The Congo Money Pit

The United States spends more than our fair share of money on the UN and its agenda but we are achieving nothing.  In 2010 we spent 7.7 billion of our tax money on UN initiatives. What are the projects we are funding? If you are curious and want to know there is a giant list of what we spend on international efforts, go to this website for a breakdown of 2011 expenses-http://www.state.gov/p/io/rls/rpt/2011/c54362.htm.

My reason for investigating what we spend on the UN is because of a story I read- http://world.time.com/2012/11/26/defining-peacekeeping-downward-the-u-n-debacle-in-eastern-congo/?iid=gs-main-mostpop1

The Democratic Republic of Congo, like many of its African neighbors, is under a state of civil war. The UN effort to help this country is a joke and in shambles.  The story I read basically outlines how the M23 rebels took the 2^nd largest city in Congo, called Goma, while UN peacekeepers watched and did not fire a shot. The story also tells of a time where a different rebel faction was trying to get the UN force to leave Pinga, after seizing control of the town, but they would not leave. The rebel force even went to the tactic of decapitating human beings from a rival tribe to try to get the UN to leave. The brave UN force, rather than stop the rebels from the heinous act, just stayed locked safely in their compound watching the murders from a far. The story goes on to site other examples like this and also notes corruption with the peacekeepers selling weapons to rebels for gold.

My interest in this story is what are we spending on this mess and does it justify the expense. In 2011 the United States spent 455 million dollars in the Congo. This is the largest expense we have for international spending. Now ask yourself these questions. Did you know we spent this massive amount of money in the Congo? Would you have approved spending our money like this especially after reading about what a mess the operation is?

This 455 million dollars that we spent in Congo should have been spent at home in the states. I live in a major US city where poverty is rampant. We have a road system, like many other cities, in bad need of repair. We have horrible education standards and many of our young flunk out of school and turn to street violence. You and I pay taxes to help with these domestic issues yet half a billion of our dollars go to, and no disrespect to Congo, help others when we can’t help ourselves.  So I will end this by saying call your senator or rep and ask them when will they take action and realize this is another Opportunity Lost……

List of all Rep and Senator Numbers- http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm