$500 Million Tax Dollars to “Secure” Sahara Desert

A mere $500 million will be spent to make us all safe from the Sahara Desert:

The U.S. government will spend $500 million over five years on an expanded program to secure a vast new front in its global war on terrorism: the Sahara Desert.

Critics say the region is not a terrorist zone as some senior U.S. military officers assert. They add that heavy-handed military and financial support that reinforces authoritarian regimes in North and West Africa could fuel radicalism where it scarcely exists.

I wonder which of Bush’s cronies will be the recipients of this huge waste of money.

posted Nov 21st, 2005 by disinter
  • rickrajter

    Because if we don’t secure the Sahara, then the terrorists will have won. Can you live with that on your conscious Mike? I know I will sleep better knowing that every grain of sand there will no longer be infiltrated by Al CIA-da cells.

    seriously though, WTF? Couldn’t that money be spent better elsewhere? New Orleans? How about give that money back to the citizens that pay income tax?

    nope, gotta piss that money away somewhere… why not in the most arid place possible

  • Mike Horn

    I wonder if this has anything to do with it:

    ALGIERS, Algeria, Nov. 11 (UPI) — Chinese coal producer Yankuang Group and its partners will develop a $1 billion coalmining prospect in the Sahara Desert.

    Yangzhou Coal Mining Co. Ltd. signed a letter of intent this week with Algeria’s Geoinvest Ltd. and Bahamas-based Global Environmental Energy Corp. to develop the Algerian prospect, which is estimated to hold more than 1 billion metric tons of coal.

    Shenzhen Environmental Energy Technology Co. Ltd. will manage the project.

    Production will be sold to Morocco and Spain, which currently buys its coal from Colombia, the United States and South Africa. Participants in the project believe that because of their proximity to Spain, they will have a price advantage over coal producers in nations where Spain currently buys its coal.

    The mine is 6 miles from a railroad and less than 100 miles from a major Algerian port. (UPI.com)