy. I do agree, we should NOT be borrowing money from any country to just give away.
It'sAboutTime -
Absolutely. The whole purpose of giving aid to a country is to influence it to be on our side when push comes to shove.
Pakistan has been playing the double game since the very beginning. We should stop the aid and make it concomitant upon specific guarantees and outcomes.
We should stop ALL aid money to Pakistan and stop issuing Visas to the Pakis to come here. The Pakis here are all a national security threat anyway and they should be sent home. We don't need them here. Just close the US consulates and no more money and no more Visas. See 2 March 2006, Karachi.
No more aid. First we have to help ourselves before even thinking of others. We pay taxes to support our folks and systems - not other country's problems.
How much of our aid money actually goes to the war effort? I'd be surprised if it was 20%. The rest is siphoned off be their greedy generals and their corrupt politicians. Pakistan, #@%k 'em!!
PeAcE LoVeR-2838047 #1.1,
http://www.rense.com/general70/doro.htm
Do you think that we could use this? And there are other areas like this here in the US.
I don't think that we should export it, do you?
Pakistan has never been our friend when will people realize that, we shouldn't be giving them anything at all.They are good for nothing back stabbers. They take our money and laugh at us when they screw us over.
Anti Americanism only arises when Americans try to help Pakistan. The Pakistani public seems to forget that American forces kill the Taliban, who just so happen to be the ones that engage in suicide attacks against said Pakistani public. If they hate us so much, that's fine. We'll leave and let them sort out their own mess. And when they come running to the US for help (again), we'll just say, "Sorry. We tried helping you but it didn't work last time."
WAIT! Hold the GOD D*MNED PHONE!
Let me get this straight... our elected representatives are... actually listening to us?
Good lord.
It's about time this was done. Thank you members of our congressional branch. You have actually done something worth commending. Congratulations. Keep up this kind of good work and you're approval rating just might reach double digits.
I feel that we should stop all aid to this country-- the people clearly don't want anything to do with us, so why send good money after bad? All they do is resent us for it, harbor terrorists, fund them secretly through the ISI, and public support for the US from the Pakistani citizenry is essentially zero-- so let's cut off the cash cow completely and see how miserable they are without our funds to hold up their ramshackle economy.
FYI: All Foreign Aid should be Condition-Based. No Exceptions
The only other way to receive any more funds than these from the United States Government is to directly attack the North American Continent.
The complete utter disconnect the US government has with its Citizens could not be more starkly illustrated than this.
The Pakistanis have proven they hate the US by harboring Bin Laden, how much more “hateful growing” could they demonstrate save a direct declaration of war issued.
The United States has, and continues to develop the most modern war craft known in the history of mankind, yet continually decides to throw light armored marines and army human bodies to be slaughtered to no end.
It has become crystal clear that the reason the US was able to enter WWII in 1941, and end the entire conflict with complete submission and surrender in 1945 a 4-5 year period, was because the military leaders were not lead by rich hypocrites.
It was only after the enemy surrendered did the US occupy.
For the last 10 plus years the United States Government has approached these world conflicts in the manner a filthy rich spiteful immature child approaches decisions, throwing money at it, and expecting the hired help to solve the problems created by the secret back stabbing that the filthy rich do among them selves in everyday life.
Once these Middle Eastern countries realized that our immature filthy rich were willing to engage them in these tit for tat, body for body filthy rich boy games, the Middle Easterners figured out an easy way to make money off their losses in the body counts, just like the US rich boys do.
If the US citizens want to see these conflicts ever completely end, then the decision will have to be at the polls at election time.
Continue to re-elect the filthy rich spiteful immature rich boys, and expect to have your Government and any future conflicts run the way a rich boy approaches everything else, shut down the government out of spite, attack without thinking, throw money at it when they realize they have screwed up, blame everyone else, attack those who have the brass in pocket to call them out.
If you want to stop these issues, put middle class US citizens back in control of the US Government as decision makers, it’s a pretty simple idea, you can’t blame the filthy rich boys when the poor, and middle class keep re-electing them.
Wait a second..... We pay them 700 mil and they hate us. We stop paying and they hate us. Hmmm what to do with an extra 700 mil?
