Dear Editor:
The newspapers this week reported that Congress fully approved
President Bush’s request for more than $87 billion dollars as
supplemental funding for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Dear Editor:
The newspapers this week reported that Congress fully approved President Bush’s request for more than $87 billion dollars as supplemental funding for Iraq and Afghanistan. Much of the money is for ongoing military operations, the rest will be used for rebuilding those countries so devastated by war.
Yet Congress and the administration have not been so generous with respect to helping the hungry, the sick and the poor of our world. In 2000, the United States along with 188 other countries agreed to develop a program called the Millennium Challenge Accounts which have as their goal to cut global hunger and extreme poverty in half by 2015.
In 2002, the president promised to strengthen our commitment by providing additional funds to fight AIDS as well as hunger, especially In Africa.
The need is great. There are nearly 800 million people in the developing world who suffer from malnutrition and there are 42 million people living with AIDS. So far, the promises have remained mostly words with most countries providing few additional resources. In Congress, only a portion of the funding has been approved and the White House does not seem too eager to push this issue.
I guess there is an obvious philosophical difference that’s driving our generosity.
The war on terrorism will be won by our military efforts according to the Bush White House. My opinion is that poverty and lack of hope are fundamental causes of conflict and radicalism in the world. To me, combining the violence of war with the violence of continuing hunger is the recipe for strife and misery for years to come.
Mike Monroe, Gilroy
Wednesday, Nov. 5 to ed****@****ic.com
