posted August 11, 2006 04:53 PM              

By John Stanton and Wayne Madsen

John Stanton is a Virginia-based writer on national security affairs and Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist who writes and comments frequently on civil liberties and human rights issues.

Critics of the US war machine frequently cite U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower’s seminal speech in which he uncannily predicted the threat the "US military industrial complex" would pose to America and the world. In 1961, Eisenhower, a retired U.S. Army general who led the allied invasion of Germany in WWII, uttered these prescient words, "…In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together…"

If only the citizenry had listened.

Eisenhower’s feared military industrial complex has been swept aside by the U.S. War Corporation. It took just forty-two years for the War Corporation to eliminate the dividing line between the U.S. military and U.S. industry and eradicate the troublesome provisions of Posse Comitatus – an 1878 law that forbids military involvement in most domestic affairs, including law enforcement. The War Corporation has its tentacles in every element of the American political, military, economic and cultural milieu, and it affects the lives of every citizen in every country on the planet. It operates in the heavens, has claimed the Earth’s moon and, perhaps, through the U.S. Air Force’s Planetary Defense operation, has some Strangelovian designs for Mars.

The United States of America has been at war with the world since Eisenhower made his remarks 42 years ago. From 1961 to 2002, the War Corporation has fueled the fires of death and destruction in every corner of the globe in order to make the world safe-for-profit, using the clever ruses of freedom and democracy. The evidence is astounding and sickening: the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the bombing of Libya, the indiscriminant offshore shelling of Lebanon by U.S. battleships, the invasion of Grenada, the invasion of Panama, the Persian Gulf War, daily bombings of Iraq in the "no fly zone", ill-conceived military interventions into Somalia and Haiti, cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan and innocents in Sudan, U.S. state-sponsored assassinations in Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Congo, Rwanda, Brazil, Colombia, a likely resumption of nuclear testing, and, finally, the War in Afghanistan and the War on Terrorism.

To make some interventions more palatable to the public, the Pentagon devised Orwellian-sounding code names to convey "good intentions" – Operations Provide Comfort (Kurdistan), Noble Eagle (the War on Terrorism), Enduring Freedom (War in Afghanistan), Restore Hope (Somalia), Just Cause (Panama), Uphold Democracy (Haiti), Guardian Retrieval (Zaire), Shepherd Venture (Guinea-Bissau), Noble Response (Kenya), and one that could have only been devised by a military Freemason with entirely too much time on his hands, Noble Obelisk (Sierra Leone).

How many wars will a society tolerate until it says no more?

Arms For All

Consider the despicable global arms trade in which the U.S. dominates. The U.S. will sell weapons, gear and training to all comers with cash or a country with exploitable geography and resources. The U.S. War Corporation counts as its clients Chad, with an annual per capita income of $230, and Kenya, whose law enforcement is skilled at "common methods of torture…including hanging persons upside down for long periods, genital mutilation, electric shocks, and deprivation of air by submersion of the head in water", according to the Council for a Livable World (CLW). Despite all this, the American citizenry refuses to heed Eisenhower’s warning and has taken its liberty "for granted," placing its trust in U.S. officials who see "evil" and threats in every corner.

For this ignorance-of-the-damned, the American people have now brought upon themselves the militarization of American society that Eisenhower so feared, and that Herbert Marcuse so eloquently described in One Dimensional Man. The American people are routinely psyop’ed by the War Corporation into an "us-versus-them" mentality; we’re right, your wrong—no argument allowed. Is it any surprise that a less enlightened retired U.S. Army General, Colin Powell, recently admitted that the War on Terrorism will never end "in our lifetime"? Today, sadly, the U.S. War Corporation has taken almost complete control of America and has marshaled its entire war machinery against approximately 33 foreign terrorist groups, numbering perhaps 5,000 to 8,000 individuals who are mostly impoverished and oppressed by ruthless regimes who retaliate with the armaments, strategies and tactics purchased from the U.S. War Corporation.

GlobalIssues.org reports that close to $1 trillion dollars is spent on worldwide military expenditures and the international weapons trade. They rightly point out that globalization has caused weapons makers to take a globalization and porous border approach to selling weapons. In the words of one U.S. "defense" contractor, "We have no allegiance, this is a business and we sell to whatever country can afford them." The CLW’s research indicates that U.S. military spending comprises over half (53 percent) of total discretionary spending ($755 billion), an increase from 48 percent in fiscal year 2001. The proposed military budget of $396.1 billion is 15 percent higher than the average Cold War budget, even in today's dollars. CLW reports that from 1946 to 1989 the U.S. budget authority for defense was an average of $343 billion a year (fiscal year 2003 dollars). In terms of outlays, according to the Senate Budget Committee minority staff, the proposed spending in fiscal year 2003 exceeds the Cold War average by $44 billion. How much money is enough?

Forget the Poor

Just a fraction of what is spent on defense might – probably would – eliminate many of the conditions that breed terrorists in today’s world. Oscar Arias Sanchez, the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of Costa Rica declared, "The world's priorities are wrong. With just a small amount of what the world spends on defense, we could address poverty, inequality, illiteracy, disease, environmental degradation, and drought."