We give them $2Bil a year in total aid. Cut the rest until they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they are indeed earning even a little of this money. Threats do not get you anywhere, either do it all the way or just give up. Stop pussyfooting around, pull troops from AF and cut the funds to Pak.
As with all "blackmail" the original amount is never enough. Mo money!
You guys all realize that 700 mil is probably not all the aid we're sending to Pakistan right? It's probably just timed to coincide with a arms purchase or something.
If north America would take care of north America first (Canada US Mexico) we would not need the rest of the world. we have every thing we basically need. trade with Japan, Europe, south America and Australia (pacific). will be sufficient, to hell with the rest. let China deal with them. When you fight with Islam you are fighting a ghost / Idea-un winnable. first rule in such a situation is don't get into that situation. second rule if you screwed up the first rule, go back to first rule and start over, repeat till you get it right. those people are to effed up to trust or deal with. the nerve of them saying don't cut the aid just because we don't cooperate, it will only make matters worse. its simple if they can't be trusted then don't trust them. when this all started after 9-11 all they saw was $$$$$$. how much of that aid was used to kill our own troops.
Sounds like Pakistan has turned into a pack of Socialist. gimmy gimmy gimmy. up yours give me some more. If you don't give me more we wont like you! even though we dont like you any ways! just give me more, more, more...hahahaha lots more.
D Buck-2239568: Forget Socialism. You've described the situation in a low functioning Title I middle school classroom. However, when the candy is not forthcoming, and the lessons are the only antidote for boredom, they tend to invest in learning what they didn't want to know.
Funny how people will make a bigger deal out of our tax dollars going to free post secondary than they will about foreign aid to corrupt governments. People are more up in arms about the precieved entitement mentality of OWSer's than they are about us giving money to people who work against us.
Funny how the gimme, gimme, gimme is more prevalent among the rich. The rich want all the benefits of living in USA and gobbling up the dough, but do not want to pay taxes to support infrastructure, military, government, etc. etc. etc. Those rich welfare corporations need to get off the dole.
I'll believe a corporation is a person when Florida puts a corporation to death.
What ??? Pakistan "warns" the US against not continuing aid..."free hand out".......now they really need a "spanking"...
I agree! Isn't it time we start taking care of people here in the USA?
Yes it's time! This just proves the The U.S government hates the citizens of it's own land. Our government hates us!
So true, there are too many people going to sleep hungry, there are too many people who are jobless, there are too many people how are homeless and way too many small businesses that are closing their doors every day.
Been time Mike
War_FF - The government doesn't hate the citizens of the U.S. - it just doesn't really care about us. Why should they? They have and will continue to vote to provide for themselves first, at our expense. We, the citizens allowed it.
NO, the government of our United States does not hate you, War_FF, however it only caters to the 1% now. Our elected officials, elected by massive amounts of money, care only about how they will be elected again, and how much campaign dollars they will receive!! Term limits on all members of Congress, as well as overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court decisions, then maybe you will see our government work for the 99% again!!
Absolutely! I've known for the longest time that our Fearless Leaders have forgotten that "charity begins at home!" It's high time we started taking care of our own and forget about these backstabbing fiends... uh, friends. They know where they can go, what they can go in, and what they can do on the way there!
If the government hates us how are you different? How many homeless are living at your house? How many are you helping to feed? Or are you like most people who expect someone else say the government to take care of them. I live in a county that just passed a law to ban the homeless from panhandling on street corners because people don't want to see them on their street.
KJinthQC
The politicians in the Legislative branch have all the necessary power to overcome that Supreme Court ruling simply by making it illegal. We have three branches to the government for a reason. The politicians simply don't bother when it is something they want. With these two parties we aren't likely to ever get anything done that simply benefits the average citizen. Time for a change in leadership by voting all of those who have been there more than one term out! Forget the BULL CRAP blurb ads paid for by special interests. You all should be smart or stung enough to know better than to buy that bull anymore. Simple! Don't watch campaign ads and vote out anyone who has more than one term under his belt then vote in term limits for all. Time to use what little power we have left before they take that away too.
They took our jobs!
our politicians, and their wealthy supporters, view panhandlers as lowly creatures. The difference is our politicians are lowly creature panhandlers with suits and have fools supporting them. The people on the streets are remarkable.
"Our" politicians are elected. So who is worse, the politician, or the fools who keep electing them?
