A dollar to Afgan children? -- NO WAY!

Great Debates
21

The biggest problem facing the successful prosecution of this war is losing the support of countries under the Islamic umbrella. Every effort to distinguish Afghans from the Taliban and highlighting the moral superiority of America versus the Taleban will help maintain a fragile coalition where many countries are faced with propaganda of the fanatical clerics who have the potential to destabilize regimes resulting in an all out “jihad”. America’s children helping Afghanistan’s children will not go over well with the extremists, but certainly gives pause to very many Muslims who are concerned about the “war on their Muslim brethern” and their Islamic responsibility in that regard.

Secondly, I see the call of the President to the children of America as a civic lesson in generosity and an opportunity for America’s children to participate In a just war effort and intercept the inevitable germs of racism and/or religious hatred that can only undermine the war effort.

Have we ever seen anything like this before?

22

I’m in favor of it even if there are logistical problems. One of our greatest responsibilities at the moment is education. We need to teach our kids to think of themselves as people of the world, rather than people of X nation … or the next generation will have to go through all of this again. And again. This sounds like a brilliant way to make those connections personal.

I must admit that President Bush is absolutely the last person from whom I would have expected to hear this particular proposal, but it has increased my respect for him.

23

Is that the question? Should the UN handle this?

That attitude smacks of the ignorance that led to this problem. Let someone else handle it. Let this or that group take care of it - we have our own problems to worry about. Who cares what the Taliban is doing - we have much bigger concerns, such as Gary Condit, Monica Lewinsky, and Hillary’s facial tics. People starving? Well, we have starving people here, too. Right?

Well, those problems are ours now. We can no longer afford to be isolationist. And if some kids want to send their allowance to the White House, why is it a big deal? It’s a good lesson, it inspires generosity, and it makes the kids feel good.

And to answer someone’s question, the March of Dimes was somewhat similar, IIRC.

As for Bush advocating this, I’ll bet anyone that Laura Bush instigated it. But I still think it’s a cool idea.

24

Nobody expects a presidient to have great ideas–that’s not his job. The job of a president is to sort through all the ideas of all different qualities and decide which ones to implement (within his constitutional powers, of course).

25

Sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like I was being an asshole, and I wasn’t accusing you of anything.

There may well be (and I’m sure there are) unscrupulous postal workers. I hope they steal mail…and get caught.

The people I worked with, though, seemed pretty decent. In fact, I think you could write “Large Denomination Bills Inside”, and your letter would either get there, or some kind letter carrier would return it to you and ask if you’d like it insured.

26

According to the AP story:

I think I prefer Bush’s plan – at least it doesn’t involve reciting a cheesy rhyme.

27

I think it’s a marvelous idea. I see it as a way to get children involved in the world community, and to help them understand that it’s not the kids’ fault.

My kids are age two and age four. They don’t have money, obviously. But I think I’m going to send two bucks anyway, in their names.

IIRC, Bush was also asking the schools to get involved. I think this would be great. Have the schools collect the dollars, and send them in on behalf of the kids.

I’m sure they’ll find a way to get that money there somehow, either as money itself, or spent on food & other necessities. I personally don’t care how they do it, as long as they do what they say they will.

28

Why can’t you give money to the September 11 victims AND to the Afghan children? A DOLLAR. Oh wow. And they need it more than we do.

We’ll get through this-our country is strong. Their’s is not. They might not even have anything to go back to. We’re not at war with them, but we are in the process of bombing their country.

Isn’t it the least we could do?

29

It’s not about the money. If every kid in America sent in a dollar, that would be what, maybe 75 million dollars? The U.S. is spending BILLIONS on humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. It really doesn’t need the kid’s money.

So why do it? For the reasons a couple of people said above - it looks good to the world, it teaches a good lesson to children, and it helps bring comfort to kids who may feel a little helpless. If a kid can send a dollar, he’ll feel better about himself, and his country.

I think this proposal had Laura Bush’s fingerprints on it. She’s a teacher, and she cares about children greatly. And I thought it was a great idea.

30

the march of dimes is what sparked this idea. way back when the dimes where hope for an end to polio.

i hope this “march of dollars” has the same out come. ending starvation for afgan’s children. kids want to give, at my office we raised money for the fire and police fund. our amout came out to $xx1. i know that one dollar was from a small kid who said: “wait, here is a dollar from my allowance.”

although the idea of bush on a dollar if this works is…

did anyone else think of soupy sales when bush mentioned this?!?

31

the march of dimes is what sparked this idea. way back when the dimes where hope for an end to polio.

i hope this “march of dollars” has the same out come. ending starvation for afgan’s children. kids want to give, at my office we raised money for the fire and police fund. our amout came out to $xx1. i know that one dollar was from a small kid who said: “wait, here is a dollar from my allowance.”

although the idea of bush on a dollar if this works is…

did anyone else think of soupy sales when bush mentioned this?!?

