JimofPennsylvan
Platinum Member
- Jun 6, 2007
- 869
- 512
- 910
The country of Pakistan has been devastated by monsoon rains, what is equivalent to going on there is if ten percent of Americas cities and towns were hit by a hurricane as destructive as Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans. America must do significantly more than currently planned to help Pakistan deal with and recover from this catastrophic natural disaster. The stakes are really huge for America here, ultimately the consequences of these monsoons could be the rise of a Taliban or Islamic theocracy government in Pakistan and the Taliban prevailing in Afghanistan. Many public commentators heavily criticize the current Pakistan government but the truth of the matter is that America is very fortunate to have this government in power in Pakistan. This is a secular as opposed to a theocratic government which is the only type of government that offers a good and stable future for a country, theocratic governments inevitably suppress portions of their people and significantly deny human rights which eventually results in violent rebellion which aint good for a nuclear armed country like Pakistan and Pakistan faces a big danger of being a theocratic government because it is a poor country and Islamic fundamentalism pervades it. Further, the present Pakistan government is a good partner with America and other countries in the war against Islamic terrorism despite what the critics say. The Pakistan governments campaign against the Taliban in the Swat Valley during the past two years was phenomenal a valuable victory for good. The Pakistan government likewise is doing an excellent job in taking on the Taliban in the south west part of the country. Much criticism has been leveled against the Pakistan government for not taking on the Taliban in the Northwest part of the country (the Haqqani Taliban), but the Pakistani Army doesnt have the resources for such a war considering the India border and the war in the southwest commitments. Critics have been having a field day saying that the Pakistan government is not taking on the Haqqani Taliban because when the U.S. leaves Afghanistan there will be a political power vacuum in Afghanistan which will likely result in the Talibans (including the Haqqanis) return to power in Afghanistan and the Pakistan government wants to have a friendly relationship with this government. This is bunk because the Pakistan government is smart enough to see if the Taliban return to power in Afghanistan they will strengthen the Taliban movement in Pakistan and it will only be a matter of time before they install a Taliban/Islamic theocracy government in Pakistan; certainly the long-term goal of the Pakistan government is to see the total and complete demise of the Taliban movement in Pakistan and Afghanistan because this movement is a threat to them. Correspondingly, America should make an outstanding effort to support the current government in Pakistan which means America should make an outstanding effort to see Pakistan recover from these monsoons because otherwise the disillusionment, hardship and frustration of ordinary Pakistanis from the monsoons could move them to turn to an Islamic theocracy/Taliban-like government in Pakistan for relief!
The American government should commit an additional $300 to $400 million dollars to help Pakistan recover from these monsoons. If America figures that it will spend approximately $83 billion to finance the approximately 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan from now through June of 2011, it is peanuts to spend this amount making a real and vital difference supporting the current Pakistan government so it doesnt collapse and provide an opening for the Taliban to significantly increase in strength and make the U.S. militarys job much tougher in Afghanistan, it really is a no brainer decision! These monsoons have wiped out large swaths of Pakistans economy which means no or reduced income for many Pakistanis which means they wont have the money to buy food so in part what Pakistan needs from the world community is help with this food problem for the next two years, the time period Pakistan President Mr. Zardari estimates his country needs to recover which is reasonable. A population going hungry can sow discontentment with a government in a big way and quickly, Americas current government quite prudently recognized this connection when last year it significant increased the food stamp subsidy for low income American families in response to the Great Recession. A couple hundred million dollars from the U.S. to help Pakistan feed its people could make a big difference.
The following idea is offered with some big caveats meaning that if the caveats arent satisfied the idea should be completely scrapped. Americas crop yields look very good for this year; indications seem to be God has blessed America greatly in this area this year! Why doesnt the U.S. government create a program for Pakistani food relief facilitating U.S. farmers selling a small portion of their crops to this program for the farmers costs this way these Pakistani aid dollars could really be stretched for maximum benefit. Farmers like most American businesses have a social conscious and one would have to believe they would help the Pakistani people here if given the opportunity. The caveats here are this is only a good idea if there is not high overhead for this program. I am not knowledgeable how crops from an individual farmer get to the point where they become cargo on a cargo ship going to a foreign country but I would think that there must be big wholesale-like distributors that directly or indirectly buy from local farmers and sell it to big end users like governments. So, and this is another caveat, the program would need these distributors and any middlemen to agree to handle these program participating local farmers crop sales and pass on the low purchase price to the U.S. government and when these distributors and middlemen add their overhead cost it needs to be at their costs or at a modest profit. Members of Congress need to insist that if the U.S. commodity industry doesnt give the U.S. government a great deal here like proposed the food monies will be given directly to the Pakistani government to locally buy food for their people. U.S. agricultural lobbyists will be drooling at the prospect of having the U.S. government spending a couple of hundred million dollars increasing demand and thus increasing prices of U.S. grain commodities and lobby heavy for mandating the monies be spent buying U.S. grains, Congress must say to these lobbyist no great deal go to hell. America has a history of mandating foreign food aid be spent on U.S. crops and it misses an opportunity to bolster local farmers in foreign countries where it could do a tremendous amount of good, Congress should say not this time! If this program is a go, the U.S. government should try a novel approach in delivering this food aid in Pakistan. Ordinarily, the U.S. government would run the aid program through USAID; this agency through no fault of its own has a reputation for fueling corruption in aid countries in implementing its mission to disperse foreign aid. Why doesnt the Congress try to avoid this problem with monsoon food aid by mandating the U.S. military delivery system for Afghanistan be used to deliver the food aid. Media reports are that the U.S. military delivery system already has a system in place where they dock cargo ships at Pakistans Karachi port and move supplies by truck caravan through central and then western Pakistan; so they go through or close to areas of Pakistan affected by the flooding. Give this group running this military transportation system the locations of good relief facilities feeding the victims of the monsoons and they should be able to deliver the food aid to these facilities, the monsoon food program will likely only be in existence for eighteen months, probably much less considering that large amounts of food want to be purchased and delivered early in the programs existence when the need is greatest in Pakistan resulting in the programs funding being used up earlier than the planned time frame, why create a new delivery system from scratch when a good one already exists!