It's not the politicians it's we the people. We are the ones who voted them in. We complain it's not our representatives it's theirs so they stay and we continue to complain. The Republicans appear to support only the rich by giving them a tax break not worrying how we pay for it but complain about how we are going to pay for a middle class tax cut doesn't look good. Then you have the Liberals who think we don't need to worry about our budget you know the 15 trillion debt we have, obviously we need a new game plan. Endless unemployment benefits doesn't cut it, neither does stopping oil drilling and building the pipeline until we come up with a real alternative fuel supply. Stop depending on middle east oil
Yes. It is time to take care of our own fellow Americans. Let's get started. No more foreign aid. Use taxes to get a balanced budget, and make the DC government a whole lot smaller. It may take alot more than this to get our government straightened out, but let's start now. And vote for the Tea Party.
stop spending MY money on foreign countries...We need all the cash we can get right here at home...and it is the taxpayers money after all.
Oh come on Saifullah! Efforts to increase cooperation with a terrorist country ....this is not lala World ....
we sure could use $700 million anyways....
This relationship has always been "keep you enemies closer".
Or nuke em till they glow works to.
To Peace Lovers comment: Bravo I completely agree with everything you had to say. Let U.S. abandon the middle east asap, and work on problems in our own country first.I have had enough of radical islamists! Have our service men and women return to our soil.
We require a modicum of "peace" in the Middle East and Africa because we are DEPENDENT on them for a reasonable portion of our OIL!
If we were ENERGY INDEPENDENT, as we SHOULD BE we could let them all sort their own problems out and bring our troops and money home.
Instead, we are going to let a SAND LIZARD or some obtuse WILD FLOWER dictate our National and Foreign Policies.
DAMN! We are so frigging smart! Sitting on 100+ YEARS supply of oil and gas (EACH) and we send hundreds of BILLIONS out of our economy every year to buy oil. We don't need to give Mexico or Canada "Foreign Aid" in the way of purchasing THEIR oil, either.
Drill and process our OWN resources and take it off the World Market. Buy it on a cost plus basis from ourselves. Let OPEC and the speculators make their money off someone elses BACK!
And, to those of you who say "BIG OIL" would never let that happen, I've got news for you! It is the President AND Congress that is the ONLY road block.
All we would have to do it threaten to Nationalize OUR oil and they would knuckle under. And, if they didn't there are plenty of independents who would jump at the chance to get a piece of this multi-TRILLION dollar pie.
It ISN'T big Oil's oil... It is OUR oil... It belongs to the 300+ MILLION Citizens of the USA!
Good start, now cut them off completely.
That'll take awhile! Those in office will have to check and adjust their stock portfolio's that may be harmed by any such actions.
We can't cut them off completely as long as we have troops there. We are buying Pakistani favor to provide essential materials to our troops.
Number one would be to get the troops out. Number two would be to end Pakistani aid.
If we cut aid off cold, our supply routs will be shut down. Then what???????
Concerndone, When this all happened with the killing of the troops on the border and Pakistan closing the routes, the US announced that we had supplies already in Afghanistan to support our troops for several months. Sounds to me like it'd be enough time to pull our troops out.
Don't send supplies through Pakistan? There has to be other routs that could be used.
Greg - I agree, but we will NOT be pulled out in a couple months. Even Barak Obama agrees that our presence there is critical & is required beyond his campaign-promised timeline. There are things going on you and I don't know anything about. We only know what the media feeds us.
We can offer opinions. But at the end of the day, the government will make more accurate decisions based on the things we don't know of. I'm not saying I trust the government to do the right thing. I'm just saying they have a more complete view of the situation than I do. Interesting that this has occurred under a Republican AND a Democrat presidency.
wait, WHAT Pakistan?? They have ordered us out of their country but still have their crusty little hands out for aid? Seriously????
I understand the strategic need to be in the area, but I think once you're ordered out of a country they would be stupid to still expect foreign aid from us. I also realize they are part of an important supply chain but do we really expect them to maintain this role? If we weren't in Afghanistan we wouldn't need supplies from Pakistan. We are wasting money and supplies in Afghanistan, and the people appear to be aiding and abetting, if not openly supporting, return to Taliban rule. So let them have it. They obviously prefer public beheadings in soccer fields WE built for them then in using it for civilized purposes, leave them in the stone age and get out. That would solve Pakistan AND Afghanistan. (I know I don't know the whole story, this just makes sense to me given what little I do know...and it's just an opinion.
