Comment by throwawaymaths

Comment by throwawaymaths 3 days ago

what's with people not having beef with USAID? It's done so many crazy and bad things, for example:

USAID funded the hepatitis vaccination drive that the CIA used as a cover for espionage against the bin laden family, leading to polio outbreak in pakistan.

https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/he-led-cia-bin-laden-and-...

Distaste for USAID in any other time would be bipartisan; the Clinton Administration floated shuttering it too. If you go to DC a lot of insiders will say, 'yeah, USAID's got to go'.

rhcom2 3 days ago

This seems like a criticism of the CIA, not USAID, no?

> The decision to enlist Afridi was probably made by the CIA station chief in Islamabad and was passed on to the Counterterrorism Center back in Langley.

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throwawaymaths 3 days ago

don't fool yourself. USAID had the power to stop this.

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- gambiting 3 days ago
  
  What makes you think so, exactly? It's not like CIA would let everyone within the organisation know they are doing it. Do you think USAID could just say no to CIA?
  
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  throwawaymaths 3 days ago
  
  IF YOU ARE INVOLVED WITH LYING TO PEOPLE AND NOT ADMINISTERING VACCINES AND DOING DNA TESTS, THEN IT IS YOUR INDVIDUAL DUTY TO STOP YOUR ORG FROM CONTINUING.
  
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- wat10000 3 days ago
  
  What in the world is going on with this country? How did we let ourselves be ruled by people who think such nonsense?
  
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  cristiancavalli 2 days ago
  
  I postulate a slow, multi-generational decline in critical thinking skills (maybe this is driven, at least partially, by the over abundance of unchallenging media/entertainment) coupled with grievance politics and the bucket-of-crabs mentality that sets in when people start to sense the “pie getting smaller” or at least having reached its peak size.
  
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ksynwa 3 days ago

I didn't bring this up because it would be controversial on this website. I think USAID is a tool for advancing US geopolitical interests aims first and foremost and I would like it to be abolished as well. But someone like Musk wanting it to be shuttered doesn't make sense because these organisation in one way or another advance the interests of US businesses and he would benefit from that as well.

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cristiancavalli 2 days ago

I think USAID could certainly be classified as “soft power.” I think throwing it all out makes little sense in light of the provably good things it did.

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amarcheschi 3 days ago

I think that any sufficiently big organization has done bad things, this alone shouldn't be enough to close an agency.

However, I'm sure Cia has done, does, and will do much worse things than usaid

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matthewmacleod 3 days ago

Vaccination campaigns are “crazy and bad” because they might be hijacked by the CIA?

I think you’ve identified the wrong culprit there buddy.

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throwawaymaths 3 days ago

not might. Were. A USAID that isn't problematic would have stopped it. It failed to; just one symptom of the problems at USAID.

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