In 2002, the War Corporation’s "center-of-gravity or nexus of operations", as it is known in war-speak, is in the Washington, D.C. metro region and includes the U.S. Presidency and U.S. Congress, uniformed and non-uniformed war contractors (to include the four military branches, weapons manufacturers and mercenaries), war intelligence agencies, various war departments operating under Zemyatinesqe names like the Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Justice, and President of the United States. Even toy companies and bubble gum trading card companies are in on the war gig. And why not? It is the number one business in America. For just $45.00 American children can have their very own "Tora Bora Ted, Swift Freedom Delta Force Night OPS" action figure to replace GI Joe. Operation Enduring Freedom bubble gum cards are also on the streets. No, not even children are spared the insanity of the War Corporation’s propaganda.

A major U.S. War Corporation bureau of information -- NBC News -- is owned by major weapons contractor, General Electric, which runs advertisements extolling the virtues of its global reach. According to globalissues.org, America’s leading weapons maker, Lockheed Martin, ran an advertisemnt claiming "the perception of peace means less jobs for Americans". But the Turks build F16s, not Americans. Another Lockheed Martin propaganda piece claimed the F-22 was an antiwar plane. Many advertisements run on all the major networks emphasized that a better fighter plane would ensure loved ones can come back home. The U.S. Congress buys these claims, in the fishing metaphor, hook-line- and sinker. Between 1990 and 2002, opensecrets.org reports that the U.S. War Corporation weapons makers contributed more than $67 million to the U.S. Congress to protect their global interests. In one of the more crass instances of U.S. "defense" contractor lobbying, the weapons contractors defeated a U.S. Congressional resolution recognizing Turkey’s culpability in the Armenian genocide in 1919. The reason? Turkey threatened to cancel U.S. military contracts.

The War Corporation influences politics and economics in every state of the American Union and as far away as provinces in China, on the sparsely populated Cook Islands in the South Pacific, and in more familiar places like Nicaragua, where it recently fixed the outcome of a national election, and Colombia, where the U.S. War Corporation helped assassinate a Catholic Bishop opposed to the U.S. puppet regime there.

Profiting From Middle East Bloodshed

Perhaps nowhere is the War Corporation’s influence seen more vividly than in the current turmoil in the Middle East. The U.S. Department of State is completely militarized under the regime of Colin Powell — who helped whitewash the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam, his deputy Richard Armitage -- a former U.S. Special Forces and CIA dirty tricks operator in Southeast Asia, and Middle East Special Envoy retired US Marine Corps General and American proconsul Anthony Zinni. These so-called "diplomats" are the major U.S. players ostensibly responsible for bringing "peace" to the region. But as Robin Wright, a respected Middle East expert, pointed out in her column in the Los Angeles Times on March 31, 2002, even Kuwait has had enough of U.S. duplicity in the region.

"11 years after Kuwait was freed, about 4,000 demonstrators rallied at Flag Square in Kuwait City to denounce Israel and the United States. With the speaker of the Kuwaiti parliament and other top ministers present, the crowd shouted, "No god but Allah! America enemy of Allah!" and "Muslims, Muslims unite! Death to Israel, death to America!" the Reuters news agency reported.

In a reflection of shifting sentiments over the last 18 months, since the latest Palestinian Intifada began, the crowd also roared, "America and Zionism are against the Muslim nation!" Rallying on behalf of the Palestinians and against the United States is particularly ironic because the Palestinians sided with Iraq, not the Kuwaiti monarchy, during the 1991 Persian Gulf War." But that’s of little consequence to the U.S. War Corporation.

Most Middle East analysts, from ex-Reagan administration department heads to former President Jimmy Carter -- experts who have traditionally remained committed to even-handedness in their commentaries -- are blaming the Bush administration, and primarily the State Department, for allowing events to explode out of control in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There should be little wonder why the U.S. chose passive disengagement over active engagement. After all, as Israel commits more occupying troops to the West Bank and Gaza, they will require more U.S. weaponry – tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, and consultants from the likes of MPRI and Dyncorp. And who will profit from prolonging bloodshed in the Middle East? The U.S. War Corporation and its surrogates.

In the fiscal year 2002 budget, Israel was allotted $2.04 billion in U.S. military aid. Under a memorandum of understanding signed between the U.S. and Israel on January 19, 2001, just a day before Bush’s appointment to the US presidency, U.S. military aid to Israel will likely grow to $2.4 billion by 2008. As Israel’s right-wing militaristic government continues to flex its muscles, its Arab neighbors will increase their own military stockpiles. Three of them – Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia -- are among the largest recipients of U.S. military weaponry. From 1999 to 2000, Egypt received $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid and Jordan got $123 million. While Saudi Arabia receives no outright U.S. military assistance, it has bought over $33.5 billion of the most sophisticated U.S. weapons systems (AWACS, F-15’s and more) over the past ten years. That’s more than U.S. military assistance given to Israel and Egypt combined.