So if we don't give them money, they'll "hate us even more"?
I'm hoping our politicians stick to there guns and keep the aid cut off, I doubt they will though.
@concernedone
the supply routes have been blocked, burned,halted, and stopped. the supply routes have been disrupted at every step. what more can they do?
sgthardman - Disrupted, but moving. As long as we have a troop presence in Afg, we need to keep all options open. Pakistan is the most direct way to infuse a crapload of supplies. As long as we are in that theater of op's, we need to pay the "aid" and keep the support as readily available as possible for our boys.
Pull the troops out, then pull the Paki money! What other options do we have, airdrops for not just our boys, but for all the supplies we use for the Afg infrastructure?
$700 million is just a small portion of US aid????? How much money are we giving our backstabbing "friends" anyway?ALL aid to Pakistan should be dropped. We have our own homeless, hungry, and poor right here in America that could really use that money. Just the "small portion" would provide much needed relief. I am sure that we the tax payers will never see a dime of that money. It's probably ear marked for some other useless and totaly unesessary cause. It's "friends" like Pakistan in the middle east that will be Americas undoing in the long run.
Over the last 10 years, we've given about $20.7 BILLION in military and economic aid to Pakistan. So all we're doing is chopping off the $0.7 from that figure. TWENTY BILLION DOLLARS to a country that would love to see US disappear from the face of the Earth. Here you go, read about all the U.S. foreign aid, and weep: "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_foreign_aid".
Leaving aside whether we give aid to Pakistan, let's get this straight. The U.S. basicly declared open season on Pakistanis within their own country and you call them the backstabbers? Remember they cooperated with what they were told was a mission to capture BinLaden alive and bring him to stand trial.
As for us having our own homeless, hungry, and poor: I quite agree. We should take care of the problems in our own borders before we go marching across the world.
Couldnt of said it better myself ELH. We need to stop giving to these unforgiving countries and let them burn all on their own. Seems like the U.S is the only one burning right now. What good will come out of Pakistan being a "friend" of the U.S? The U.S government is aiding in the demise of AMERICA!
Pvblivs;They did NOT know about the mission to get binladen if they had he would not have been there.
Coach:
The mission could not take place without their cooperation. They just didn't know it was a Nazi-style murder mission instead of a capture-for-trial.
Maybe we could get BETTER mileage out of giving $700M to local organization to keep people from voting for Obama - in the same way they got him elected in the first place.
Then we can vote back slavery, the way republicans like it.
Oh great, another right wing Obama hater.....what a surprise.
Remford,
Chris and BigAl just can't stand the truth.
We already know all about the party of NO.
That’s why as a member of the middle class their entire existence is contrary to every thing we stand for.
However, I enjoy the thought of them bending you over a barrel with out using Vaseline, just for voting Republican.
hey chris get your facts straight, dems wanted slavery and republicans ended slavery. Seriously you right wing and left wing idiots need to just stop all your stupid nonsense, hopefully one day we wont just have 2 parties and we can actually have an independent in office.
Barcode of course that was when the entire platform of the Republican party was 180 degrees opposite of what it is now. Both parties have changed over the past 150 years. If you are naive enough to believe all the garbage that is spewed from the Republican Party, that's fine and that's your right. But a politician is a politician and they will lie and tell you whatever you want till they get in office. Then for the Republican Party it's all about themselves and the 3%. They try to justify what they do using fear and intimidation. But, the bottom line about the party is, you better be in the 1% or you are screwed. How much sense does it make that you cut taxes for the wealthy when you have a deficit? the lower and middle class don't have the money and you can't squeeze blood from a turnip. So genius, where's it going to come from or are we just going to keep running up our nation's debt? I'll bet you're one of those that believe that a salary of $136 million is alright for a person or that a $100 million bonus is justified. Excuse me but, there is no one walking the face of this Earth worth making what a lot of the corporate executives are making. Oh, and if you're fortunate enough to be able to be a stockholder, those corporate executives are stealing your money. Of course, I could really care less because I can't afford to invest as I've always lived pay check to pay check. So, keep voting those republicans in and see who really gets taken care of; I'll give you a hint, it won't be you.
