Checking The Tab

When you get  your tab in a restaurant do you check it to make sure the charges are right?  It's the prudent thing to do.  If it's wrong either you lose or the wait staff does depending on who the error favors.

Why shouldn't the same hold true with our foreign aid?  Well, I'm happy to report that it is happening ~ at least in Pakistan.  And who is more deserving of our scrutiny?

According to The Wall Street Journal the U.S. has rejected $40 million dollars worth of claims the Pakistanis submitted for their part of the fight against terror. Sheesh.  We have enough problems with our own government contractors over billing us.  The last thing we need is to have our "allies" doing so!  But I'm willing to wager each and every recipient of our foreign aid misdirects much of the money.

If it weren't so serious I'd be getting a kick out of the Pakistani bluster that has escalated since the bin Laden incident.  "We didn't know he was here.  Honest!"  Yeah, right.

Still they continue the bluster.  There will be severe penalties if it happens again.  Stop the drone attacks or else.   Or else what?

One of many examples of their shenanigans involved locating and refurbishing four badly needed helicopters to allow Pakistan to transport troops into battle against the Taliban and other militants.  Instead they diverted three of them to the Sudan for peace keeping missions for which they were compensated by the UN.

They then huff that once the helicopters are part of the Pakistani fleet we have no right to dictate how they are used.  Wrong.  Not when the agreement was they be used for a specific purpose in return for the cost of refurbishment!

Senator Kerry has stated, on his recent trip, he was there to hit the reset button.  Wrong again.  Pakistan should be the one hitting it.  When they accuse of us thinking Pakistan is full of cheats, they are correct.  When they tell us our actions are "detrimental to bilateral trust" it's a coffee spitter.

So they don't like having to pony up receipts for every dime they get.  Tough.  Let's just equate it with any businessman's expense account in this country.  Only government workers get away for spending their per diem on gifts and such.  Maybe that's why the Pakistanis think they can bluster their way through it.

Let's face it.  There is no trust.  They are going to have to re-earn it.  If they can.  Meanwhile, three cheers to those in our government who are checking those expenditures.  Now, let's expand it to every other aid receiving country.  After all, it's our tax payer money.  If the President wants "investment", let's make sure, at least on the foreign aid front, it's a good one!