Among the most vociferous propagandists of the Bush administration’s ratcheting up of Middle East tensions, ludicrous military spending, and U.S. takeover of the Persian Gulf and Middle East are retired U.S. military generals whose telephone numbers cram every cable and non-cable network producer’s Rolodex. The current crop of Pentagon generals and admirals unknowingly betray a long tradition of senior U.S. military officers refraining from political activity. Generals William Tecumseh Sherman and George Marshall refrained from voting, reflecting their desire for political neutrality among the officer corps. But that is of no consequence to the troupe of military officers who mock Dwight Eisenhower.

Weapons Everyone, Weapons!

According to a Congressional Research Service study, Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, poor countries bought 68 percent of U.S. weapons output. American weapons producers signed contracts for some $18.6 billion dollars in 2000, up from around $12.9 billion dollars the previous year. U.S. contracts accounted for 49.7 percent of global sales in 2000 and the U.S. controlled half of the developing world's arms market with $12.6 billion in sales. CLW commented that "this dominance of the global arms market is not something in which the American public or policy makers should applaud. The U.S. routinely sells weapons to undemocratic regimes and gross human rights abusers." That list of countries includes those that Americans believe are trustworthy allies. These include Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Kuwait, Turkmenistan and Turkey.

Meanwhile, back in the United States, War Corporation member, Joint Strike Fighter winner and largest weapons producer -- Lockheed Martin -- is busy behind the scenes operating home mortgage tracking databases for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and providing state and local law enforcement and correctional facilities with an "Integrated Justice Information System," a platform which "integrates and modernize systems for law enforcement, courts, and corrections". Why do they need that business? The rationale behind the "commercial" ventures, and for those of every weapons contractor, is to make sure that enough profit is made courtesy of public largesse to keep weapons production lines open.

While Lockheed Martin personnel are hailed as "heroes", few know that Lockheed’s mixed history includes bribing Japanese government officials in 1976. That action led fellow War Corporation member, the U.S. Congress, to pass the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 1977. And as of 2000, Lockheed Martin and the majority of U.S. weapons manufacturers refused to renounce production of landmines and their deployment along the Korean demilitarized zone and other killing fields in Africa and South Asia.

Landmines

On that cheery note, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines reports that the U.S. government admantly refuses to ban or place a moratorium on the production of antipersonnel mines. According to the United States Campaign to Ban Landmines, those devices kill 18,000 people a year, most of them civilians. The stockpile cap announced on January 17, 1997 does not preclude the production of new antipersonnel mines to replace those used in future combat operations. Former US Army Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, who was recently portrayed by Mel Gibson in the movie When We Were Soldiers, in a letter to President Bush, stated, "landmines pose a particularly grave threat to refugees and the internally displaced as they seek to return home and rebuild their lives." He and other retired military veterans urged Bush to sign the international Mine Ban Treaty in a March 12, 2002 letter.

Yet, the U.S. War Corporation ignores their pleas. The U.S. is currently producing M87A1 Volcano mine canisters containing antivehicle mines at the Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant in Texarkana, Texas. This is a government-owned facility operated by War Corporate member Day and Zimmerman. Although the production of these mines is scheduled to end next November, the death and mayhem caused by these inhuman weapons have already been dealt.

In the end, the worst hit are the young people of the world. Because many anti-personnel mines look like toys, children have been attracted to them, with many losing their arms, legs, and eyesight, if not their lives. But there can never be too many weapons. The problem of overproduction was solved by George Orwell’s "Oceania" in 1984: "As for the problem of overproduction . . . it is solved by the device of continuous warfare, which is also useful in keying up public morale to the necessary pitch."

Dwight Eisenhower, igonored by the U.S. War Corporation in his post-presidency, uttered words seemingly too lofty for the current generation of war mongers to understand: "… Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war -- as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years -- I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight."

posted August 11, 2006 06:56 PM            

What? You don't want that? Of course not, then how would those corrupt governments steal the US AID and use it to buy weapons of mass destruction?

Do you spend hours upon hours trying to find lies posted on propaganda websites that make the US look like crap? What is your big contribution to society? Well, besides you hosting terrorist parties. LOL...

------------------
The democratic world believes that it is not the terrorists that are to blame, but us. Us, the westerners.
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the sooner you eliminate this misconception from your minds, the better.
We are NOT to blame. It is the freaking terrorists and the freaking terrorists only!!!! They are the bad guys. They do not understand concepts like peace, democracy, and respect for human life. They are, pure and simPle, EVIL!!!!! Behind all their political manipulations, if you carefully look at the actions of these MONSTERS, they are EVIL!!

http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000489.htm

posted August 11, 2006 07:23 PM            

As usual, these twit writers and pundits totally forget the United States was directly attacked at home and abroad beginning in the 1980's and culminating on 9/11/2001.

Of course the US is going to go after the terrorists...unless there's a weak kneed twit in the White House who ignored the attacks all through the 1990's like Commander Corruption.

Of course the military needs weapons to fight them. That doesn't mean the line has been erased between the military and weapons manufacturers or between the civilian government and the weapons manufacturers.