Great plan man!
Greg, and you think the Democrats are any different? How many poor people play the lottery? Why do they play, to become rich. You want to make more money get a better education. I don't agree with a lot of things the Republican party does, but then again I don't agree with a lot of things the Democrats do either. I do believe you should rely on yourself . If you think only Republicans are rich you better wise up
If we think carefully about the way we help other countries and curtail funding to those with ties to terrorists like Pakistan, I think we'll be alright. There were too many strange views in Pakistan about dealing with Bin Laden, and even stranger was their anger at our action in taking care of that business. As for the drones they threaten, it's time to pull out of that area and full funding too.
But most importantly, the problem in Pakistan wasn't a negative issue, that first began with this administration. Historically, we have continued to make poor decisions with foreign policy for a long time. However, there have been exceptions. Times when leadership took a careful look.
I like what is happening right now.
They chase us out of the country by closing our base, they allow insurgents to raid and destroy our supply convoys, they shelter our worst enemies and they ask us to pay them for the job they AREN'T doing? Tell them to pay for the cargoes they allowed to be destroyed first as a sign of good faith, then have them reopen supply lines and use THEIR TROOPS to make sure they arrive safely at their destination (the border).
Every tax dollar those in office send to Pakistan, free's up another dollar for Pakistan's support to those who kill our troops! And we send them billions? How stupid, or corrupt are those in Washington?
William, VERY stupid is what they are in addition to being criminal in nature.
I wonder If we could get a list of all the countries in the world, that we are supporting financially, and a total of all moneys going to them. I would also want to know how many of those countries we are helping, are secretly plotting to destroy the USA. Could we get that listed in the newpapers? Thank you.
Here's your list mike
It's about damn time. Let them fight among themselves and eat dirt for a while and we'll see who is worthy of our support.
"I don't think this is a wise move. It could hurt ties. There should instead be efforts to increase cooperation. I don't see any good coming out of this," Saifullah told Reuters.
===========
In other words, "Send even more money!" Get our troops out of Afghanistan, dump poison on the poppy fields and cut off the foreign aid. Ok boys, go at one another!
Why the hell would we want ties with Pakistan anyways? They are no good to us! Let's use that 700mil to make more weapons to wipe them off completely :D. Saves us money in the long run. F U Saifullah!
Just imagine what that $700 million could do for the 300 million people living in America! With that much money being sent to just one country that hates us, if we just stopped spending it on other countries, there's no reason why we can't have free health care in the USA. The United States actually pays more for the health care of people in other countries than it does for its own citizens - I understand we pay a significant amount of the health care in South Africa (I think I read 90%). Now I know why our government is broke - just compare the amount of money they send to just one country to the number of people living in the USA.
Our government finally did some thing right.. What a shocker!!!!!
I agree with withdrawing aid completely! Pakistan has not been an "ally" & our financial support for them is absurd! Perhaps if Congress can make more prudent decisions like this one we can get our country back on track!
Military and economic aid to Pakistan:
Year Military (USD in billions) Economic (USD in billions)
2002
1.36
1.233 for 2002 to 2004
2003
1.500
1.233 for 2002 to 2004
2004
1.200
1.233 for 2002 to 2004
2005
1.313
.338
2006
1.260
.539
2007
1.115
.567
2008
1.435
.507
2009
1.689
1.366
2010
1.232
1.409
2011
1.685
unknown
Total
11.740 billion[14]
6.08 billion[15]
What a SHAM! Our illustrious Leaders ought to be tried for "TREASON" and then hung by their necks. It's SHOWDOWN time at the "DC-Corral", >>> coming soon!
This is the first article where all of Obama's "volunteer" posters haven't been ranting about the Republicans being the party of No for cutting this money to Pakistan, funny that! Guess even Obama knows this is an idea the public has been waiting for. Maybe he'll make up the money with his IMEM bank.
denko: your an idiot - treason for doing what ?? foreign aid??? Christ the money is better invested in developing better relations with other country's then being wasted providing 99 weeks of unemployment for life's biggest losers.
If America doesn't provide $700 million in foreign aid to these militant countries then how will they get the cash to purchase the ammonium nitrate????
With their own money, as its always been.
