APNewsBreak: US to provide $100M in new Syria aid

[Zimbow]

By BRADLEY KLAPPER and MATTHEW LEE | Associated Press – 10 hrs ago

ROME (AP) — The Obama administration is providing $100 million in new Syria aid, U.S. officials said Wednesday, but the money is for humanitarian purposes only and not linked to any decision on arming Syrian rebels.

The announcement will be made by Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday in Rome, where his diplomacy includes a meeting with Jordan's foreign minister, the officials said.
The new funds will help support 1.4 million Syrian refugees, including many in U.S. ally Jordan, and hundreds of thousands of other civilians still trapped by the violence inside Syria's border. Total U.S. humanitarian assistance in the two-year war will climb to $510 million.

The U.S. officials weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter ahead of Kerry's announcement and demanded anonymity.
While the cash influx will certainly be welcomed by aid groups and refugee organizations that have lamented a lack of financial support, it is unlikely to end the clamoring for lethal assistance among the rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

The Obama administration has said it is considering providing weapons to vetted units in the armed opposition, among other military options, following last week's revelation of a U.S. intelligence assessment suggested chemical weapons use by the Assad regime. The U.S. also is looking for ways to halt the violence that has killed more than 70,000 people.
But the U.S. maintains deep reservations about providing direct military assistance, given the growing presence of al-Qaida-linked and other extremists in the rebel ranks.
Underscoring the administration's goal of a peaceful transition of power to end the war, Kerry met for more than five hours Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.


Afterward, Kerry and Lavrov declared that the U.S. and Russia would convene an international conference on Syria in the coming weeks with the goal of corralling Assad's government and opposition representatives into peace talks. Kerry said the U.S. would make its decision on arming the rebels in part on the progress of that effort.
Kerry's expected announcement Thursday is more straightforward. It is meant to help Syrian neighbors that are struggling to cope with the large and growing refugee toll, and assure them that they won't be left to deal with the economic impact on their own.

The U.S. is the largest single humanitarian donor in the Syrian conflict and is hoping that its money will convince countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey to maintain open borders with Syria, and not force any refugees back to a life-threatening situation in their home country.
The money goes to the U.N. agencies for children and refugees. Nearly half of the aid is for food, shelter, health and other programs in Jordan, which is building a new refugee camp at Azraq.
Some $32 million is for Lebanon and $9.5 million for programs in Turkey.


The U.S. is giving $16 million to provide affected civilians inside Syria with basic necessities such as blankets, hygiene kits, clothing, health care and cash assistance for daily life.

http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-us...150542351.html

[JustAlex]

But at the same time we have massive debt and want to cut entitlement programs that as Americans we are ENTITLED to!

And no way in hell do I believe this is going for "humanitarian" purposes.

Why should I believe that?

The U.S government is so unbelievably corrupt and lies about everything.

[angel0430]

When is the government and all their politicians from both parties going to stop all this crazy funding of other nations? There are a lot of necessities here in our own soil and they ignore that fact. They rather help another nation than their own.

[pwaldo]

No no no and hell no

Even if most of these rebels weren't corrupt this would be an awful idea. We shouldn't be providing money to anybody except people in America who need it. We cut money from programs for the poor and old and send it to people we can't trust. We have no extra money to be handing out. Have the rich oil kings of the Middle East fund these guys if getting rid of Assad is so good for that region.

Also why doesn't "aid" have to go through Congress to get approval? Why can the President just take US taxpayer money and give it away to other countries at will with no limit?

[Wickabee]

The US has to. They've made many enemies by forcing America the world over and the only way to make friends is with money. It's also a game of what have you done for me lately, so they have to keep buying friends to keep their enemies at bay before turning around and claiming credit.

It's not an issue of the military at all. It's foreign policy in general.

[shrewsbury]

stop sending money and if our enemies have an issue, we can send the drones in

how many drones can we build for 100M?

[Zimbow]

It's okay guys, we can always just print more money!