Just more rubbish from twit leftists who would have America ignore terrorist attacks against the US or any attack against the US.

I notice when the press or some twit writer...such as these writers is shot and killed or kidnapped by the very same terrorists they're trying to shelter and protect, they screech, scream, whine, moan and wet themselves that they weren't adequately protected.

The US is damned if they do and damned if they don't.

For that reason, if for no other, these twits aren't worthy of wasting the time to read. As more people are coming to the same conclusion, main stream news outlets and broadcast media are losing readers, viewers and advertising revenue, laying off journalists, staff and attempting to shake up their news divisions.

posted August 11, 2006 07:31 PM            

MORE and MORE people are getting tired of the terrorists actions, the BS spread by Hezbollah, Hamas and other factions. We are tired of the lies from the left.

EVEN here on Lindaland there seems to be a growing number of people that are conservative and support the US.

posted August 11, 2006 07:31 PM              

quote:

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I don't understand the hatred or fear towards the US

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posted August 11, 2006 11:23 PM              

Remarks at Initiative for Global Development Event

Karen P. Hughes, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
National Corporate Philanthropy Day
Seattle, WA
February 27, 2006

I bring greetings from our Secretary of State and from President Bush. It’s great to be here in Seattle, home of coffee, software, and one of the most magnificent natural settings you can find anywhere in America. My family has enjoyed vacationing here – we took the ferry and toured the beautiful San Juan islands. I was drawn here today not because of the splendor of Mother Nature, but because of the generosity of human nature. Today is National Corporate Philanthropy Day and I could not think of a better place to honor this day than here, because of Seattle’s well-deserved reputation for generosity and concern for the welfare not only of its citizens but for citizens throughout the entire world. Only in America would business leaders come together – as you have – without encouragement or pressure from the government – and form an Initiative for Global Development with a breathtakingly ambitious goal of "eliminating extreme global poverty."

What a bold, risky, challenging declaration! And how uniquely American in its scope, optimism and ambition. I’ve really come to Seattle to SALUTE YOU because today – this city, its business leaders and private citizens – represent the compassionate, can-do spirit of Americans at work in our world. As President Bush said as he proclaimed this National Corporate Philanthropy Day: "By raising awareness, dedicating resources, and creating service opportunities, you encourage American businesses and employees to engage in the social entrepreneurship that reflects the generosity and true spirit of our Nation."

This spirit, while extraordinary, is not unique to this moment in history.

More than 160 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville was struck by the generosity and charity of Americas – by a volunteer spirit that didn’t wait for governments or someone else to step forward, but come together to build churches, organize schools, and form civic organizations. He said, "When an American needs the assistance of his fellows, it is very rare for that to be refused. When some unexpected disaster strikes a family, a thousand strangers willingly open their purses."

Today, this American spirit is reflected in the work of the Gates Foundation. Today, I was a guest at a lunch hosted by one of the Initiative for Global Development founders, William Gates, Sr. If de Tocqueville had attended today’s lunch with me, I suspect he would have quickly understood why Bill and Melinda Gates were named TIME MAGAZINE’s PERSONS OF THE YEAR. It might have taken him a while longer to figure out the connection with Bono!

These three people didn’t earn this recognition because they had a lot of extra time on their hands, or didn’t have anything else to do – these are busy, extraordinarily successfully people with huge companies and rock bands to lead, yet united by their recognition of the massive problem of poverty and a call to share their blessings to do something about it.

As Melinda Gates said, "We’re optimistic because, while the statistics are daunting, we know these problems can be solved. Many of the answers already exist. But they require that public and private sectors step up their investments dramatically to reduce the inequities that divide our world. It isn’t enough simply to be aware of the problems; to make a difference, every one of us must take action."

I was recently privileged to hear Bono’s moving remarks at a National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC – talk about surreal. He wore leather and those cool pink shades – yet even though he wears his sunglasses indoors, Bono sees so clearly the world’s terrible problems and our responsibilities to out fellow human beings. I have to admit, it made me proud as an American to hear this Irish musician praise our country’s leadership.

Bono said, "After 9/11, we were told America would have no time for the world’s poor. America would be taken up with its own problems of safety. And it’s true these are dangerous times, but America has not drawn the blinds and double-locked its doors. In fact, you, Mr. President, have doubled aid to Africa. You have tripled funding for global health…your emergency plan for AIDS relief and support for the global fund…have put 471,000 people on to life saving anti-retroviral drugs…and provided 8 million bed nets to protect children from malaria."

Of course, being Bono, he went on to challenge us to do even more as an American family to step up our giving. From the Gates Foundation to the government, we are responding to that call in a remarkable way.

Our American spirit of giving springs from a lot of things – our sense of moral duty and responsibility, the sense that as a country that has been richly blessed, we have an obligation to give back and help others. I believe one of the prime motivators of our generosity is our gratitude – from the time of that first Thanksgiving, when Pilgrims who had been through so much death and hardship on their journey, paused to give thanks for the bounty of this new, free land – and shared that celebration with others. The act of giving also reflects one of our founding convictions – that every person has worth, and dignity and value, because we were endowed those by our Creator. And if we truly believe that, we cannot hoard it – because those are God’s gifts to all people, everywhere. In today’s age of instant technology and international travel, our interests are also increasingly linked with those of people throughout the world – from security, to prosperity to control of infectious diseases. America’s prosperity is inextricably linked to the global economy.

