Politics and Press

Winning Islamic Hearts and Minds?

See the front page story in today’s Boston Globe - the third in a series, “Exporting Faith,” - for a comprehensive look at a result of Bush’s funding of ‘faith-based initiatives.’

It describes a Christian hospital (run by a Christian group called World Witness) in Sahiwal, Pakistan, where its U.S. government assisted funding is described as visible all over the institution (e.g., a USAID sticker on the “top-of-the-line medical equipment”including “the X-ray machine, the blood bank refrigerator, the auditorium for medical lectures, and the radiology computer…”). The story goes on to say that the neediest Pakistani patients can’t afford the services. So, there exists a hospital, identified as Christian, sporting clear U.S. government support, which the locals can’t afford. Doesn’t go far to ‘winning hearts and minds’, does it?