32

My 8 year old son sent $4.00. We visited The White Houses’ web site and read about the plan. After reading about the suffering of the Afgahnie (sp?) children my son said, “Dad when I get older if Osama bin Laden is still there I will go over and kick his butt and set everyone free. I can’t believe he lets children starve.” I’m proud of my son, he understands.

33

I too find this to be an incredibly smart move on Bush’s part.

As Americans our country has made every effort to insure that the American victims of the September 11th tragedy are provided for. Many corporations who lost employees in the terrorist attacks are bending over backwards to make certain that those employees’ families are provided for. Americans have donated a bunch of money to funds for victims’ families, for firefighters’ and policemen’s families, and for the various aid programs that have been working at the WTC and Pentagon sites non-stop ever since.

This allows compassionate Americans (and their children) to help the other victims of Usama bin Laden and the Taliban, the ones whom many of us never would have heard of or thought twice about had the tragedy never happened – the people of Afghanistan.

Yes, it is true that the U.S. has set aside a large amount of funds to spend on aid in Afghanistan. But that money is from the government’s pockets - from our tax returns - and once that money is taken from our paycheques we really have very little say in where it is spent. It’s hardly an expression of my compassion if the government automatically sends 1/5th of a penny from last year’s income along with 1/5th of a penny from everyone else’s. This is a way for us to get actively involved in helping the people, for us to choose whether we think the cause is worthy or not; we have little to no choice what the US spends on its foreign aid policies, but we do have choice as to how much we can put into that envelope.

I think it is a responsible, compassionate, wordly, and caring thing to do.

It will also tell our government how much our people actually care about the problem in Afghanistan, which I think may become important to future administrations and future legislative efforts. From what I understand, it is our aim to dethrone the Taliban - and that puts us into a position to influence the next rulers of the country. If that is our aim, what is best for the U.S. is to put in place a government that, while still maintaining its Muslim/Islam roots (pardon me, I’m not very clear on what the correct term is, I know very little about the religion or culture), is also friendly to the West. Or friendlier at least. This would be the beginning of a great deal of interaction between our country and theirs, and current politicians need to know how much the people as a whole support this interaction before it can decide how much interaction it will undergo.

Personally I’d rather they saved the money for now, and waited until this new ruling power was established, and use the money to fund the building of non-extremist schools, so the children of Afghanistan have the hopes of overcoming the poverty that has stunted the country’s growth thus far, and so that we have the hope that the children of today’s Afghanistan will not be the warriors of tomorrow’s Al-Queda.

I didn’t get to see any of Bush’s speeches about the creation or implementation or purpose of this fund - I was at work - but I am sure that he has thought of the problem of getting the money to the children whilst the Taliban is still in control, and I highly doubt he thinks he can just hand the Taliban a sack of money, say, “This is for the children, don’t spend it all in one place,” and expect results. I’m sure that he either intends to bestow the funds upon the next regime, or he has another plan in place that he can’t tell us about - so the Taliban doesn’t find out and corrupt it - to get the children the money they most definitely need and deserve.

34

I too find this to be an incredibly smart move on Bush’s part.

As Americans our country has made every effort to insure that the American victims of the September 11th tragedy are provided for. Many corporations who lost employees in the terrorist attacks are bending over backwards to make certain that those employees’ families are provided for. Americans have donated a bunch of money to funds for victims’ families, for firefighters’ and policemen’s families, and for the various aid programs that have been working at the WTC and Pentagon sites non-stop ever since.

This allows compassionate Americans (and their children) to help the other victims of Usama bin Laden and the Taliban, the ones whom many of us never would have heard of or thought twice about had the tragedy never happened – the people of Afghanistan.

Yes, it is true that the U.S. has set aside a large amount of funds to spend on aid in Afghanistan. But that money is from the government’s pockets - from our tax returns - and once that money is taken from our paycheques we really have very little say in where it is spent. It’s hardly an expression of my compassion if the government automatically sends 1/5th of a penny from last year’s income along with 1/5th of a penny from everyone else’s. This is a way for us to get actively involved in helping the people, for us to choose whether we think the cause is worthy or not; we have little to no choice what the US spends on its foreign aid policies, but we do have choice as to how much we can put into that envelope.

I think it is a responsible, compassionate, wordly, and caring thing to do.

It will also tell our government how much our people actually care about the problem in Afghanistan, which I think may become important to future administrations and future legislative efforts. From what I understand, it is our aim to dethrone the Taliban - and that puts us into a position to influence the next rulers of the country. If that is our aim, what is best for the U.S. is to put in place a government that, while still maintaining its Muslim/Islam roots (pardon me, I’m not very clear on what the correct term is, I know very little about the religion or culture), is also friendly to the West. Or friendlier at least. This would be the beginning of a great deal of interaction between our country and theirs, and current politicians need to know how much the people as a whole support this interaction before it can decide how much interaction it will undergo.

Personally I’d rather they saved the money for now, and waited until this new ruling power was established, and use the money to fund the building of non-extremist schools, so the children of Afghanistan have the hopes of overcoming the poverty that has stunted the country’s growth thus far, and so that we have the hope that the children of today’s Afghanistan will not be the warriors of tomorrow’s Al-Queda.