As you well know, because America invested in rural development in India through the green revolution of the 1970s and 80s, India is today able to meet its indigenous food needs and is today a thriving market for U.S. goods and services. 43 of the top 50 consumer nations of American agricultural products were once recipients of U.S. foreign aid.

Our giving has helped develop a more prosperous world – and it can also help advance a more peaceful world. As President Bush has said, for 60 years, western nations ignored the freedom deficit in the Middle East, believing that stability would lead to security – in the aftermath of September 11th, we learned that tyranny, hopelessness lack of opportunity can lead to resentment that can fester and explode in American cities – by promoting freedom, investing in good governance, helping nations establish a civil society and the rule of law, we make lives better for people as we make the world more secure and avoid failed states like Afghanistan under Taliban rule where Al Qaeda was free to operate and plan attacks against us.

It is a privilege for me as a government official to represent a generous nation that is active and engaged in our world. I do worry that neither the world nor our fellow Americans truly recognize the scope of our giving.

In 2004, according to the latest Annual Report on Philanthropy, charitable giving by America’s 965,000 charity organizations totaled $248 billion. Despite the ups and downs of the economy, American philanthropy has increased in 39 of the last 40 years.

These private efforts often complement the President’s broad humanitarian and development agenda — an effort to build democratic institutions and spread freedom, reduce poverty, improve the status of women and girls, expand educational opportunity, promote good governance, fight infectious diseases, and provide disaster relief and humanitarian aid.

Under President Bush’s leadership, the United States of America has embarked on the most ambitious development agenda since the Marshall Plan. The final figures will be announced next week, but in the almost five years since September 11, America has tripled our Official Development Assistance (ODA), both bilateral and multilateral, to more than $27 billion in calendar year 2005.

U.S. foreign assistance programming is diverse. It includes humanitarian aid,

Economic growth & trade;
Agricultural;
Global health;
Conservation of natural resources;
Democracy and governance;
Education
Yet one of the most unique parts of this American story is that all of this official development assistance is overshadowed by our country’s other humanitarian and development commitments around the world. In fact, total non-governmental resource flows from the U.S to the developing world outstrip official development aid by more than four to one. This includes contributions from foundations like the Gates Foundation, corporations, I’m sure many represented in this room, private and voluntary organizations, universities and colleges, religious congregations and individual remittances. Today, more than 80% of US resource flows moving into the developing world come from the private sector; less than 20% come from government. A little more than three decades ago, the proportions were reversed.

We are witnessing a unique moment in which America’s foreign assistance programs can have great and lasting impact – not only because we are committing more public and private resources – but also because we are altering the landscape of our foreign assistance programs with a commitment to results, a commitment to reform and a commitment to partnership.

In the end, what counts is not just what we spend, but what we achieve, so one of the ways the Bush administration has transformed the landscape of development assistance through the Millennium Challenge account. This new approach that ties unprecedented levels of direct assistance to accountability, transparency and measurable outcomes. The President said, "When nations close their markets and opportunity is hoarded by a privileged few -no amount- of development aid is ever enough. When nations respect their people, open markets, invest in better health and education, every dollar of aid, every dollar of trade revenue, and domestic capital is used more effectively." To qualify for funding, countries must meet a tough set of standards that have broad international consensus. Eligible nations have to meet traditional economic targets for growth and poverty reduction. And they have to meet other goals as well: fighting corruption, educating girls and making rural development a priority – in short, investing in the lives of their people.

Secretary Rice has advanced this reform of foreign assistance even further by strengthening the ties between the State Department and our development agency and creating a new position of Deputy Secretary of State for Foreign Assistance who also serves as Administrator of USAID. The goal is to make foreign assistance more strategic, coherent and accountable, thereby increasing its effectiveness.

As Secretary Rice has said, "transformational diplomacy is rooted in partnership, not paternalism, in doing things with other people, not for them. We seek to use America’s diplomatic power to help foreign citizens to better their own lives, and to build their own nations and to transform their own futures.

There is no better example of how this works than the President’s emergency plan for AID relief. The scope of the AIDS tragedy is almost beyond comprehension – as a mother, I think of it in terms of its impact on children. A child is orphaned more than 6,000 times a day. Today, tomorrow and the day after. As Bono said at the prayer breakfast, in Africa we are losing 150,000 people every month to AIDS– the equivalent of a tsunami every single month.

