Give or Take a Billion

Since he’s just put in for an extra $87 billion to spend on his mess in Iraq (a bit of it set to go toward stabilizing his last mess in Afghanistan — remember Afghanistan?), it’s not surprising to learn that Bush couldn’t help out more with that pesky AIDS problem.

But it is surprising to read why Bush had to turn down Bono’s request for a boost: “because of a concern that a system is not yet in place to use the money effectively.” In short, AIDS groups can’t get extra money — $3 billion instead of the planned $2 billion — because they can’t definitively say how it’ll be spent.

Yet, the Bush administration has yet to fully account for where $1.5 billion of the $4 billion already being spent each month has gone. In short, Bush is misplacing more money in four weeks than AIDS relief efforts could earnestly benefit from through all of next year.