Contradictory claims of total dollar figures for U.S. foreign aid
circulate around the Internet, containing oft-repeated figures that may
or may not reflect reality. In response to those conflicting claims, WND
has compiled a list of significant U.S. aid totals based on a review of
congressional and Obama administration documents and databases.
As the debate often focuses on whether the U.S. receives, in
financial parlance, an adequate return on its investment, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor (first published via WND) decided to
first focus on arguably the world’s greatest hot spot, the Middle
East/North Africa, or MENA, home to three of the top 10 recipients of
U.S. assistance: Israel, Egypt, and Jordan.
Though the aid totals are significantly less for Saudi Arabia and
Gaza/West Bank, we have included them due to the role that the Saudis
and Palestinians play on the MENA world stage.
Unless otherwise indicated, the data is gleaned from the federal
database via ForeignAssistance.gov and from Congressional Research
Service, or CRS, “Background and U.S. Relations” reports (CRS reports
are made publicly available courtesy of the Federation of American
Scientists.)
West Bank/Gaza
The U.S. has committed more than $4 billion in bilateral assistance since the 1990s, when limited Palestinian self-rule began.
While Israel remains the largest recipient, dollar-wise, of U.S.
dollars, Palestinians “are among the world’s largest per capita
recipients of international foreign aid,” CRS points out.
The administration FY 2014 request seeks $440 million for the West
Bank/Gaza, nearly half which it would devote to Education and Social
Services ($202 million).
The remainder is slated for Economic Development ($70 million),
Health ($53 million), Democracy, Human Rights and Governance ($50
million), Peace and Security ($45 million), and Humanitarian Assistance
($20 million).
“The achievement of a negotiated two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a core U.S. national security objective
which is central to American interests in the Middle East,” according to
the Congressional Budget Justification FY 2014.
This aid
hopes to promote three major U.S. policy priorities: preventing
terrorism against Israel from Hamas and other militant organizations;
fostering stability, prosperity, and self-governance in the West Bank
that inclines Palestinians toward peaceful coexistence with Israel and a
“two-state solution” and meeting humanitarian needs.
These priorities since June 2007 have “crystallized” as a result of
the “geographical and factional split” between the Fatah-led and
U.S.-supported Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and “the de facto
regime led by Hamas in Gaza.”
Hamas, the reports emphasizes, “receives support from Iran along with
substantial non-state support and has been designated a Foreign
Terrorist Organization (FTO), a Specially Designated Terrorist (SDT),
and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the U.S.
government.”
Despite Internet-based claims that the administration is funneling
millions to Hamas, federal restrictions on providing funds to the
organization cast doubt that the group is, at least directly, a
recipient of such assistance.
Indeed, as CRS points out, annual spending bills routinely contain a
variety of mandatory vetting, or advance clearance, processes as well as
the imposition of strict “conditions, limitations, and restrictions on
U.S. aid to Palestinians.”
No aid, for example, is allowed to go to “Hamas or Hamas-controlled entities,” CRS says.
Similarly, the U.S. cannot make aid available “for the purpose of
recognizing or otherwise honoring individuals who commit or have
committed acts of terrorism.”
Aid likewise is forbidden if the PA decides to share power in a
government “that includes Hamas as a member” or gives Hamas “undue
influence.”
Exceptions to that restriction may be made “if the president
certifies that the PA government recognizes ‘the Jewish state of
Israel’s right to exist’” in addition to “previous Israeli-Palestinian
agreements.”
U.S. assistance does indeed reach Gaza, but is limited to the support
of projects carried out by private contractors and nongovernmental
organizations tasked with carrying out those endeavors, CRS says.
Oversight of such programs is reflected in “executive branch reports
and certifications, as well as internal and Government Accountability
Office (GAO) audits” whose aim it is to prevent U.S. aid “from
benefitting Palestinian terrorists or abetting corruption.”
A GAO report released last month did not indicate problems with the
enforcement of these restrictions; however, it reiterated congressional
concerns expressed in recent years, particularly the PA’s signing of “a
reconciliation agreement with Hamas that could lead to a unity
government.”
It noted that various congressional committees in response to that agreement
“placed holds on most of the fiscal year 2011 funds for the West Bank
and Gaza.” Some of those holds have since been released and the U.S.
Mission “began obligating those funds in April 2012.”
No mention was made, however, to an administration initiative seeking
to draw tourists away from Israel and keep them in Gaza and the West
Bank.
As the Monitor reported in 2011,
literally days after Hamas militants rained rockets on Israeli
civilians, USAID alerted contractors to an endeavor whose aim was to
have Christian pilgrims stay longer – and thereby spend more money – in
Palestinian territory rather than in Israel.
One year later, this writer uncovered details
of a USAID plan to infuse another $300 million into West Bank and Gaza
construction projects, which the administration explicitly described as
critical in attaining the “success of a future Palestinian state.”
