There is such a comic opera feel to all this, it’s a shame that Gilbert and Sullivan aren’t around. The U.S. is forking over another $5 billion to fight against “radical extremists” — that is, $5 billion to fight against a foe that U.S. officials are afraid to name, and officially forbidden to name. Meanwhile, the U.S. has for years now given billions to Pakistan to fight these shadowy “radical extremists,” only for the Pakistani government (which also affected high dudgeon at the killing of Osama bin Laden) to funnel a good bit of that money to those very same “extremists” — with no consequences from the U.S., of course. John Kerry is the very model of a modern Secretary of State.
Also, if al Qaeda is “on the ropes” and all that, why do we need to spend another $5 billion to fight them?
“Kerry: US to start fund to fight terrorism,” Associated Press, May 28 2014:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States will begin a $5 billion “terrorism partnership fund” to help other countries push back against radical extremists.
Kerry says President Barack Obama will announce the fund during his commencement speech Wednesday at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York….
Kerry says that plan will allow the U.S. to divert resources to the anti-terrorism fight in other parts of the world. He says U.S. foreign policy needs to reflect a “rapidly changing, more complex world where terrorism is the principal challenge.”
Kerry described the anti-terrorist funding on “CBS This Morning.”