SEE PART TWO
The American government should commit an additional $300 to $400 million dollars to help Pakistan recover from these monsoons. If America figures that it will spend approximately $83 billion to finance the approximately 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan from now through June of 2011, it is peanuts to spend this amount making a real and vital difference supporting the current Pakistan government so it doesnt collapse and provide an opening for the Taliban to significantly increase in strength and make the U.S. militarys job much tougher in Afghanistan, it really is a no brainer decision! These monsoons have wiped out large swaths of Pakistans economy which means no or reduced income for many Pakistanis which means they wont have the money to buy food so in part what Pakistan needs from the world community is help with this food problem for the next two years, the time period Pakistan President Mr. Zardari estimates his country needs to recover which is reasonable. A population going hungry can sow discontentment with a government in a big way and quickly, Americas current government quite prudently recognized this connection when last year it significant increased the food stamp subsidy for low income American families in response to the Great Recession. A couple hundred million dollars from the U.S. to help Pakistan feed its people could make a big difference.
The following idea is offered with some big caveats meaning that if the caveats arent satisfied the idea should be completely scrapped. Americas crop yields look very good for this year; indications seem to be God has blessed America greatly in this area this year! Why doesnt the U.S. government create a program for Pakistani food relief facilitating U.S. farmers selling a small portion of their crops to this program for the farmers costs this way these Pakistani aid dollars could really be stretched for maximum benefit. Farmers like most American businesses have a social conscious and one would have to believe they would help the Pakistani people here if given the opportunity. The caveats here are this is only a good idea if there is not high overhead for this program. I am not knowledgeable how crops from an individual farmer get to the point where they become cargo on a cargo ship going to a foreign country but I would think that there must be big wholesale-like distributors that directly or indirectly buy from local farmers and sell it to big end users like governments. So, and this is another caveat, the program would need these distributors and any middlemen to agree to handle these program participating local farmers crop sales and pass on the low purchase price to the U.S. government and when these distributors and middlemen add their overhead cost it needs to be at their costs or at a modest profit. Members of Congress need to insist that if the U.S. commodity industry doesnt give the U.S. government a great deal here like proposed the food monies will be given directly to the Pakistani government to locally buy food for their people. U.S. agricultural lobbyists will be drooling at the prospect of having the U.S. government spending a couple of hundred million dollars increasing demand and thus increasing prices of U.S. grain commodities and lobby heavy for mandating the monies be spent buying U.S. grains, Congress must say to these lobbyist no great deal go to hell. America has a history of mandating foreign food aid be spent on U.S. crops and it misses an opportunity to bolster local farmers in foreign countries where it could do a tremendous amount of good, Congress should say not this time! If this program is a go, the U.S. government should try a novel approach in delivering this food aid in Pakistan. Ordinarily, the U.S. government would run the aid program through USAID; this agency through no fault of its own has a reputation for fueling corruption in aid countries in implementing its mission to disperse foreign aid. Why doesnt the Congress try to avoid this problem with monsoon food aid by mandating the U.S. military delivery system for Afghanistan be used to deliver the food aid. Media reports are that the U.S. military delivery system already has a system in place where they dock cargo ships at Pakistans Karachi port and move supplies by truck caravan through central and then western Pakistan; so they go through or close to areas of Pakistan affected by the flooding. Give this group running this military transportation system the locations of good relief facilities feeding the victims of the monsoons and they should be able to deliver the food aid to these facilities, the monsoon food program will likely only be in existence for eighteen months, probably much less considering that large amounts of food want to be purchased and delivered early in the programs existence when the need is greatest in Pakistan resulting in the programs funding being used up earlier than the planned time frame, why create a new delivery system from scratch when a good one already exists!
SEE PART TWO