BreakTheChain.org
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A Vote of (Non) confidenceDate Added: May 6, 2004
This anonymously authored chain letter attempts to prove that the United States is embarrassing itself by continuing to give money to arab countries who openly oppose us in the U.N. Despite the appearance of detailed research and the fact that what it claims is very technically correct, the letter falls short of its goal. The United States gives $13.3 billion tax dollars in direct Foreign Aid annually. The United States is above and beyond the single most generous benefactor of the United Nations, donating $2.4 billion dollars of OUR money, to primarily third-world dictators. This amount is 25% of the United Nations budget. In addition, the United States also gives another $1.4 billion tax dollars to United Nations' programs and agencies. The American taxpayers fund more for the United Nations than ALL of the other 177 member nations COMBINED. What most Americans do not realize is that the vast majority of the recipients of US Foreign Aid routinely vote against the wishes of the United States in the UN at an average rate of 74%. In other words, of the $13.3 billion tax dollars invested in direct Foreign Aid only about 26% or $3.5 billion went to support people who endorsed American initiatives or causes. A staggering $9.8 billion tax dollars went to causes and people who were and are in open and direct opposition to the United States' interests and objectives. Below are the actual voting records of various Arabic/Islamic States which are recorded in both the US State Department and United Nations records. Kuwait votes against the United States 67% of the time. Qatar votes against the United States 67% of the time. Morocco votes against the United States 70% of the time. United Arab Emirates votes against the US.. 70% of the time. Jordan votes against the United States 71% of the time. Tunisia votes against the United States 71% of the time. Saudi Arabia votes against the United States 73% of the time. Yemen votes against the United States 74% of the time Algeria votes against the United States 74% of the time. Oman votes against the United States 74% of the time Sudan votes against the United States 75% of the time. Pakistan votes against the United States 75% of the time. Libya votes against the United States 76% of the time. Egypt votes against the United States 79% of the time. Lebanon votes against the United States 80% of the time. India votes against the United States 81% of the time. Syria votes against the United States 84% of the time. Mauritania votes against the United States 87% of! the time. US Foreign Aid to those that hate us: Egypt, for example, after voting 79% of the time against the United States, still receives $2 billion annually in US Foreign Aid. Jordan votes 71% against the United States and receives $192,814,000 annually in US Foreign Aid. Pakistan votes 75% against the United States receives $6,721,000 annually in US Foreign Aid. India votes 81% against the United States receives $143,699,000 annually in US Foreign Aid. Perhaps it is time to get out of the UN and give the tax savings back to the American workers who are having to skimp and sacrifice to pay the taxes. Pass it along. Everyone needs to know this. Might even mention it to your congressman, who knows it anyway...what a disgrace...no wonder the world has no respect for us! The text in this chain letter has been circulating since early 2003. In its first year, it appeared in many newspapers, blogs, message boards and other forums under a variety of attributions. Unfortunately, none of them has checked out as the missive's original author. The closest I've found to a reliable attribution traces it back to a May 9, 2003, editorial in the Hamilton, Ohio, Journal-News, where the author is listed as a "C. Schneider." The information contained in it is basically correct, but arguably lacks context and perspective and over-simplifies matters greatly. The author does not provide context, such as what topics the votes are on or how many votes actually make up the percentage. Also, the author focuses only on "Arab/Islamic states," who, because of significant socio-economic differences, should be expected to vote differently than the U.S. and European nations. The Snopes.com article listed in the references below points out the problems with taking these statistics at face value. Lists like this one are frequently compiled and published by pro-Israeli groups who want to see both the U.S. and Israel withdraw from the Arab-heavy U.N. The numbers given are from 2000. Actually, if you examine more recent years, you'll see that things have gotten worse. In 2000, Arab states as a whole voted with the United States 26.2 percent of the time. In 2001, that number dropped to 2.4 percent, with all but Kuwait and Saudi Arabia voting differently from the U.S. 100 percent of the time. In 2002, Arab nations voted with the U.S. 16.6 percent of the time. While these numbers sound impressive, consider that, out of the top 10 countries who voted with the U.S., seven only did so about half the time in 2002. The United Kingdom was the fifth top support of the U.S. in the United Nations and voted with the U.S. only 57.1 percent of the time. Only Micronesia, Israel, the Marshall Islands and Palau voted with the U.S. 90 percent of the time or better. The United States' continued involvement in the United Nations has been a point of contention for years. When the U.S. economy weakens, public sentiment to get out of the U.N. always reaches a peak. However, administration after administration have maintained that our participation in the U.N. is critical to maintain national security and competitiveness in the global economy. Break this chain. References: Hamilton Journal-News, Jewish Virtual Library, U.S. State Department, Snopes.com |