US Military Aid Far Outpaces Democracy Assistance

[Panaconda]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gLfeaVZEwNo/S0lixMnUnyI/AAAAAAAAGRs/3n-O1zkawOQ/s320/images+gomer+pyle.jpg

US Military Aid Far Outpaces Democracy Assistance

by Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON - Desperate to secure supply routes to Afghanistan, the United States has been spending at least six times more on military aid for the mostly authoritarian states of Central Asia than on efforts to promote political liberalization and human rights in the region, according to a new report released here by the Open Society Foundations (OSF).

The 45-page report found that the full extent of military aid controlled by the Pentagon and the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and channeled through a bewildering variety of programs is uncertain, but that it is at least three times greater than the State Department's military aid programs which are subject to human rights and other conditions.

"Nobody really knows how much military aid the U.S. government is giving the Central Asian states," according to Lora Lumpe, the author of the report, 'U.S. Military Aid to Central Asia 1999-2009: Security Priorities Trump Human Rights and Diplomacy'.

"CENTCOM'S Directorate for Policy and Plans is likely to have the fullest picture of U.S. military assistance to the region, but those plans are classified," she noted, adding that Congressional efforts to obtain comprehensive and timely reporting on Pentagon spending in the region have been largely unavailing.

...

http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=3336

[maryf]

1. Golly

wish I were surprised, K&R