De Oorlogsstaat 6

De Oorlogsstaat eindigt altijd in totale oorlog. De VS is hard op weg daar naartoe. Om met zo'n opgetuigde Humvee door Irak te kunnen crossen kost veel geld. Dat geld moet ergens vandaan komen. De nieuwe begroting van de regering Bush laat zien waarop bezuinigd wordt. Twee berichten van Common Dreams: 'WASHINGTON - Despite his administration's growing concerns about preventing the collapse of states in strategic parts of the world, U.S. President George W. Bush has proposed cuts in development and disaster assistance while increasing the defence budget by almost seven percent. Under his 2007 budget request submitted to Congress Monday, Pentagon spending next year would rise to some 440 billion dollars, not including another 120 billion dollars that the administration is expected to ask for as a supplemental appropriation to fund U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through September, when fiscal 2006 ends.By contrast, Bush's proposed 2007 foreign-aid request will remain roughly the same as last year's at some 24 billion dollars, the equivalent of what Washington spends in less than five months in Iraq. Moreover, the president is calling for a nearly 20 percent cut in development aid -- from roughly 1.5 billion dollars to 1.26 billion dollars in development aid -- and similar cuts in disaster assistance and child-survival and health programmes. "This administration has said there are three components to national security -- diplomacy, defence, and development," said Mohammad Akhter, president of InterAction, a coalition of some 160 U.S. non-governmental organisations (NGOs) active in developing countries. "We see that diplomacy and defence are well taken care of, but development is the weakest tool in our kit. Yet that's where our long-term security lies."' Lees verder:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0207-01.htm
En: 'WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush took a swipe at Big Bird and his ilk Monday as he proposed slashing funds to public broadcasting by more than $150 million. In the president's 2007 budget request, funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will be cut by $53.5 million in 2007 and $50 million more in 2008. Those cuts don't reflect others made in funding at the Education and Commerce departments and the elimination of specific programs for digital TV conversion and satellite delivery system. Public broadcasting officials estimate that the entire budget cuts run $157 million over the two-year period.' Zie:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0207-04.htm