Funferal

More on aid changed to Loans

The New York Times has picked up explicitly on the point made yesterday in this blog. In reference to the Democratic Party actions on Bush’s $87bn request:

One of their leading demands, converting some of the money into loans, picked up enough Republican support to prevail in the Senate. Unfortunately, it’s a terrible idea. Turning aid into a loan dumps more debt on a country that is already sinking in it. It’s also the worst kind of election-oriented pandering that only serves to hide the true costs from voters.

I dislike the US administrations actions on Iraq as much as the next, but refusing aid to Iraq – changing it instead to loans, which will be spent primarily on US contractors – is wrong.