 "US should not use aid to buy friends: Jeb Bush")
Citing Pakistan as an example, a leading Republican presidential candidate today said that US should not use foreign aid to buy friends.
"That's not the proper use of foreign aid," former Florida Governor Jeb Bush told the Fox news in an interview.
"Our foreign aid should reflect our values, should reflect our free market philosophy economically. We shouldn't give aid to countries that deters their interest in reforming so that their people can rise up," said Bush, who is brother and son of two former US Presidents.
Bush was responding to a question on hue and cry in Pakistan on strings attached to the US aid during the early parts of the Obama Administration.
"It's not going to work. It never works. Just evidence to the reaction of the Pakistanis that now feel entitled by it. Better to provide support that would allow an entrepreneur to be able to rise up," he said.
"You remember the revolution in Tunisia. It was started by a small businessman who was frustrated beyond belief that the crony capitalism of Tunisia did not allow him to have a business where he could grow. He killed himself. And it created the spark for a revolution," said the Republican presidential candidate.
"We should be on the side of the people like that rather than supporting regimes that suppress aspirations of their people. We should have foreign aid that helps them understand what freedom is all about, about free market economics and about the freedom tolerance and the freedom of our country. Just by providing support to despots to maintain their presence is not necessarily, that's a waste of money," Bush said.
"That's not the proper use of foreign aid," former Florida Governor Jeb Bush told the Fox news in an interview.
"Our foreign aid should reflect our values, should reflect our free market philosophy economically. We shouldn't give aid to countries that deters their interest in reforming so that their people can rise up," said Bush, who is brother and son of two former US Presidents.
Also Read
He said that trying to use foreign aid to win friends is not the "proper use" of foreign aid", and "that it never works".
Bush was responding to a question on hue and cry in Pakistan on strings attached to the US aid during the early parts of the Obama Administration.
"It's not going to work. It never works. Just evidence to the reaction of the Pakistanis that now feel entitled by it. Better to provide support that would allow an entrepreneur to be able to rise up," he said.
"You remember the revolution in Tunisia. It was started by a small businessman who was frustrated beyond belief that the crony capitalism of Tunisia did not allow him to have a business where he could grow. He killed himself. And it created the spark for a revolution," said the Republican presidential candidate.
"We should be on the side of the people like that rather than supporting regimes that suppress aspirations of their people. We should have foreign aid that helps them understand what freedom is all about, about free market economics and about the freedom tolerance and the freedom of our country. Just by providing support to despots to maintain their presence is not necessarily, that's a waste of money," Bush said.