Pakistan's Blank Check

From the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists comes a clear cut case of another situation where Congress should impose oversight on the spendthrift Bush administration.

In the three years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. military aid to Pakistan soared to $4.2 billion, compared to $9.1 million in the three years before the attacks — a 45,000 percent increase — boosting Pakistan to the top tier of countries receiving this type of funding.

More than half of the new money was provided through a post-9/11 Defense Department program — Coalition Support Funds — not closely tracked by Congress.

This is a key finding of an investigative study by the Center for Public Integrity, using data assembled through Freedom of Information Act requests. Pakistan received $2.3 billion of post-9/11 aid from CSF money in fiscal years 2002 through 2004, a total that surpassed $3 billion in 2005. Not only did this earn it the No. 1 rank among nations receiving CSF money, but Pakistan's take was nearly four times as much as all other countries combined received by 2005.

"With the possible exception of Iraq reconstruction funds, I've never seen a larger blank check for any country than for the Pakistan CSF program," Tim Rieser, the majority clerk on the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, told the Center.

...Pakistan's flood of CSF money made it the third largest recipient of all U.S. military aid and assistance in the three years after 9/11; it trailed only Israel and Egypt. Before 9/11, the South Asian nation received less military aid and assistance from the U.S. than Estonia or Panama, largely because of U.S. sanctions imposed as punishment for Pakistan's covert pursuit of a nuclear weapons program revealed in 1998.

A recent study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates the total value of all American aid, including military, economic, and development assistance, to Pakistan since 9/11 at more than $10 billion.

And what's the American taxpayer getting in return for this largesse?

the border remains porous, and Vice President Dick Cheney recently met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to complain that Pakistan was not doing enough to halt the flow of insurgents. In January this year, the House of Representatives set out to place conditions on continued U.S. support to Pakistan, calling for greater oversight on Pakistan's actions against insurgents based in Pakistan and progress on holding free elections. The White House opposes the House restrictions.

Musharraf has been under increasing political pressure at home following his firing of Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on March 9, a move widely viewed as a crack down on the Pakistani judiciary. Since the dismissal, protests have erupted across the country, although most have been peaceful.

Not to mention accusations from NATO, Afghansitan and India that Pakistan's intelligence agency is offering safe haven to, directing and funding terror groups including the Taliban, al Qaeda and the groups who attacked Mumbai last year. Then there's Pakistan's catch-and-release policy when it comes to terrorists who aren't a threat to Musharaff himself.

So far, the American public have been neoconned about Pakistan while billions are funnelled into aid to that nation. Oversight is due and past due. I know a lot of those billions make their way back to US weapons companies, who in turn give predominantly to Republicans, but I'm beginning to wonder if that's the only reason the Bushies are so anxious to keep all this money flowing but out of sight. Given MZM and others, I'm wondering what else might be going on.