If so, you may be one up on both the President of the US and many Africans. The former still has difficulty stringing together a coherent sentence, as evidenced by this gem from his recent visit to Rwanda. "People say why would you want to come to Africa at this point in your presidency? Because I'm on a mission of mercy is why," said the Great Orator, leaving an interrogative hanging off the end of his sentence like a Florida chad.
This "mission" has certainly not ended any suffering in Darfur, on which Bush delivered this incoherent message in reference to his decision not to send US troops to halt the admitted genocide in the region. Quoth the Decider "I'm comfortable with the decision I made, but I'm not comfortable with how quickly the (international) response has been."
Oddly enough, the international community is not comfortable with how failure to speak proper English is Bush...
...but Africans themselves are far too kind as they hail the current Administration for doubling the aid budget for Africa to 8.7 billion dollars. In case they hadn't noticed, that's a mere 10% of what we are spending each year in Iraq, whose issues pale in comparison to the population, disease, security and infrastructure problems experienced by the African states.
Hey, Mr. President... If you want to do something with 8.7 billion dollars in Africa, take a note from China. They took that much, doubled it (yup, 15.6 billion) and invested it quietly in Sudan, buying themselves access to 6 billion barrels of oil, and bankrolling the Sudanese government to continue its war against the Rebels in Darfur.
This is a classic case where the US has failed to use "soft power" to drive a solution to a regional crisis and stabilize our own economy. Had we, not China, chosen to invest 16 billion in Sudan, with the criteria that an immediate peace settlement be brokered to obtain the aid, we could have tied up a key oil reserve, stabilized the region, and greatly increased our status on the African Continent; all for a fraction of what we are spending on war abroad or economic incentive plans at home.
Instead, we're too busy patting ourselves on the back for mercy missions that accomplish nothing meaningful, and no one in Africa is willing to do the math and call "bullshit!"
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