Our aid is for weapons only, like giving them fighter jets.
If it's just for weapons then they have to promise to use those weapons on each other before they can have them.
They will give you the same promises as DC will, not worth a pinch of salt.
Washington is playing a dangerous game .... telling Pakistan that unless we have a free hand in killing citizens of your country, we will stop contributing to you any monies towards this so-called war on terror. Meanwhile china is sitting in the corner looking with anticipation for the opportunity to increase its sphere of influence in the area once the US abandons its once staunch ally Pakistan. Likely Obama and Clinton already believe that this war against al qaida has been lost and are merely positioning themselves for the soon coming fallout from the American public.
We don't have any allies in the area, and we piss on the only country that is on our side, India.
1/2 of the Pakistanis are the same as our religious right, crazier than a hoot owl the other 1/2 is quite normal.
Let China have them.
Judson, how long have you been a comedy writer? We wouldn't be in their country if they were taking care of their own terrorist. The war with Al Queda is a success that's why Al Zawahiri offered to exchange a kidnapped victim for our stopping bombing them. If you don't think there is a war on terrorism you are truly pathetic . Chris D. comparing our religious right to the fanatics in Pakistan now I know why you are on food stamps, maybe you shouldn't be standing under that Hoot Owl all day
wlee: you are correct in your assessment of those 2 idiots
Get outnow and if they use their nukes we have a whole lot more of them than they do-we just need our leadership to have the balls to stand up and say "have it your way we are out, however if the USA is physically or fiscally attacked by any of you you nation will become a green glass desert . Sort of high stakes Duke Nukem.
This smacks of the Old Roman empire no longer with the will to fight they resorted to paying their enemy's off. When the coffers ran dry they where destroyed because they no longer had the guts to preserve their borders. The American people are too soft to survive. We see labor as beneath us. We no longer manufacture and could never keep a determine enemy form our shores. I am too old to see it but it will come history repeats it self over and over again. We never learn from our past.
OldLog2
That is the worst insult I've heard in a long time and a direct slap in the face to the brave men and women in our military and all the rest of us that have risked life and limb defending this country. You should be ashamed.
BigAl...I agree with you but don't think he meant it as an insult but is just dejected with our present course.
What do we need these idiots for any way? We should leave and let India take care of them. Better yet we could get our Lying Chicago politician president to nicely ask them to be nice, or he will tell them to be nice again. That will surly teach them a lesson they wont forget, along with the rest of our enemies.
22 out of the 30 top terrorist dead,yea he asks real nice does'nt he.Chuck,your more intelligent than what you've just posted,President Obama{and I'm not a big supporter] has done a great deal better with foreign policy than the previous president.
Thats too bad - we need to continue to support Obama and his quest for World Peace, give these countries more $$ so that they can be Democrats just like us.
We are not democrats we are a republic. There is a difference.
Democrat as in same as Obama - not a Democracy
Were a DEMOCRATIC nation except for the party of no.
They are slave owners.
children, we are a democratic republic look it up
You're a real hoot Chris D. I don't even want to guess what the D stands for. BTW it's not were ,it's we're as in we are.
To the REPUBLIC for which it stands!! One nation UNDER GOD!!
wlee-950886
You're a real hoot Chris D. I don't even want to guess what the D stands for. BTW it's not were ,it's we're as in we are.
The Spalling Kween only get an apple. Hardly worth it?
Grammar, spelling, punctuation, context, etc. only matters if the post cant be read or understood.
Were not in the English class, nor is there a good reason for any real accuracy when no one gets an A, let alone a C- .
Ill stick to content only and leave the accuracy to the proof reader just before print and sales.
umgawa
To the REPUBLIC for which it stands!! One nation UNDER GOD!!
Democratic Republic is not a trifle saying
Because were Not a :
Communist Republic
Socialist Republic
Or even a
Banana Republic ......... like the 1% owns right now.
UNDER GOD....... is a new comer.
It's a good start, but all aid to Pakistan that is humanitarian should be cut......next up should be Israel.
Russ, why Israel?
ren-755775
Russ, why Israel?
Let them join the human race with out our blood money and weapons.
Israel is rich enough, and they have back-stabbed us enough, like the Pakistan. Israel don't need our financial help, especially given the many secrets they have sold that conflicted with our best interests. We cannot trust Israel anymore than we can trust their enemies.
