On one hand we have countries paying back huge amounts of aid then we have Israel that receives over one third of the US’s foreign aid. Since 1992, the U.S. has offered Israel an additional $2 billion annually in loan guarantees. Between 1974 and 1989, $16.4 billion in U.S. military loans were converted to grants and it is believed that this was originally planned. It has been considered U.S. policy that economic assistance to Israel must equal or exceed Israel's annual debt repayment to the United States. So people may wonder why one-third of the American foreign aid budget goes to Israel, even though Israel comprises just .001 percent of the world's population and already has one of the world's higher per capita incomes. Israel's Gross National Product is higher than the combined GNP of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine. With a per capita income of about $14,000, Israel ranks as the sixteenth wealthiest country in the world and yet it gets such a large percentage of aid. Many people wonder why the US gives so much aid to Israel when they use much of it to strengthen their military and to oppress Palestinian people. It is known that the U.S. supports Israel so it can serve as a tool to satisfy American interests in this strategic region filled with oil in the hands of “rogue” Arabs”. Israel has also been a testing site for U.S. weapons and the intelligence agencies have worked together to transfer U.S. arms to the developing world as the U.S. not send weapons directly like to South Africa, Iraq, Guatemala etc. I think it is ironic that the US gave Iraq weapons and now its is supporting a war against them. Also it’s interesting how the US seems to be so sure that Iraq has biological weapons. Perhaps they were given the weapons for use against Iran in the Gulf War.
Not only have we seen the dirty effects of the US’s aid in the Middle East but we can see why Egypt is the second highest receiver of US foreign aid. It is often wondered why Housni Mubarak is considered to be on the US payroll. The United States needs another ally in the Middle East and Egypt is their ally. For almost a quarter century Egypt has had close relations with the United States. Egypt was an active partner and supported the US proclaimed war against Iraq in 91. Additionally Egypt is one of the few Arab nations that continues to follow the terms decreed upon at Camp David which was a peace treaty with Israel. So we can see why the United States supports Egypt with its military aid not because of their morality but because of their political interests. The United States presents Egypt as an example of stability and to indicated modernization and the westernization present in this area.
The effects of US aid can be seen close enough to us in South America. As we saw from a movie in class the US doesn’t care about the civil war in Colombia. All they care about is to stop the trafficking of drugs entering the United States. The US has invested in Plan Colombia, making Colombia the third-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid. This plan is a U.S. aid program made to help Colombia’s stop drug trafficking and to crush the rebels and the drug king pins that support them. The plan provides for 800 U.S. advisers of which 400 are military to train and equip Colombia’s military and police to ban the drug trade into the United States.
Therefore, we can see that the United States’ aid has not been going to the countries that need them but to countries that support the United States agenda in global politics. To get the US’s aid you either have to support their interests or the issues in your country affect the United States. The US is not the generous nation it presents itself as with all the propaganda it spreads. It is obvious that the US looks at its own interest above all others. A perfect example of this is when the US provided the Afghan children with books. The world thought “how generous”, while the US politicians rubbed their hands with glee as the books were filled with violent images to incite the children to be violent so they could serve US interests by exiling the Russians out of Afghanistan. Their military might and their power has made them a force to be reckoned with and most countries side with the United States. The US has formed an empire where presidents shiver t the mention of the name George Bush or whoever sits in the White House. We have seen the US’s power numerous times in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Desert Storm etc. We have also seen the covert operations by the FBI and CIA to provide military aid to countries. Finally, we have seen the legal grants and aid given to US supporters. It is clear that the United States exercises power over the world and is today’s superpower. As Bush said “Either you are with us or against us” any smart country would be with the United States.