I didn’t get to see any of Bush’s speeches about the creation or implementation or purpose of this fund - I was at work - but I am sure that he has thought of the problem of getting the money to the children whilst the Taliban is still in control, and I highly doubt he thinks he can just hand the Taliban a sack of money, say, “This is for the children, don’t spend it all in one place,” and expect results. I’m sure that he either intends to bestow the funds upon the next regime, or he has another plan in place that he can’t tell us about - so the Taliban doesn’t find out and corrupt it - to get the children the money they most definitely need and deserve.

35

Gah. These boards really don’t like me! pouts and whines

A dozen apologies for making you read my drivel twice :slight_smile:

36

According to the CIA World Factbook entry for Afghanistan, the country’s entire Gross Domestic Product equals $21 billion. Do you realize that the US federal bailout of the airlines came to some $17 billion? Federal emergency funds given to a single industry roughly equalled the entire GDP of Afghanistan. Bush cajoled a total of over $40 billion from Congrees in the week after the attack.

US GDP? $9.963 trillion.

I’m not greedy. If people are starving to death, give them the money, infrastructure, expertise, and technical support to be able to eat. If anyone in the world can afford it, it’s us.

37

I am seriously going to cry now.

38

George W. Bush is a politician. I doubt he lies awake at night crying over the fate of Afghani children. This was a move calculated to improve America’s image and win support for America. And I think it was a brilliant move. Of course, it won’t have any effect on the Taliban and other hardcore America-haters. But we’re not just talking about them. Here in Europe, there are plenty of people who think that all Americans are war-mongering, blood-thirsty bigots. When George W. Bush first came on the scene, everyone here hated him, because he’s a Republican, because of his accent, because he’s Christian, because he “executed 152 people”. There is a lot of criticism of the air strikes on Afghanistan, a lot of talk of how oblivious Americans are to the suffering of the innocent Afghan people. People talk of the hate crimes in America and shake their heads in disapproval. Why not show them that Americans feel sympathy and are generous towards an enemy, and how better to show them than by this touching appeal to American children? Unless you think that America can stand alone?

39

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Nacho4Sara *
**

Is that the question? Should the UN handle this?

That attitude smacks of the ignorance that led to this problem. Let someone else handle it. Let this or that group take care of it - we have our own problems to worry about. Who cares what the Taliban is doing - we have much bigger concerns, such as Gary Condit, Monica Lewinsky, and Hillary’s facial tics. People starving? Well, we have starving people here, too. Right? **

No, isolationism did not lead to this problem. Actually it was 4 commercial airplanes and several cases of anthrax that led to this problem.

Further, the U.S. has been secretly funding various groups throughout the world that have come back to haunt us – including Bin Lauden.

It is easy to to make jest and say all of our worries here are merely “Gary Condit” and “Hillary”. Take a walk down to lower Manhattan and see the destruction caused by these attacks. Low income familes are out of work – many losing the bread winner. Small businesses are out of business, people are left homeless. The envoronmental impact is still unknown. As a result of this tragedy New York will have to pool all of its resources to recovery efforts, leaving vital programs and agencies unfunded – and a severe fiscal crisis is in the making.

I am for helping starving children. But the Taliban created this situation for there children. There are scores of countires that said they would not offer us military help – they can aid in relief efforts.

Teaching our children compassion is vital. Teaching our children that discrimination is vital, tolorance of religion is vital. But I believe that in times of great need our family – the US family comes first.

There is so much poverty, pain and sadness in this country that I want my children to know and understand.

40

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Nacho4Sara *
**

Is that the question? Should the UN handle this?

That attitude smacks of the ignorance that led to this problem. Let someone else handle it. Let this or that group take care of it - we have our own problems to worry about. Who cares what the Taliban is doing - we have much bigger concerns, such as Gary Condit, Monica Lewinsky, and Hillary’s facial tics. People starving? Well, we have starving people here, too. Right? **

No, isolationism did not lead to this problem. Actually it was 4 commercial airplanes and several cases of anthrax that led to this problem.

Further, the U.S. has been secretly funding various groups throughout the world that have come back to haunt us – including Bin Lauden.

It is easy to to make jest and say all of our worries here are merely “Gary Condit” and “Hillary”. Take a walk down to lower Manhattan and see the destruction caused by these attacks. Low income familes are out of work – many losing the bread winner. Small businesses are out of business, people are left homeless. The envoronmental impact is still unknown. As a result of this tragedy New York will have to pool all of its resources to recovery efforts, leaving vital programs and agencies unfunded – and a severe fiscal crisis is in the making.

I am for helping starving children. But the Taliban created this situation for there children. There are scores of countires that said they would not offer us military help – they can aid in relief efforts.

Teaching our children compassion is vital. Teaching our children that discrimination is vital, tolorance of religion is vital. But I believe that in times of great need our family – the US family comes first.

There is so much poverty, pain and sadness in this country that I want my children to know and understand.