Murtha: Fund diplomacy, not AFRICOM

[unhappycamper]

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., left, talks with U.S. Air Forces in Europe commander Gen. Roger Brady at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center on Thursday.


Murtha: Fund diplomacy, not AFRICOM
By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, November 29, 2008

LANDSTUHL, Germany — More money should go to the U.S. State Department for U.S. efforts in Africa rather than to the military’s U.S. Africa Command, said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.

The chairman of the House of Representatives’ defense appropriations subcommittee made his comments Thursday at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center after visiting wounded troops and having Thanksgiving dinner with top U.S. military leaders in Europe.

“They should use diplomacy in Africa rather than military,” Murtha said. “We can’t win these wars militarily. Nobody wants us over there. I think Liberia wants us. Nobody else.

“You can’t just throw money at it, and you can’t win it militarily. It has to be done diplomatically. So I’ve been trying to shift money and convince the people that make the decision on where the money goes that more money should go to the State Department for those kind of things.”

President Bush requested $389 million for AFRICOM for fiscal 2009. Earlier this year during the budgetary process, the subcommittee Murtha chairs recommended providing AFRICOM only $80.6 million in funding for fiscal 2009. In the end, AFRICOM’s budget was approved at $266 million.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59117

[NYVet]

1. Sure, let's talk to them...

Because you and I BOTH know that the pirates and dictators in that area are always open to a well articulated and logical argument.

:sarcasm:

[unhappycamper]

2. Trying to talk to someone rather than blowing the shit out of them seems

to be reasonable.

[NYVet]

3. Yeah, that really worked for Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in the 1920's,

and Chamberlin in the 1930's, and for Jacobo Guzmán in the 1950's, and Norodom Sihanouk during the 1960's, and the Shah of Iran during the 1970's.



I would rather negotiate from a position of strength than beg from a position of weakness.