US and European aid money going to support Islamic State
Humanitarian aid being provided by the United States and European countries and intended for Syrian refugees is instead going to
support the Islamic State terror group (Hat Tip:
Memeorandum).
The aid—mainly food and medical equipment—is meant for Syrians displaced
from their hometowns, and for hungry civilians. It is funded by the
U.S. Agency for International Development, European donors, and the
United Nations. Whether it continues is now the subject of anguished
debate among officials in Washington and European. The fear is that
stopping aid would hurt innocent civilians and would be used for
propaganda purposes by the militants, who would likely blame the West
for added hardship.
...
“The convoys have to be approved by ISIS and you have to pay them: the
bribes are disguised and itemized as transportation costs,” says an aid
coordinator who spoke to The Daily Beast on the condition he not be
identified in this article. The kickbacks are either paid by foreign or
local non-governmental organizations tasked with distributing the aid,
or by the Turkish or Syrian transportation companies contracted to
deliver it.
And there are fears the aid itself isn’t carefully monitored enough,
with some sold off on the black market or used by ISIS to win hearts and
minds by feeding its fighters and its subjects. At a minimum the aid
means ISIS doesn’t have to divert cash from its war budget to help feed
the local population or the displaced persons, allowing it to focus its
resources exclusively on fighters and war making, say critics of the
aid.
...
“I am alarmed that we are providing support for ISIS governance,” says
Jonathan Schanzer, a Mideast expert with the Washington D.C.-based think
tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “By doing so we are
indemnifying the militants by satisfying the core demands of local
people, who could turn on ISIS if they got frustrated.”
...
Aid coordinators with NGOs partnering USAID and other Western government
agencies, including Britain’s Department for International Development,
say ISIS insist that the NGOs, foreign and local, employ people ISIS
approves on their staffs inside Syria. “There is always at least one
ISIS person on the payroll; they force people on us,” says an aid
coordinator. “And when a convoy is being prepared, the negotiations go
through them about whether the convoy can proceed. They contact their
emirs and a price is worked out. We don’t have to wrangle with
individual ISIS field commanders once approval is given to get the
convoy in, as the militants are highly hierarchical.” He adds: “None of
the fighters will dare touch it, if an emir has given permission.”
...
Many aid workers are uncomfortable with what’s happening. “A few
months ago we delivered a mobile clinic for a USAID-funded NGO,” says
one, who declined to be named. “A few of us debated the rights and
wrongs of this. The clinic was earmarked for the treatment of civilians,
but we all know that wounded ISIS fighters could easily be treated as
well. So what are we doing here helping their fighters, who we are
bombing, to be treated so they can fight again?”
What becomes even
more bizarre is that while aid is still going into ISIS-controlled
areas, only a little is going into Kurdish areas in northeast Syria.
About every three or four months there is a convoy into the key city of
Qamishli. Syrian Kurds, who are now defending Kobani with the support of
U.S. warplanes, have long complained about the lack of international
aid. Last November, tellingly, Syrian Kurds complained that Syria’s
Kurdistan was not included in a U.N. polio vaccination campaign. U.N.
agencies took the position that polio vaccines should go through the
Syrian Red Crescent via Damascus when it came to the Kurds.
...
Mideast analyst Schanzer dismisses the notion that ISIS can use an aid
shutdown as leverage in its PR campaign: “I think this is false. In
areas they control everyone understands they are a brutal organization.
This is their basic weakness and by pushing in aid we are curtailing the
chances of an internal revolt, which is the best chance you have of
bringing down ISIS.”
Does anyone believe that it's any different in Gaza?
Labels: Islamic State, Kurdistan, Nusra Front, Syria, Syrian Kurds, Turkey, Turkish Kurds, USAID
Your tax dollars at work: Hamas agrees to accept US money
On Friday, I reported that Hamas had stopped the work of US NGO's that were providing it with money, because they
refused to submit to a Hamas audit of their operations. Now, Hamas has decided to be satisfied with its lot in life. They have agreed to let the US salve its guilt over the terror group's plight by generously agreeing to
accept American aid money without auditing the books.
The United States on Sunday resumed the operations of the aid organizations it funds in the Gaza Strip after Hamas retracted its demand to scrutinize confidential documents about their work, a US official said.
