The Obama Administration needs to review the practice of administering funds to 'war areas' when funds can be misused if administered through the State Department.
In the case of Pakstan, Afghanistan and Iraq, the Department of Defense should be receiving the funds needed to conduct the military's campaigns. It makes no sense for a State Department to be impeding or dictating the spending of the Department of Defense. The State Department should not be left out of the loop in applying 'military remedies,' but, it should not be allowed to impede funds that will facilitate DOD strategies that directly translate into soldiers' safety.
There is also no way the USA Department of Defense should be dictated to by foreign nations. In the case of Pakistan, there needs to be agreement by the government there, to allow assistance from NATO in Afghanistan to concentrate efforts in a way that limits the movement of the Taliban to secure the sovereignty of the current governing authority. To allow monies intended for defeating the Taliban and hence al Qaeda to be monopolized by Pakistani authorities would inhibit agreement, hence inhibit the resolve of defeating The Taliban and al Qaeda.
Monies controlled by other agencies, including foreign agencies, allows no guarantees for the best use of those funds or the protection of our military soldiers. It is hideous to allow such 'gaps in authority' to exist when our soldiers' lives are on the line.
There are legislative venuses, such as The Paperwork Reduction Act, that would dictate the shortest path between authority of funds and the ultimate use of those funds. The State Department and Department of Defense should be working hand in hand for the best result of any peoples, however, when diplomacy fails and the military is the only resolve, that pivotal decision should always aire on the authority and best use of funds to the Department of Defense to facilitate the well being of our soldiers.
The USA is not interested in an unbalanced relationship between war and peace. Peace is always a first venue, but, when a people's human rights are at risk or have already fallen into adverse consequences we should resolve that issue as soon as possible to allow peace to exist uninhibited by hate or violence.
I wish Secretaries Clinton and Gates the best of outcomes for an attainable peace for Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and the fearful and belligerent Iran.
I might add, Iraq's Shi'ites are still under attack and that only adds to the frustration of Iran and any venue to peace with The West.
Pentagon seeks funds to fight Taliban (click title of entry - thank you)
WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked Congress to approve more than $1 billion in additional funds for Pakistan's war against the Taliban.Gates wants lawmakers to appropriate $400 million this year for a new Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund and an additional $700 million for 2010, The Washington Post reported Friday.
The fund would be controlled by the Pentagon's Central Command and would be targeted for counterinsurgency training and equipment such as night-vision goggles, helicopters and intelligence capabilities.
Gates told the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday that the Pentagon wants authority to deal with a challenge that "simultaneously requires wartime and peacetime capabilities."
Lawmakers in both the House and Senate have voiced concerns about creating a new Pakistan military funding stream through the Pentagon. Traditionally, such aid flows through the State Department...