By committing $15 billion over five years to the fight against AIDS, America is leading the largest health initiative for a single disease every undertaken – and we can measure its impact one life at a time. Take the story of Brenda, who lives in a small village in Guyana – she is alive and has a healthy baby today because of U.S. taxpayers. When Brenda became pregnant for the second time, she learned that she was HIV positive. Through the Prevention of Mother to Child transmission program which Americans fund, Brenda received prenatal care and counseling. She learned that despite her diagnosis, she could still lead a full and productive life. With antiretroviral treatments and special precautions, she delivered a health HIV free baby. Brenda has given back as well—she is now an educator helping other young mothers avoid transmitting this disease to their children. Brenda’s story is one of what is increasingly becoming a much larger story of life and hope.

In its first two years, the President’s Emergency plan for AIDS prevention has helped nearly 2 million women protect their babies from HIV. 42 million have been taught how to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV through the ABC program: Abstain, Be Faithful and Correct, Consistent use of condoms. 471,000 people today receive antiretroviral drug treatments, up from 50,000 when the program started. And almost 3 million people, including orphans and vulnerable children, receive care they need.

And beyond AIDS, we know from long experience that there is no greater return on any single investment in a society’s welfare than the education of women and girls. In all its foreign assistance and development efforts, the Bush administration has made it a priority to support the advancement of women. Just last week, as an example, I was in Dubai to announce two initiatives to increase the participation of women in Middle Eastern societies. The first will train women entrepreneurs and expand their contacts and networks; the second is a partnership between Microsoft and the International Institute of Education to train 800 to 1000 UAE women in computer and IT skills – and this will serve as a model for similar programs in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and Iraq.

We also work to empower women’s voices in the political process. In Cambodia, more than 900 women were elected to local offices – two thirds had taken part in leadership training supported by American taxpayers.

In Africa, one of the primary goals of the President’s Education Initiative is to enroll more girls in school. We’re meeting that goal through a program that will provide 550,000 scholarships to girls in 40 nations at the primary and secondary level.

Throughout the world, the generosity of Americans is making a difference in people’s lives and futures – and increasingly, we are doing so through innovative partnerships with the private sector.

Private Sector

USAID’s Global Development Alliance partners government with NGOs, companies, and foundations, including the Gates foundation here in Seattle.

Each of these alliances is unique.

In Mali, for example, our government partnered with the Louisiana-based firm Schaffer & Associates to build a sugar plant and end Mali's costly dependence on sugar imports.

In Peru and Brazil, the U.S. is working with local communities to end illegal logging of endangered mahogany forests and develop plans for sustainable forestry.

In Armenia, we have teamed with local NGOs and the U.N. to issue housing vouchers and grants to provide homes to some of the 500,000 families who have been living in emergency shelters since the huge earthquake of 1988.

This Global Development Alliance is no longer thought of as just a trendy innovation. To date, its $1.1 billion in taxpayer funded investments has leveraged more than $3.7 billion in additional private development funds. This year, it was recognized by the Kennedy School of Government and received its Lewis and Clarke award for its Innovation in Government Program.

I have also established a new office of public private partnership in my Office of Public Diplomacy at the State Department. It is headed by B.J. Goergen who is with me today. We are partnering with the private sector on projects as varied as mentoring business women, training journalists, working with the travel industry to make our airports more welcoming, working with our vibrant sports community to bring children from across the world to the united states and then Germany to attend the World Cup.

One of the most visible – and most successful examples – is in the area of humanitarian assistance. Last November, I traveled to Pakistan with a group of CEOs: Hank McKinnell of Pfizer, Anne Mulcahey of Zerox and Jim Kelly with UPS. We saw unbelievable devastation, toured tent cities, held babies who had been orphaned. Hank handed out medicines at a Mash unit – witnessed the heroism of our military, whose helicopters delivered supplies to remote mountain regions that couldn’t be reached other ways. These leaders were joined by Sandy Weill of Citigroup and Jeff Immelt of General Electric – and they have now raised more than 100 million dollars to contribute to a total of more than half billion in U.S. help for earthquake victims. These business leaders joined government because it was the right thing to do, because they wanted to help – it also gave a very different view of America to people in a strategically vital country. Today, I want to congratulate and thank those CEOs for a remarkable effort. I also recently traveled to Central America with Steve Reinemund of PepsiCo and Bob Lane of John Deere who are raising funds to help victims of terrible flooding caused by tropical storms and hurricanes there. The sun inevitably rises and sets over terrible natural disasters throughout our world – just as inevitably, Americans will be there to bring help and hope to people in need.

Consider the achievements over the last fifty years. US foreign assistance has helped rebuild a stable, prosperous and democratic Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Chile. Our immunization programs have saved millions of children’s lives, low-cost rehydration therapy has helped contribute to a 33% increase in life expectancy in the developing world; small pox has been eradicated worldwide; in the past 20 years the number of the world’s chronically undernourished has been reduced by 50%; literacy rates are up 33% worldwide in the last 25 years and primary school enrollment has tripled in that period as well.

You could look at the world today and view this as a moment of peril – because of terror, because of the proliferation of WMD, because of humanitarian crises like the devastation of AIDs in Africa. Yet with strong American leadership, I believe this can be an incredibly optimistic time for the advance of human freedom.

