most people with some knowledge of history and intl affairs know that u.s. media is completely biased when reporting on critical issues relating to islamic world such as palestine, kashmir and iran. essentially muslim groups which challenge friends of uncle sam are portrayed as devil while most actions of friendly powers are shown in a favourable light. in the m.e. groups like hizbullah are portrayed as bad guys while in s.asia, pak army is depicted as villain because pak army has the ability to counter india.
these days u.s. media is spreading a lot of lies on the issue of u.s. aid being given to pak
first, the amount of aid being given to pak is misrepresented.
most articles in the u.s. press indicate that u.s. aid to pak amounts to $10bn. no breakdown or time period of aid is provided. currently the actual aid amount given to pak is $600mm per year:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3453.htm
“…During President Musharraf’s visit to the United States in 2003, President Bush announced that the United States would provide Pakistan with $3 billion in economic and military aid over 5 years. This assistance package commenced during FY 2005…”
any additional amount given by the u.s. to pak is simply reimbursement for the cost of operation undertaken by pak army in tribal areas. at peak, amount reimbursed has been around $1bn to 1.5bn per year which is a bargain when you compare the cost of similar operation if it was undertaken by u.s. army. describing this amount as aid is like describing fare paid for a taxi ride as charity.
second, u.s. media also misrepresents the importance of u.s. aid to pak economy.
articles in u.s. media state that economic growth in pak is dependent on u.s. aid which is untrue. total funds transferred to pak annually has been at max, $1.5bn which is a tiny percentage of total dollar inflows to pak which last year amounted to around $30bn (exports $17bn + remittances $ 5.5bn + fdi $7bn). bottomline u.s. aid has no impact on pak economy.
third, u.s. media constantly emphisizes that pak is recipient of u.s. aid.
if we accept the wrong figure quoted in the u.s. media, aid provided to pak since 2001 has been around $10bn. in the same period, israel and egypt both have received over $30bn each. yet i have not seen a single article in the u.s. media which identifies israel as biggest recipient of u.s. aid. moreover majority of u.s. aid to its allies is in the form of military aid. so aid provided to pak is not unusual in any respect. essentially u.s. media associates pak with u.s. aid in order to make pak appear weak.
another interesting aspect of the issue of u.s. aid is that both bin ladinites as well as leftist liberals in pak media constantly use u.s. aid to malign pak army. this i think perfectly conveys the threat both groups pose to pak. for people genuinely concerned with welfare of pak, we should realise that u.s. media constantly lies about pak and therefore we should not accept anything we read in the u.s. media at face value.
