Foreign Aid and National Security

Marine Capt. Rye Barcott as a soldier has been experiencing the effects of Foreign Aid in other countries.  While Barcott was in Iraq, he watched the kids playing soccer at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and realized the inter-relatedness between the 15-year old accomplice in Kenya, Africa and the young Iraqi boy.  He states that as a soldier he still sees the Iraqi boy as the enemy.   As he has been doing so however, he has learned something new about himself.  He realized that soldier and humanitarian worker wasn’t so easy to do since both of the subjects were opposite ends of each other.  He realized there was a need for both and became a pursuer of peace on the way to war.  As he examined what he was seeing of a young 11-year old killer and his accomplice, he realized that in this case his enemy was a young boy and he was just another boy playing among boys, who was influenced more than likely in the ways of terrorism and war.  He realized that military intervention wasn’t always the answer to the lesser developed countries such as Africa, relating to the boy who was also a young 15-year-old accomplice.  However, the under-education of children in other countries who were taught to fight before they realized the consequences of them, posed a national security threat if there wasn’t the right type of intervention.   The military and government has now realized a need for both intervening by soldiers and the work of humanitarians.   This article supports about three different themes that stick out in my mind.  First, militarianism and humanitarianism to help with crime control.    The article explains that the military is changing in its foreign aid and that there needs to be workers along with the soldiers who are protecting.  The combination of military intervenance and humanitarian workers should help control the crime level in other countries that are taught war from early on.  However, there is a mention of the struggle between debt and the impact on the economy as well when the government uses funds for foreign aid to create national security for the United States.  Second, rehabilitation is an important aspect of the detainees and such of the Ghraib prison.  Quick intervening corrections through rehabilitation is needed because otherwise the children of these countries will grow up learning nothing but war and believing in empty dreams that harm others and are more a part of the influence of Al-Queida and other cold war organizations that exist in the worsening conditions of the world.  Third, restorative justice is then the measure that the United States should take in aiding the world in foreign relations.  This should be done in order to restore peace and security.  The only concern in doing all this is the impact on the much needed increase in the economy in the United States so it must be balanced.