On Friday, USAID partner organizations stopped work after Hamas closed one of the non-governmental organizations, the International Medical Corps (IMC), when officials there denied the terrorist group access to documents. It was allowed to reopen on Sunday.
"As of Aug. 14, USAID's implementing partners have resumed delivering assistance to the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip," the official told Reuters.
The US official, who declined to be named, said allowing access to the records could revealed financial and administrative information and details of NGOs' staff and beneficiaries.
A senior Hamas official confirmed the group had allowed the IMC to reopen and added that it had suspended its demand to audit USAID-funded groups until a mechanism could be agreed.
Only in the Age of Obama could the US find itself begging to allow it to assist the constituents of a terror organization.
How humiliating!
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Hamas, NGO's, USAID
The US role in the Arab uprisings
The Washington Post reports that the United States played a major role in
training young democracy activists who were involved in the recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.
The revolutionary roar from the Arab street, shaking the palaces of the privileged, toppling presidents, has echoed around the globe, dominating the headlines and airwaves for weeks. But behind this story of political upheaval lies another, quieter story of outside organizations that, with U.S. government and other money, tutored a young Arab generation in the ways of winning in a political world.
All involved emphasize that what has happened sprang from deeply rooted grievances in the autocratic Arab world, not from outside inspiration. But they say the confidence-building work of democratic coaches, led by the U.S. but also including Europeans, was one catalyst for success.
That success, meanwhile, points up a core paradox: A U.S. government that long stood by Mubarak and other Arab leaders as steadfast allies was, at the same time, financing programs that ultimately contributed to his and potentially others' downfall.
...
It's estimated more than 10,000 Egyptians since 2005 have participated in USAID-financed democracy and governance programs, carried out by NDI, IRI and 28 other international and Egyptian organizations - not only political training, but also projects to prepare judges, build PTA-style school associations and otherwise deepen civic involvement.
The American democracy promotion campaign dates back to the 1980s, when Poland's Solidarity movement was one beneficiary. But for Egypt, 2005 was the watershed year, when Campbell's NDI opened a Cairo office and through Egyptian groups trained 5,500 election observers to monitor a referendum giving Mubarak another six-year term, his fifth.
From Egypt's polling places that September, NDI-paid teams reported election violations via innovative cell-phone texting in code, deciphered by headquarters computers.
The report was immediate: Widespread manipulation of the polls, and a turnout of a mere 23 percent, shattering the myth of 90-percent landslides for the "popular" Mubarak. [Note who was President in 2005. Hint: Not Obama. CiJ]
"It had the effect of showing the emperor had no clothes," Campbell said. "Egyptians could make a difference. They could change things."
The government reacted, restricting NDI and IRI operations in Cairo, ordering host hotels to cancel training sessions, putting security men in institute offices.
But Mubarak couldn't be too tough on the Americans, donors of $1.5 billion in annual military and economic aid. And the democracy promoters carried on, often sending Egyptian proteges abroad for sessions.
Read the whole thing.
It's a pity they didn't teach them to accept Israel and stop promoting anti-Semitism.
Labels: Arab democracy, USAID
Spain and USAID wipe Israel off the map
You will recall that the other day I showed you an advertisement from 'Palestinian Authority' television that was
sponsored by the Spanish government and that urged a boycott of Israel. Spain subsequently
denied that it had sponsored the ad. Well, maybe. But now Spain and USAID are sponsoring an ad urging travel to an imaginary country called 'Palestine.' And surprise:
Israel isn't on the map.
Now it seems as though Spain is funding the website Travel to Palestine. (h/t ElderofZiyon).This website is known for its ad in the UK which said that Palestine was the area from the Mediterranean to Jordan, thus eliminating Israel.
Hmmm.
Note
this: Palestine lies between the Mediterranean Coast and the Jordan River, at the crossroads between Africa and the Middle East. The individual faces in any Palestinian town remind you of this rich history of cross-cultural influences. Today Palestine is proud to offer comfortable, stylish accommodations, fabulous restaurants, refined artists and galleries, exquisite handicrafts, innumerable archeological and religious sites, and antiquities from all ages.
From the River to the Sea....
And yes, if you click on enough links there, you will find both the Spanish government and USAID.
Labels: Palestinian denial of Jewish history, Palestinian tourism, Spain, USAID
