To the Editor:

One of the great mysteries of government in America is how and why we give over $50 billion a year in foreign aid.

Trying to point out many of the strange questions that exist in this seemingly total waste of money within the word limit of publications is all but impossible. I will share a few things to think about. 

We are $18.5 trillion in debt and we continue to pour borrowed money out to countries, many of whom hate us.

Nine of the 10 top receiving countries in Obama’s 2016 budget are Muslim countries. Does that tell you the same thing it tells me? 

One of the countries that we do not “officially” give foreign aid to is Australia; however, we did give them money for economic development. It is interesting though that we gave Al-Taqwa College, Australia’s largest Muslim school, $11.3 million dollars. The state government last year froze the school's funds and asked it to repay $9 million in government grants over allegations the not-for-profit school was funneling funds back to the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.

This collage president has banned running by girls because he says “running causes loss of virginity in girls.”

A few other interesting numbers show that we give $6 million to China, $160 million to Syria, $370 million to the West Bank and Gaza, $150 million to Egypt, $1.2 billion to Afghanistan, $478 million to Packistan, $103 million to Vietnam, $79 million to Yemen, $110 million to Lebanon and we have increased our aid to Kenya by 14 percent to $622 million. 

If that isn’t enough to raise your blood pressure, we gave $71,500,000 to Russia. All of, of course, borrowed from future generations.

Bruce Gardner

Waynesville