I’ll never forget the first time I visited New York after the attacks of September 11. I emailed a friend, 3 major reactions: horror – nothing prepared me for the moment motorcade turned corner and saw that pile of still smoldering steel; sorrow – so many families lost loved ones, hole in heart of Manhattan, yet in end, inspiration – still get goose bumps think about as our motorcade left city that night, thousands of people lined streets, holding candles, shouting thank you to the volunteers and God Bless America.

Almost five years later, still our reactions – horror, as we look at who our enemies are, see so clearly the contrast with what we as Americans strive to be; sorrow, because we know the worth and value, the precious nature of every single life. Yet in the end, inspired, (all of us, and a whole new generation of young people have been called to service and to our better selves) and reminded that we are part of an American story that is so much bigger than our individual lives. We have seen evil, and have been reminded it is real. The only way to overcome it is with good, the gathering momentum of millions of acts of kindness, service and sacrifice. To the people, the business leaders of Seattle, thank you for using your lives to make a difference in the lives of others.

Thank you, may God bless you, and God continue to bless your communities and your families.

posted August 12, 2006 01:40 AM              

The fact is that the U.S., U.K., China, Russia, and France, all 5 top members of the UN Security Council, are the largest weapons suppliers in the world with the U.S. leading the pack.

When the U.S. cannot supply weapons itself it employs illegal weapons dealers to make the deals with countries it cannot legally sell weapons to. Which probably explains how the U.S. weapons got into the hands of the terrorist group, Hezbollah.

The continuing slaughter in Africa where millions of innocent people, including millions of children , have been brutally murdered, is with the use of U.S. weapons and U.S. military training in support of dictators who use that weaponry to repress their own people. I posted that information on my thread regarding the finding of U.S. weapons in the hands of Hezbollah.

We also trained Osama bin Laden.

Just follow the money trail. It's all about American interest and profit for the Military/Industrial Complex. The same group that not only advocates and profits off of war, death and destruction buys the votes of Congress.

Jwhop, you should say more accurately, "the WINNING anti-war group."

posted August 12, 2006 02:35 AM              

Whether I like democracy or not has nothing to do with the issue. The US's main interests are not for the people of those countries they create wars in.

I was born and educated here so yes I can thank the institutions and the many people educated from various parts of the world that educated me. If I was born and lived in Pakistan, I could have probably afforded more education than I could buy here.

Again the American policy does not care about bringing equality and fairness or establishing order if it is not in alignment with their interests.

posted August 12, 2006 12:53 PM              

And once again....

Had you been to Pakistan during your years in school, regardless of the amount of money your family had, because of the laws/religious fanatism/sexism there, you would not have been allowed to get an education, don't tap dance around what I pointed out. You know it is true. You would be locked away, covered from head to toe and kept in the dark about much of anything, beaten when your husband sees fit. I've read about Sharia, your Islamic laws/way of life, does it appeal to you DD? Would you like to live like that? I mean you are such a devoted Muslim, does the thought of living this way, appeal to you? I really need to know, because I don't think you look at the whole picture but rather selective thinking with many shortcuts. I am trying to get you to open your eyes, instead of being so hateful towards the Western world and our way of life.

posted August 12, 2006 02:39 PM              

The negative is in your foreign policy that the rest of the world is turning against you on for. It's not wise to ignore this, this what the world is watching you on.

The war in Afghanistan was to get bin laden. Instead of killing bin laden the US is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocents and destruction of their infrastructure. The people of Afghanistan had to have their homes and privacy ripped away.

The war in Iraq was supposed to uncover wmd. You did not come up with a single wmd. Instead your admin has helped kill over 100,000 Iraqis and has bombed and destroyed their homes, their schools, their hospitals, their roads, their bridges, their lives. Your admin has planted the seed that has allowed for the violence in Iraq today.

Open your eyes. Because your country invaded and terrorised the people of Afghanistan and Iraq who had nothing to do with 9/11, you have created a monster of anti-American sentiment, more than all your weapons and bombs can destroy.

I urge you to take a real good look at the negative because I care about the state of your country and its people. You cannot solve things through covering your eyes and plugging your ears. You canot solve this problem through deception and bloodshed.

posted August 12, 2006 02:46 PM              

The fact is you do not know how it is, you have not been to those countries, you don't seem to know anyone from those countries either, from the questions you pose and comments you make to me. You have been spoon fed stereotypes about Muslims around the world by your government and media. I have friends and family from these countries. The women from there are highly educated and have many of the freedoms people here have, whether you care to believe it or not. I'm not going to spend my time here trying to convince you.

