Paying to bomb a place and then rebuild it. Cool policy USA.
To be clear, we’re only spending 0.35% of the amount we did to bomb it to rebuild it.
Basically a rounding error, something for the headlines.
Another way of looking at it is, the US military budget is $825 billion and USAID budget is $50 billion. (Already looking bad, USA…)
0.018% of USAID’s budget went to help Gaza, while 1.05% of the US military budget went to destroy Gaza. Congress doesn’t even give 1% of a shit about helping Gaza.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Agency_for_International_Development
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/fy24_defense_bill_summary.pdf
Also to be clear, we’re not actually rebuilding it, we’re just putting on a fresh coat of paint. Lives have been irreparably damaged and this pittance isn’t nearly enough to help revitalize the area.
Not the first time
America’s international policy is basically negging. We bomb someplace into the ground and then go in, “Oh gosh, you look rough… let me help you! Aren’t I so kind? Since we spent so much money fixing you you should really be one of our special friends.”