Israel
Israel remains the top foreign aid recipient within the Obama
administration’s FY 2014 request: $3.1 billion, all which falls under
the category of Peace and Security. It mirrors the FY 2013 request.
The total amount of U.S. assistance to Israel, however, is not fully reflected in the ForeignAssistance.gov database.
As the CRS report “U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel” points out, Congress via the FY2013 Continuing Resolution approved
– separate from $3.1 billion in Foreign Military Financing, or FMF, and
$15 million for Migration and Refugee Assistance – another $480 million
“in joint U.S.-Israeli missile defense programs.”
That separate total included $211 million for the Iron Dome
anti-rocket defense system, $150 million for David’s Sling – a
“short/medium-range system designed to counter long-range rockets and
slower-flying cruise missiles… such as those possessed by Hezbollah in
Lebanon, as well as by Syria.”
It also encompassed $75 million for Arrow III and $44 million for Arrow II, both ballistic missile-interceptor projects.
The resolution likewise called on DOD and State “to explore with
their Israeli counterparts and alert Congress of any requirements the
Israeli Defense Force may have for additional Iron Dome batteries,
interceptors, or other equipment depleted during the recent conflict
with Hamas-controlled Gaza.”
The U.S. Department of Defense’s FY 2014 request via the Missile
Defense Agency is $96 million for Israeli Cooperative Programs, which
includes $53 million for Arrow III, $33 million for David’s Sling and
$11 million for Arrow II. DOD separately is requesting $220 million in
“Defense-wide funds for Iron Dome.”
Sequestration could decrease FMF to Israel “up to an estimated $155
million,” CRS says. “Likewise, rocket and missile defense funding to
Israel may be sequestered up to an estimated $37.41 million.”
The report, submitted to Congress in June, emphasized that the calculations “are estimates only.”
The final FY2013 total “remains unclear” since the U.S. Department of
State or the U.S. Department of Defense “could reprogram additional
amounts of aid to Israel in order to compensate for lost funding as a
result of sequestration.”
Maintaining Israel’s “Qualitative Military Edge,” or QME, over its
regional neighbors and enemies historically has provided justification
for significant U.S. assistance, CRS says.
Current and future security threats exist due to Iranian nuclear
ambitions, “Islamist-led or influenced Arab states” that stir up
anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli sentiments, and “instability and
terrorism” from ungoverned or minimally governed spaces along Israel’s
borders.
Despite the continued provision of military aid to deter region-wide
conflicts that largely have been avoided over the past 40 years,
“Economic conditions in the United States and Israel may affect future
U.S. aid to Israel,” CRS says.
“With the prospect of prolonged fiscal austerity in the United
States, overall American public support for foreign aid may diminish in
the years ahead.”
Egypt
The Obama administration’s FY 2014 budget request for Egypt is $1.56
billion. That total primarily is categorized under Peace and Security
initiatives ($1.3 billion), with the remainder slated for Economic
Development ($129 million), Education and Social Services ($63 million),
Democracy, Human Rights and Governance ($28 million), Health ($16
million) and Environment ($15 million).
A CRS report
cites a similar FY 2014 request total; however, rather than using the
category Peace and Security, it simply refers to that particular amount
as Military Aid, with the remainder ($250 million) listed as Economic
Aid.
Among other U.S-Egypt assistance programs that WND recently reported
is a USAID plan to help Egyptians get more out of their college
educations.
The administration is pursuing this endeavor
because Egyptian higher-education institutions struggle to “produce
graduates with the skills employers seek, posing constraints for growth
opportunities, particularly in high skilled economic sectors.”
U.S. interests in Egypt “include maintaining U.S. naval access to the
Suez Canal, maintaining the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty, and
promoting democracy and economic growth within Egypt, the region’s
largest Arab country,” the CRS report says.
Despite publishing that report prior to the Egyptian military’s
removal of President Mohamed Morsi, CRS foresaw that U.S. diplomatic
opportunities “may be overshadowed by disruptive political trends that
have been unleashed by the so-called Arab awakening and allowed for more
expression of anti-Americanism, radical Islamist politics, antipathy
toward Israel, and sectarianism.”
(Also see: "Feds Plan to Give Egypt Armed-to-the-Teeth Ships").
Feds Plan to Give Egypt Armed-to-the-Teeth Ships
Feds Plan to Give Egypt Armed-to-the-Teeth Ships
Jordan
Specific to State and U.S. Agency for International Development aid
to Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Congressional Budget Justification
FY 2014 says that the administration’s $671 million request is justified
because “Jordan is a strong U.S. ally in a turbulent region that,
despite its relative stability, faces a number of critical, immediate
challenges of its own.
“The country is host to large numbers of refugees from Syria at a
time when the lingering effects of the worldwide fiscal crisis, regional
instability, and other pressures have created increased strain on
Jordan’s economy…”
The administration hopes to leverage this assistance “to deepen the
partnership with Jordan to promote comprehensive regional peace and
combat terrorism.”
