Fraction of U.S. Aid Goes to Democracy

Source: WP

Documents Show Much of the Money Helps Entity Controlled by Musharraf


Two years before Benazir Bhutto was assassinated while leading her Pakistan People's Party in its campaign against the rule of President Pervez Musharraf, the Bush administration devoted this much new aid money to strengthen political parties in Pakistan: $0.

The entire U.S. budget for democracy programs in Pakistan in 2006 amounted to about $22 million, according to State Department documents, much of it reserved for aiding the Election Commission -- an entity largely controlled by Musharraf. That $22 million was just a small fraction of the $1.6 billion in aid the United States gave Pakistan that year, and it was equivalent to the value of jet engine and helicopter spare parts that Pakistan purchased in 2006 with the help of U.S. funds.

In the past year, as Musharraf's grip on power became increasingly fragile, the Bush administration has scrambled to build contacts with the opposition and provide expertise to opposition parties. The money devoted to democracy programs in the 165 million-person country was almost doubled in the 2008 fiscal budget, to $41 million, but that is still less than the $43 million set aside for such efforts in Kosovo, the former Albanian enclave of Serbia with a population of 2 million. In the region, U.S. democracy programs aimed at Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Egypt are all larger than the effort in Pakistan.

Former and current U.S. officials said the administration shied away from building a robust democracy program in Pakistan because it did not want to offend Musharraf, who after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was considered an ally against al-Qaeda. Now, the administration is seeking to persuade Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, to free democratic activists and lawyers and lift media restrictions to help make the legislative elections, currently scheduled for next month, appear credible.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/05/AR2008010502199.html

Pervez Musharraff - Maybe? We shall see.

It won't be allowed to last long. Period.

Nothing will come between our murderous war gluttons and more profits, least of all the sacred peace people crave with every breath they take.

It makes sense that the money they funnel to their vassals would be in keeping with their own priorities.

Just enough $$$$ for "democracy" to provide Plausible Deniability and phony window dressing.