USAID and the 'war against terrorism'
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has
always had two faces. As a non-military foreign assistance agency,
concocted during the Kennedy era, you have the caring vision of
"extend[ing] a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to
make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a
free and democratic country..." USAID supports health programs around
the world. But USAID is also committed to the promotion of US foreign
policy, where geopolitical interests can trump humanitarian goals, and
there have long been lingering suspicions about links between USAID
and the CIA.
In last week's (September 1) editorial in the Lancet basically
complains that USAID has slipped into its 'ugly American' mode. USAID
announced recently that it plans to implement what it calls the
Partner Vetting System, in which all organizations receiving USAID
funds would have to supply detailed information about their employees.
Even the beneficiaries of aid might have to submit personal data
including name, date and place of birth, social security number, phone
numbers, email addresses, nationality, citizenship and profession. The
idea seems to be that if USAID has amassed all this information, it
can be sure that they are not funding terrorist organizations or
providing aid to terrorists. The Lancet editorial labels the proposed
plan 'unworkable nonsense'; it is not as if real terrorists are crazy
enough to give truthful information to USAID. It seems that USAID has
been swept up by the current US administration's mindless fascination
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