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I guess it was too good to last: Michael Moore has followed up his previous, reasonably balanced column with more of his normal incorrect, knee-jerk statements that give liberalism a bad name. Moore writes:
Back in May, you [Bush] gave the Taliban in Afghanistan $48 million dollars of our tax money. No free nation on earth would give them a cent, but you gave them a gift of $48 million because they said they had “banned all drugs.”
Unless one believes the U.S. State Department is boldly lying to the American public on all significant issues of its foreign policy, this is such unmitigated bullshit that it has my blood boiling. I am left wondering if Mr. Moore is just an idiot or if is his aim is more sinister [Note 23/9/2001: Click here for my verdict.]
Following are the facts, as presented by the U.S. State Department. I emphasize a subset of the points that Mr. Moore distorts.
The Taliban government issued a ban on poppy production. This goes nicely with the U.S. War on Drugs, as Afghanistan produces some 75% of the world’s opium, which is then used to produce heroin. The problem is that poppies are a very effective cash crop for poor Afghan farmers: they can harvest two crops a year, then grow watermelons or other food crops on the same land to feed themselves. They have experience growing poppies, the poppies are drought-resistant, and since they are high-maintenance they employ many people. The Taliban poppy ban came at a particularly bad time, as it was instituted two years into a terrible drought, and the drought has lasted another year. The drought, coupled with the outlawing of crops, puts some 4 million Afghans at severe risk of famine.
The U.S. is by far the largest (but far from the only) provider of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan; in 2000 the U.S. provided approximately $114 million in aid. The U.S. State Department are not idiots (unlike, perhaps, Mr. Moore.) They realize that giving the money to the Taliban would defeat the purpose. In the words of Secretary Powell, “Our aid bypasses the Taliban, who have done little to alleviate the suffering of the Afghan people, and indeed have done much to exacerbate it.” Leonard Rogers (Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Humanitarian Response, USAID) expands: “The money will all go through either the United Nations or nongovernmental organizations, and some of those nongovernmentals are American organizations like CARE and International Medical Corps.”
In May 2001, the State Department announced an additional $43 million (not $48 million) in aid, in order to address the effects of the drought, the effects of outlawing poppy production, and general concerns of poverty and famine. This raises year-to-date contributions to $124 million, a less than 9 percent increase over year 2000 funding. And the U.S. is not flying over with attaché cases full of “benjamins”. The disbursement includes 65,000 tons (NB: tons, not pounds) of wheat, $5 million in foodstuffs designed for therapeutic feeding programs for malnourished children (notably vegetable oil and nutritious corn-soy grain blends), and $10 million for “livelihood” assistance such as health assistance through UNICEF and seed- and tool-giving programs. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States, US hard wheat export prices in April 2001 were $134 per ton. This means that ($134 * 65,000) + $5,000,000 = $14 million of this was given to U.S. farmers. Think about it (I know this is a browbeating tone, but so few people seem to actually be thinking): take $14 million from U.S. taxpayers, buy surplus grain from America’s heartland, decrease the need for farm aid, and feed countless starving people. What are we arguing about?
Now here is Moore’s quote again for you to read:
Back in May, you gave the Taliban in Afghanistan $48 million dollars of our tax money. No free nation on earth would give them a cent, but you gave them a gift of $48 million because they said they had “banned all drugs.”
A bit of a different picture, eh? This aid would be greatly appreciated even if poppy production had not been outlawed; it is absolutely critical now. I wonder what Moore would have us do: stop humanitarian aid? Stop feeding starving families? My sense is no: he would like us to provide this much humanitarian aid, but the voters to believe that a Republican administration wasn’t doing so.
Sorry again for my livid tone … but do your civic duty and read the State Department briefings and their responses to our questions before you start demonizing U.S. foreign aid. I know that in my comments on the Unity piece I came out against pro-American propaganda. But are we supposed to replace this with anti-American propaganda? Fact: the U.S. feeds refugees in Afghanistan. Fact: the U.S. does this without giving money to the Taliban. Fact: the U.S. does this while retaining Taliban sanctions. Fact: the U.S. encourages the Taliban to stop their civil war, become self-sufficient, and not starve their population.
It is taking enormous effort not to end this posting with a paragraph of anger against Michael Moore. I’ll restrain. Read Moore’s article, read the State Department briefings, and fill it in mentally for yourself.
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