Of course I have non-Muslim friends, most of my friends are non-Muslim.

posted August 13, 2006 01:09 AM              

I do not have any friends that are Muslim (but would welcome any type of person as a friend if they are peaceful and are no threat to me or my right to be), but have had Muslim co-workers, whom were very nice ppl. I don't "go there" trying to convert anyone to my religion, that is a private and personal matter and the context of freedom. Nor do I hold that they are lesser than I for not being like me. I live and let live. It is not wired in my belief to make it a point to convert or kill "infidels", which is what I think "extremists" are all about and has been an on going issue with the tribes in the Middle East. Freedom and equality is what the Western world is about, the people that live in the US acccept others different than themselves, and this country as well as Canada and the UK, accept all with open arms, to make a good life for themselves,to succeed and thrive. And may that always reign in the Western world and Europe as well as other parts of the world. That is the beauty of what this part of the world was founded on. I am not on a high horse, but I do love the life and idealogy that this side of the hemisphere has provided me. And I certainly won't rally for terrorists. I straddle the fence on alot of things, and learn about life as I go along. In everything, you can find both the positive and the negative. The US governemnt is no acception. Some Muslim followers are no acception. What the central point of all this is, is two different ideas of how to live...and the sad fact is it is only bringing death. Blood on both sides hands.

No weapons of mass destruction found, but that does not take away from the fact that Iraq was ruled by a dictator and that Saddam was a part of terrorist connections in the Middle East. Yes, the US has a history of conflict with other countries and then REBUILDING them...no other country in the world ever did that.

posted August 13, 2006 01:59 AM              

In 2002 Mukhtaran Bibi was gang raped for the alleged misconduct of her brother on the orders of her village elders. She decided to seek justice and testified against her perpetrators in court, and six were convicted. All have since been released. Urge the government of Pakistan to publicly act to fully respect and protect the rights of Pakistani women, so that cases like Ms. Bibi's do not recur.

Look, please do not gloss over the fact that there are still stigmas that women face in Pakistan and the Middle East in general, how dare you turn a blind eye to your sisters...and it has alot to do with Sharia's law...you need to open your eyes to this my friend..it is real and no amount of you denying that will change it. In the US womens' rights has been something rallyed for and won. Women in the western world are treatd MUCH more fairly than those under Sharia, it's a fact that you need to open your eyes to.

posted August 13, 2006 02:24 AM              

Which is, I must point out, deeply imbedded in the Muslim faith (albeit not modern level headed/westernized Muslims)..which is what the issue is here concerning womens rights..which must be recognised globaly..and why democracy is what will snuff out this type of ideology.

Lexigram: EVOLVE = LOVE EVE

time for the pendulum to swing...patriarh has had it's time with all it's guns and weapons...time for matriah...the loving Mother energy..isn't it time women had a say? The only way that will happen is???

posted August 13, 2006 02:35 AM              

I can see you are coming from a biased perspective of women in the Muslim world. You like to fit all Muslim women and their lives in the Muslim world as the same. That is your error.

I'm glad you don't "go there" trying to convert people. And that's great that you say you don't hold them lesser than you for not being like you. And it's a relief you don't kill people you can't get to convert.

quote:

---

In everything, you can find both the positive and the negative. The US governemnt is no acception. Some Muslim followers are no acception. What the central point of all this is, is two different ideas of how to live...and the sad fact is it is only bringing death. Blood on both sides hands.

---

You do realize that America, as a nation, has the blood of far more innocent civilians on its hands. Whereas bin laden and extremists has the blood of the innocent 9/11 victims on its hands. The countries you attacked and destroyed the lives of did not attack you!!!!!!

You say no other country in the world rebuilds other countries. But you leave out one key issue...why rebuild? No other country has had to rebuild because no other country has massively destroyed other countries as severely and as frequently as America has.

Of course the world is watching the terrorists. How can anyone miss that? But your claims are that America is for building a better world. Sure America contributes to improving things in the world, most important and the highest contributions go to supporting the terrorist state of Israel. It is also known for destroying things in this world too.

And carma-b, I was trying to be nice and give you the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe you really don't understand. Maybe it was a tad naive of me to be polite to you when you made such ridiculous claims.

quote:

---

Had you been to Pakistan during your years in school, regardless of the amount of money your family had, because of the laws/religious fanatism/sexism there, you would not have been allowed to get an education, don't tap dance around what I pointed out. You know it is true. You would be locked away, covered from head to toe and kept in the dark about much of anything, beaten when your husband sees fit. I've read about Sharia, your Islamic laws/way of life, does it appeal to you DD? Would you like to live like that? I mean you are such a devoted Muslim, does the thought of living this way, appeal to you? I really need to know, because I don't think you look at the whole picture but rather selective thinking with many shortcuts. I am trying to get you to open your eyes, instead of being so hateful towards the Western world and our way of life.

---

The fact is you are plain and simple ignorant! Lacking knowledge or intelligence!

And to this...

quote:

---

Look, please do not gloss over the fact that there are still stigmas that women face in Pakistan and the Middle East in general, how dare you turn a blind eye to your sisters...and it has alot to do with Sharia's law...you need to open your eyes to this my friend..it is real and no amount of you denying that will change it. In the US womens' rights has been something rallyed for and won. Women in the western world are treatd MUCH more fairly than those under Sharia, it's a fact that you need to open your eyes to.

---

Right, violence against women occurs there. But the thing is it condemned and is not part of Islamic law, though some men would like it to be. So how should it be changed? Should all the Pakistani women join in with Bush and bomb the living sh!t out of everyone?

posted August 13, 2006 02:40 AM              

How come I havent seen you post in other forums...This is an astrology site.