If for no other reason than the USS Liberty incident, which they claimed was a case of mistaken identity during a 2 hour campaign that killed 34 and wounded 170.
http://www.gtr5.com/
Russ, why did they cut off our aid flow too. Israel is our only ally in the region and I would trust them more then I would half the people in this country.
In Chris D, the D stands for dumbass.
Thank you B. Murphy. Never forget the USS Liberty, 8 June 1967.
B Murphy
They lied to keep our enemy Israel as our pseudo Ally.
Our Government likes to copulate like that.
unabridged
In Chris D, the D stands for dumbass.
A Genius like you must be liberal because the Republicans only want and hire the dain brammaged.
unabridged now there is a joke we can all laugh at.
I'm sure your dictionary isnt big enough to wipe your azz.
wlee-950886
Russ, why did they cut off our aid flow too. Israel is our only ally in the region and I would trust them more then I would half the people in this country.
That's what the brain dead also do, they chose one semantic over his brother semantic, and then doubled down on the wrong bet no matter what, full blinders blaring.
Stupid is what stupid does.
Chris--I see you removed the "D" from your screen name. Could it possibly be that you suddenly recognized that most here recognize you for what you are--an angry white male who has nothing to grasp but his diatribes on Newsvine. How pitiful your rantings are.
I think you smoke too much.
Delusions R uS you say.
Grasp, get your grasp off that thing, its nasty in public.
Educated, Im sure your worldly jaunts are talking right now but you should try to leave your state, or even your county once in your life, before you talk.
unabridged,
The probable reason he did that is that he made a complete fool out of himself and got caught in lies under that username, in several places, so he had to edit it. He'll get exposed again and again and likely will change it again later. Or, he will just go and create another username and account entirely when his lies about the Middle East get exposed for what they are.
The website you linked gives false information. The consensus is very different in the official documents. Full investigations were done by both chambers of Congress and by several other, independent, government agencies. All agreed that the incident was a tragic error caused by a breakdown in communications on the part of Israeli command staff and others.
For anyone to claim that no official investigation occurred is to emit a lie. In addition, Israel apologized for the incident and compensated the United States for the ship and for the crew members who died.
Pakistan is nothing more than a boil on the ass of southern Asia. It is a strategic ally of China. Pakistan is the 6th most populous country with approximately 170 million people and is the SECOND largest Muslim nation next to Indonesia. It has the "bomb" and often rubs its neighbor India the wrong way often enough to nearly start wars. It harbored Bin Laden; Its Secret Police often aides terrorists in their western mountains and elsewhere and kills off any political dissent not to its liking.
The "stew" that exists in that entire area is beginning to congeal into a nightmare of potential problems for other moderate neighbors in the area. With the fact that U.S. troops are pulling out of Iraq, Iran awaits its chance to inject its influence, even further, into the politics of Iraq. Things will not get better in the region. It will get progressively worse as the radical Islamic cancer spreads.
Sell your stocks; go to cash; and tell your ass hole Congressmen and Senators to aid our energy producers in this country by doing everything they can to promote oil and natural gas production in this country. We're going to need it!
We will all need house boats with that short sighted view of a cure.
Wait'll you see where gasoline prices are in less than two years...........and probably in much less time than that. Ask Saudi Arabia and some of its neighbors what they really think about Iran and Pakistan.
Although my thoughts are put forth in some generality, it is a fact that things are getting more tense while we once again sit from a distance and wait for the inevitable. Maybe I'm wrong but the fact of the matter is that Pakistan has the bomb and Iran is close to having it in reality with the help of other nation states, including our biggest "Trading Partner," China. The whores come out of the woodwork to make a buck including (apparently) the Koch brothers doing business through the back door with Iran. It's bad enough to have a group of religious fanatics from several countries wishing you and your family dead several times over but complacency by a country which was 'Whacked' pretty good just a few short years ago, forget, is unconscionable.
Don't forget GE, Wally.
To Waldo: I agree with most everything you said in your post except for the part about helping with the explotation of America's oil reserves. Granted we need to become self sufficient from OPEC, but, not at the cost of contaminating our drinking water. If you look at all the reports coming out of PA, about fracking and the problems it creating in the quest for oil and natural gas, you have to wonder is the oil really worth losing a more valuable resource-potable drinking water? Whole communities are becoming unliveable because of fracking, and now with explotation of the Bakken reserve in the upper midwest, (North Dakota among others), we're in for trouble down the road.
