Prancing down the road to hell:
A survey on Afghanistan reports that a mere 1 percent of necessary reconstruction has been completed while Afghan elite seizes land as the poor lose homes. Cholera and whooping cough outbreaks continue occurring in remote regions due to the lack of clean water. The proposed $800 million in additional reconstruction aid from the Whitehouse could feasibly contribute to a second percent - were Afghanistan to actually see most of it. Not surprisingly the additional funds, the vast majority for military expenditures or the unknown (a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office showed that only about $2.5 billion of the $4 billion being spent monthly on the war can be accounted for by the Bush administration), are unpopular across the political spectrum. "We don't see them till we get out there and we don't see them till they've got the upper hand. Either they're getting smarter or they're getting trained."
your turing test:
Oil for Nothing:US Holds On Humanitarian SuppliesIraq: 1997-2001
the good book and other cultural artifacts