Empty Promises

As news reports congratulate Tony Blair on getting part of what he wanted at the G8 summit, which promised to "double" aid to Africa from $25 billion to $50 billion (such as here and here), and Bob Geldof and Bono claim victory (Geldof gave the summit "10 out of 10 on aid, eight out of 10 on debt," but he didn't mention if it had a good beat and was easy to dance to; Bono said, "The world spoke out and the politicians listened"), don't overlook the shell game Bush is playing with the numbers. In fact, Bush doesn't even want you to miss it. On the way back from the Scotland, Faryar Shirzad, a deputy national security adviser (or, as Scott McLellan introduced him, "our Sherpa"), told reporters on Air Force One that the American contribution to that $50 billion was made up of only money that had already been set aside for African aid. Asked by a reporter point-blank, "So there's no promise of new money from the U.S. in that statement," Shirzad said no. Michael at AMERICAblog also discusses this situation and reminds us that Bush utilized the same strategy earlier this year when Blair visited the White House, appearing to promise new aid to Africa while only publicizing money that had already been committed. No wonder the White House called this a "successful summit."