The NYT's Kristof urged Bush to act in Darfur. Now the Washington Post also weighs in on Bush and Africa, calling for him to dig deeper to fight the intractable poverty and debt that has held back that continent. (As it points out, even a $6 billion effort would still keep the US far behind its allies in giving as a percentage of GDP.
But the Washington Post makes a curious statement in its lead editorial:
The Bush administration already has done a lot for developing countries. Its global AIDS initiative has transformed the money available to fight the pandemic....Unless they know something we don't know, this is completely untrue. Are they just stupidly remembering that Bush mad a dramatic pledge of $15 billion and forgetting how Bush perverted that goal for political purposes and hasn't even come close to matching his words with deeds?
Yes, Bush has transformed the money available to fight the pandemic -- by making it less available. He's defunded programs already in place that work and can save lives. He's politicized other funding by refusing to make any money available to any group that wants to take step one in fighting AIDS -- making condoms available. Even if the money the US gives goes solely to fighting AIDS, he refuses to have anything to do with any group that might somewhere at sometime be involved in abortion. And Bush callously insists our money -- if and when it is ever available -- buy only namebrand drugs, even though they're three times more expensive than generics. (In other words, the same amount of money could save three times as many lives, but Bush would rather cater to multinational drug companies thatn focus on saving lives.)
How could the Washington Post be so ill-informed? Bush broke his promise to increase the fight against AIDS in Africa and his actions have actually SLOWED DOWN that fight. The last the MSM bothered to report on it, Bush hadn't even come close to meeting even the simple dollar figures he'd thrown out. Hopefully, some group will call the Post on its misleading representation of Bush's indefensible action in this pandemic.
