...$760 million program, to strengthen government agencies, was America’s single largest non-military expense in Afghanistan over the last year. All of it was money thrown away.
The mind dulls when confronted with large numbers like that. But $760 million spent another way would allow Washington to give every single public school in the nation’s 25 largest cities almost $200,000 extra this year.
I like Brinkley’s work. He’s got a clear eye and a real passion for exposing corruption. A “crusading journalist” in the best sense of the term. He’s also got a Sisters connection. He earned a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Cambodian refugee crisis in 1979, an honor he shares with Sisters photographer Jay Mather.
His juxtaposition of giving money away to corrupt warlords and cleptocrats versus investment in schools is a rhetorical device — but the point is still valid.
We have frittered away billions in aid to corrupt regimes — from Afghanistan to Egypt. We continue to provide aid to Israel as though Israel is the underdog in the Middle East and often get a finger in the eye for thanks.
Meanwhile, we are disinvested in our own country — infrastructure, education, the things that we need to invest in to hold our own in an increasingly competitive global economy.
I do not argue that simply throwing money into education will produce better results. That’s been proven false. But investment that includes the implementation of best practices, financial incentives for improved teaching and outcomes is critical to shore up America’s crumbling education capacity.
Then there’s the sorry state of our transportation infrastructure, and we’re falling behind in our communications infrastructure, too.
This doesn’t have to generate into a left-right, big government vs. private sector brawl. There are a lot of different ways to make the kinds of investments we need. But as long as we’re talking taxpayers’ dollars, I’d rather fix a few potholes than give another cent to the Mubaraks and Karzais of the world...
Jim Cornelius, Editor
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