CRS takes it a step further, asserting that the Jordanian government “remains arguably the most reliable partner for the United States in the Arab world.”
Despite Jordan’s participation in past regional wars against Israel,
it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 after concluding that peace
“was in Jordan’s strategic interests due to Israel’s conventional
military superiority.”
Jordan likewise seeks peaceful resolution in its support of an “independent Palestinian national movement.”
The absence of such a resolution has “threatened both Jordanian and
Israeli security,” a particular concern to Jordan as there about “1.9
million United Nations-registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan,” many
of whom maintain “hope of being included in any future settlement.”
The administration consequently seeks to provide Jordan with aid
under the categories of Peace and Security ($311 million), the bulk of
which is slated for Stabilization Operations and Security Sector Reform
($304 million) and the remainder devoted to Counterterrorism ($5
million) and Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction ($1.7 million).
Other categories include Economic Development ($233 million),
Education and Social Services ($56 million), Health ($36 million),
Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance ($28 million, and Environment
($7 million).
Whereas much of the assistance is made possible via USAID programs,
the U.S. also provides Jordan with cash assistance “to service its
foreign debt,” CRS says.
Despite the expressed desire to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, King Abdullah II has repeatedly emphasized that the U.S. must
pressure Israel to accept a two-state solution.
Abdullah II earlier this year in a joint press conference during
Obama’s visit to Jordan, said “There is simply no other formula, no
other alternative.
The two-state solution is the only way to go. And if you compare that
also with the radicalization of Syria, together with the impasse in the
peace process, this is going to be a serious threat to an already
volatile region,” he said.
Jordan regularly participates in joint military exercises and
training with the U.S., and has deployed thousands of military, law
enforcement, and health professionals in support of U.S. operations in
Iraq and Afghanistan as well as U.N. peacekeeping operations around the
world, CRS notes.
Saudi Arabia
The administration has proposed giving $10,000 in FY2014 direct aid
to Saudi Arabia. The administration sought that amount last year and
slightly less the year before. In the years immediately prior to those,
annual requests had fluctuated while staying in the low hundreds of
thousands.
The $10,000 aid figure specifically is for International Military Education and Training for Saudi Arabia. According to CRS,
“This nominal amount makes Saudi Arabia eligible for a substantial but
undisclosed discount on the millions of dollars of training it purchases
through the Foreign Military Sales program.”
The actual amount of assistance to Saudi Arabia remains unclear,
however, as the U.S. has numerous mechanisms in place to assist the
Saudis in other ways.
No itemized costs could be found that detail U.S. expenses in the
arrangement and processing Foreign Military Sales and other contracting
actions.
The U.S. Air Force, for instance, this week issued a revised Request
for Information from industry in the potential procurement of
cyber-protection services and facilities for the Royal Saudi Air Force’s
F-15 IT upgrade program.
The agency in that same endeavor also is coordinating a series of Industry Day gatherings that connect vendors with Saudi officials.
“Official U.S. concerns about human rights and religious freedom in
the kingdom persist, and some members of Congress have expressed
skepticism about Saudi leaders’ commitment to combating religious
extremism and sharing U.S. policy priorities in the Middle East and
South Asia,” CRS says.
“However, Bush and Obama administration officials have referred to
the Saudi government as an important regional partner in recent years,
and U.S. arms sales and related training programs have continued with
congressional oversight.”
Although it receives literal bilateral aid from the U.S., Saudi Arabia is a major buyer of U.S. military hardware.
Among other arrangements that CRS notes, “In October 2010, Congress
was notified of proposed sales to Saudi Arabia of dozens of F-15 fighter
aircraft, helicopters, and related equipment and services, with a
potential value of $60 billion.”
The Obama administration, “like its predecessors, has engaged the
Saudi government as a strategic partner in efforts to promote regional
security and global economic stability.”
Hearing: Al-Qaeda’s Resurgence in Iraq: A Threat to U.S. Interests [?] (Commentary)
Thus far there is just one "witness" scheduled to testify Wednesday (2/5/14) at the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, which is titled "Al-Qaeda’s Resurgence in Iraq: A Threat to U.S. Interests."
Mr. Brett McGurk, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, apparently is going to help sort out the situation for this critical committee.
Upon reading the hearing title, unconsciously I released a barely audible “Uh-oh,” wondering where such a hearing might lead us.
While it is too early to make assumptions about the direction of U.S. policy on Iraq, I could not help but wonder if there are people in the federal government who might seek to step up U.S. involvement there.
Even though it is unlikely the Obama administration will re-deploy troops, you can bet that billions in awards to private contractors will (continue to) flow, if not magnify.
Committee Chairman Royce’s statement on the hearing:
That reminds me: I’ve been meaning to finally buy a copy of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People by Peter Van Buren. Why? Check out Van Buren’s blog description of the book:
The committee hearing is slated for 10 a.m. in 2172 Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. Interested citizens also may catch it via webcast.