Oh sure, there's little unemployment right now in ND, but 15 yrs. from now when all the oil have been sucked from the shale, and the ground water contaminated, no one will be able to live there, and who would want to consume any agriculture produced in the aftermath? Anyone for some heavy metals, benzene, tumors, and a shortened lifespan due to medical complications? No thank you, you can keep that harvest of corn!
As for foreign aid to Pakistan, screw em! We've sent over 20 billion to them since 2004. How much of that money was used in poppie production, and worse yet, for the 2 factories producing ammonium nitrate that eventually made it to a IED that blew the legs off a family member, or friend in the US military trying to defend our country in a land where we are clearly not welcomed to begin with?
Keep ALL taxpayer money here in US, provide jobs repairing our aging infrastructure, and feed and take care of the homeless in America. Then, after reducing foreign aid, balancing the federal budget, and putting Americans back to work if any money is left over, foreign countries would have to be able give something in return. There should be no free lunch to these countries begging for money.
The U.S. for the first time EVER, has now become a NET Exporter of finished oil products! Oil and Natural Gas finds now equal, at least TWICE what was discovered in Alaska decades ago in just the areas of the Dakotas. The oil and gas drillers are coming up with new technologies in the field of Hydraulic Fracturing to extract product and will continue to find new ways of extracting it. With the Middle East in constant turmoil, our need to fend for ourselves is essential. Natural gas is so abundant in this country that it can and will fuel a national resurgence in new manufacturing here at home because of natural Gas's projected low cost to provide heat and energy to new businesses here. I totally support the protection of our aquifers and I believe that we can have that and produce our own energy while massively decreasing OPEC's influence and the transfer of WEALTH from this country to theirs. The time has come.
Ridiculous claptrap. Sea level rises have not done what has been claimed. In fact, they have slowed, and even in some regions of the ocean actually have fallen. That is partly why Tuvalu is getting such a hammering right now. When sea levels drop the trend often is worsening erosion and land loss because the waves undercut the soil and sand with every hit.
After Obama's Middle East apology tour, all these people were supposed to love us. Relations have never been worse and are still going downhill.
all these people were supposed to love us
Let me guess you got that one out a cracker jacks box?
No Chris, GOP/TP handbook talking point 422.
If the Pakiistanis need foreign aid then let the Saudis, the Bahranians and the Dubaians send it to them. Let the Arabs take care of their own. All of the Arab countries are more interested in keeping their dictatorships and monarchies in power and their citizens in check than they are in the War against Muslim insurgency. On the contrary, they want to keep the insurgency alive and well to insure the flow of American money and weapons. This is the same strategy used by despotic governments in Asia and South America for decades. No matter how badly you treat your citizens, if you fabricate and covertly support a revolutionary group you can depend on American military and economic aid. It is then a simple task for the ruling elite to then pocket the money. Easy way to keep an exhorbitant life style bankrolled.
kacz
No Chris, GOP/TP handbook talking point 422.
Must have embarrassed them having a liberal write the book for them?
An example of the kind of wasteful aid Ron Paul would end....
Its his "your on your own" crap that no one can swallow.
Chris D. you're on your own
wlee-950886
Chris D. you're on your own
Amateur is what the armature writes.
We wont hold our breath for a change any time soon.
I can't swallow the "let's keep being suckers" crap
Little wonder the US is broke and it's citizens are starving to death, have no health care, and are paying an arm and a leg for gas that comes from other countries that would be ruled by another if it were not for the USA. Our priorities are way out of whack in this country.
Always have been as I can attest being in Vietnam. What a farce. 58K died. 14 years, FOR WHAT?
For what?
Lies, ego, greed, and politicians.
Don't forget the industrial war machine too, Chris.
President Johnson was the major stock holder in Huey Helicopters. Nuff said.
Cheney, Bush and the oil companies. Yeah, Johnson was another Texan. Has anything good ever come out of Texas?
Wow such a terrible country makes you wonder why you live here, oh well you guys need a Kleenex.
oh riderup, many good things have come from Texas... just not some of the political leadership