Henninger & Stephens On Intelligence, Haiti, & Terrorism: Get 'em While They're Hot

Bret Stephens #1: Can Intelligence Be Intelligent? - It can and it should. Yes, American intelligence services should be reformed. First, we must understand what has been tried (& failed) in the past because, you know, this is how we avoid making the same mistake again in the future.

Daniel Henninger: An Obama-GOP Entente On Terror - Like Henninger, I believe it is more important to support Obama's efforts in Afghanistan rather than call for a retreat now that he is the man at the top--hoping to score political points. His own party will eventually abandon him, despite their insistence that Afghanistan was the "right" war.

We can and ought to critique his approach and when he "dithers," encourage him to hurry up. But we ought not oppose for the sake of party politics, like he and his party did during nearly all of President Bush's term in office.

Bret Stephens #2: To Help Haiti, End Foreign Aid - As I told my brother last night, I'm not cynical about everyone's efforts to "help Haiti(!)," I'm skeptical. I'm skeptical because of many of the things that Stephens outlines in his column and as a result agree with him:

Help Haiti in the immediate aftermath of this crisis, but end foreign aid as we and Jeffrey Sachs know it.

If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.

Want To Help The People Of Haiti? Try Donating To This Organization

My problem with most humanitarian relief efforts (& indeed, the ones often sponsored by my classmates & on bookface, etc.) is that I am often unable to find out how much of what I donate actually goes to help people. 25%? 95%?

Many of these organizations have so many paid people on staff, better than half of what they take in goes to cover their salaries.

There's one group I trust to use my money carefully--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Don't worry. They won't use your donations to proselytize--humanitarian aid and the funds used to support those efforts are kept entirely separate and are often done in conjunction with other groups--a tactic that helps them to assure potential non-LDS donors that they are not using aid to get converts.

Check out this article in the Deseret News.

And see this page for the Church's official press release on their humanitarian involvement and how you can donate.

Mind you, none of this should be taken as an effort to disparage any of the many good groups trying to help Haitians devastated by the earthquake.

This is about finding the most efficient and effective way for those of us thousands of miles away to help the people of Haiti.

If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.