Bush's dumb fundy inspired policies are shooting us in the foot.
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Population: US Funding Cuts Undermine Terror War
by Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - A proposed 25-percent cut in U.S. international
assistance for population in the upcoming 2008 budget threatens to
undermine the war against terrorism, a Washington-based non-governmental
organisation warned Wednesday.Lawrence Smith Jr., president of the
Population Institute, points out that intelligence and security experts
‹ including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ‹ ³have repeatedly
warned that countries at the bottom of the development ladder, with high
fertility rates and very large youth populations, are ripe for terrorist
recruitment.²
³Why would there not be funding for services that clearly address one of
the key factors contributing to the existence, increased number and
relative lack of progress in improving conditions in the world¹s fragile
states?² he asked.
³It is clear that prevention is more cost-effective and we need to
restore funding to this field,² Smith told IPS.
³This is another perplexing point coming from a president (George W.
Bush) who is fighting a global war on terror,² he said.
Smith said that Bush had called for reducing U.S. population funding in
fiscal year 2008, beginning next October, by 116 million dollars, to 325
million dollars, compared with 434 million dollars in 2007.
The comparable figures for 2005 was 437 million and for 2006 about 436
million dollars.
Citing World Bank statistics, Smith said that in nine of the 10
countries classified as ³severely fragile², youths under 15 years of age
comprise 40 percent or more of the population.
The nine countries are Angola, Central African Republic and Liberia (47
percent each); Somalia and Afghanistan (45 percent); Sudan (44 percent);
Haiti (42 percent); Zimbabwe (41 percent); and Solomon Islands (40
percent).
The only country among the top 10 with less than 40 percent of the
population under 15 years of age is Burma, or Myanmar (32 percent).
Testifying before a U.S. House of Representatives Committee on
Appropriations panel on foreign operations last week, Smith said not
every young person in a less developed country is a likely candidate for
strapping on a suicide bomb.
³But many more than we might think are willing to follow charismatic but
misguided political and religious leaders who point them toward a path
of disruption, chaos, violence and even armed conflict,² he argued.
A U.N. report, to be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the U.N.
Commission on Population and Development Apr. 9-13, points out that all
countries are experiencing some change in their age structures.
However, since countries are at different stages of demographic
transition and experience different social and economic conditions, the
change is more pronounced in some countries than in others.
³Developing countries continue to be characterised by higher levels of
fertility and smaller numbers of older persons,² the study said.
Africa has the youngest age distribution, with 41 percent of the
population under age 15 and about five percent aged 60 years and over.
On the other hand, developed countries have a much older population,
with 17 percent under age 15 and 20 percent aged 60 years and over.
The proportion of people over the age of 60 is increasing rapidly in
Western Europe, Northern America and Japan.
³The legacy of past high fertility is the current rapid increase in
population and the largest-ever generation of young people,² the report
noted.
In developing countries, young people account for 29 percent of the
population, where they number 1.5 million.
In the developed world, there are over 238 million young people,
representing 20 percent of the population.
³The changing age structure of populations has significant social and
economic implications at the individual, family, community and societal
levels. It also has important implications for a country¹s development,²
the study points out.
Smith said rapid population growth is among the key factors contributing
to the very existence of fragile states, their increasing numbers and
relative lack of progress toward development.
Women in seven of the 10 most fragile states give birth to an average of
four or more children during their reproductive lifetime. In four of
these states ‹ Afghanistan, Angola, Liberia and Somalia ‹ women are
averaging nearly seven children.
Smith said that the United Nations reports that 137 million women in the
world lack access to modern, medically approved contraceptives and
another 64 million women use traditional methods of family planning that
are less reliable than modern methods.
It is somewhat bewildering, Smith told IPS, that President Bush, ³who
has issued a statement noting that one of the best ways to prevent
abortion is by providing quality voluntary family planning services,²
would not then make these services available to the 137 million women
who would like to prevent or delay pregnancy but are not using any
method of family planning.
According to the World Health Organisation, the number of individuals
and couples who want to avoid a birth or delay their next pregnancy
exceeds the number of contraceptive users by a factor of two or more.
³The need for family planning assistance definitely exists,² Smith said.
Moreover, the overwhelming majority of fragile states have, as a matter
of official policy, declared their birth rates to be too high.
³What remains to be answered is the question of whether or not we have
the political will to fulfill this unmet need,² he added.
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http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/05/330/
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John #1782
"We should always be disposed to believe that which appears to us to be
white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides."
- Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) Founder of the Jesuit Order.
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