[Article] Billions of dollars slated for allies

Victor

No mention of Ireland, damn we won't get those F-16s to protect the EU presidency from an Al-Qaeda style attack. :rolleyes: It's interesting that $12bn of "war" funds aren't going to the war.

http://home.eircom.net/content/reuters/worldnews/420536?view=Eircomnet

Billions of dollars slated for allies
From:Reuters
Tuesday, 25th March, 2003
By Adam Entous

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It can pay to be a member of President George W. Bush's coalition against Iraq.

Wrapped into the $75 billion (47 billion pound) war budget he proposed to Congress on Tuesday, were grants and loans worth billions of dollars for what he called "partners and friends" in the Middle East, including Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

Assistance is also being offered to many less obvious members of Bush's so-called "coalition of the willing" from Afghanistan and Colombia to the Philippines and Slovakia, which Bush said will help them "wage the broader war on terror".

Administration officials say the U.S. aid is urgently need to cushion the economic shock of war in the Middle East and beyond.

"Their economies are directly affected by the war and we are doing what we can to help them," an official said, noting that many countries supportive of the war effort were left out of the war budget.

Critics derided U.S. dollar-diplomacy as a bullying tactic to get less well-off countries to do Washington's bidding.

Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, called Bush's coalition of willing "C-O-W for short."

"It appears to me that the U.S. is the 'cow' -- the cash cow in this case. We are the ones being milked," Byrd said.

MUST BE APPROVED BY CONGRESS

According to White House documents, here's how some U.S. allies would benefit from Bush's budget plan, which must still be approved by Congress:

- Israel: $1 billion in direct military assistance and $9 billion in loan guarantees that could help Israel weather the economic shock of a war with Iraq.
- Jordan: $700 million in economic aid, including $250 million to address Jordan's "most pressing budgetary needs and debt service obligations." Jordan would also receive $406 billion in military aid.
- Egypt: $300 million in economic grants, a portion of which may be used to secure up to $2 billion in loan guarantees.
- Turkey: $1 billion in economic aid, which could support up to $8.5 billion in direct loans or loan guarantees. The White House dropped plans to provide $6 billion in direct aid and up to $24 billion in loans after the Turkish parliament refused to allow 62,000 U.S. troops into the country.
- Pakistan: $175 million for border security and to buy aircraft and radar systems.
- Afghanistan: $127 million would help the Afghan government combat terrorism; $170 million would be used to train and equip the Afghan National Army; millions more would fund reconstruction efforts.
- West Bank and Gaza: $50 million in direct support to "reduce terrorism and support the peace process."
- Colombia: $34 million to combat drug trafficking and terrorist activity. "It's stability is a linchpin of stability in the region," an administration official said of the Colombian aid.

Bush's war budget will also provide aid to Bahrain, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Djibouti and the Philippines, according to White House documents.

gandalf

$10 Billion to Israel, that’s not for shock because of the war, its to get Sharon out of a hole because of the military actions against the Palestinians.

My god Bush is really making an effort to alienate the Muslim world.

Gandalf.

DiscoStu

I wonder if Bertie will get his new government jet and get to finish the "Bertie Bowl" out of this?

As Pat Rabbitt said its the Coalition of the Shilling.

mike65

Originally posted by Victor
No mention of Ireland, damn we won't get those F-16s to protect the EU presidency from and Al-Qaeda style attacke. :rolleyes: [/url]

I'm not sure I'd be joking about that sort of thing...

Mike.

gandalf

Originally posted by mike65
I'm not sure I'd be joking about that sort of thing...

Mike.

Well not now that Bertie and the Spineless brigade have painted a big target on all our Ar$es.

I see Columbia in there as well I thought this was suppost to be for the Iraqi War. Looks like a few other "projects" were piggybacked into this budget. On a related note I see the US Senate has sliced that tax cuts that Little Bush got through Congress last week, mainly as a reaction to this war budget.

Gandalf.

davelerave

it's the 'supplemental ' that george bush spoke about ,remember that awful q&a session when he said everyone would show their hand at a second vote and it never happened.we're a member of the 'coallision' of the willing as bertie says but we wan't it kept quiet,a republic like ours should be able to come out and state where we stand and not be hidin' like this,i don't want any money for the use of shannon anyway and i'm kind of turning against the war now ,i can't see the point of it

Wook

'Critics derided U.S. dollar-diplomacy as a bullying tactic to get less well-off countries to do Washington's bidding.'

i wonder what else they could call it ?