The Upside of Bush's Foreign Policy

One infrequently hears kind words uttered about President Bush in educated circles, particularly in the area of foreign aid. It is simply an article of faith, especially on the political left, that this administration has been an unmitigated disaster in improving America's position internationally, or helping the world's needy.

But here's a rare dissenting viewpoint: "I think he's done an incredible job, his administration, on AIDS. And 250,000 Africans are on anti-viral drugs. They literally owe their lives to America. In one year that's been done." Who made this radically pro-American claim? No doubt it was a Bush administration stooge, right? Wrong. These are the words of Bono, the Irish rock star and humanitarian activist. And here's what fellow rocker-activist Bob Geldof has to say: " … the Bush administration is the most radical — in a positive sense — in its approach to Africa since Kennedy."

This just has to be incorrect — it conflicts too much with established wisdom. And what do a couple of rock stars know about Africa, anyway? In this case, they know plenty. Here are a few facts that most Americans will not hear because they conflict with elite stereotypes about the Bush administration.

When Bill Clinton entered the White House in 1993, American aid to Africa began to fall from the levels reached during the administration of George H.W. Bush. In 1995, the American government cut development assistance to Africa — increasingly in the grip of an AIDS epidemic — by about 25%. By 1998, most estimates said Africa was receiving at least $100 million less a year in aid from America than it had received in the early 1990s. Furthermore, no aid was specifically earmarked for sub-Saharan Africa, which had to compete with Asia and Latin America for a total of $1.8 billion in undesignated development funding scraps. The Clinton administration suffered relatively little backlash in activist circles, where some were more comfortable criticizing drug companies for not giving away free AIDS drugs than for criticizing the Democratic administration for neglecting the world's poorest.

This makes it all the more shocking to consider what the Bush administration did when Mr. Bush took office in 2001. The president raised development assistance by 30% between 2001 and 2003, bringing aid to sub-Saharan Africa to the highest levels in American history. He also raised global HIV-AIDS funding by 36% his first year in office. By 2006, annual American aid to Africa had topped $4 billion. If Mr. Bush has his way, it will be nearly $9 billion by 2010.

Today, three sub-Saharan African countries — Uganda, Sudan, and Ethiopia — are among the top 10 recipients of American foreign aid.

While critics of Bush administration have faulted Mr. Bush for a lack of success in ending the genocide in Darfur, most fail to notice the administration's impressive success in ending the conflicts in the Congo and Liberia. Mr. Bush's diplomacy has not been achieved only at the barrel of a gun — he has met with almost three dozen African heads of state, an unprecedented diplomatic accomplishment for an American president.

Most of the Bush administration's accomplishments in Africa have received little press, and have provided few photo-ops. Africa is a part of the world not well covered by the press here, and American generosity there simply does not square with the press's typical caricature of the Bush administration — one that is sympathetic to elite opinion, but often resistant to actual data.

The achievements in Africa have been about saving lives and improving the lot of the world's most desperate people. These are the same people largely forgotten by past administrations, and who may very well be forgotten again after Mr. Bush leaves office.

There is plenty more that can be done in Africa still. We can increase our government aid. We can work to improve trade with Africa, starting with the elimination of agricultural subsidies in American and Europe that lower prices to African farmers and destroy the ability for indigenous markets to develop. In addition, there is the panoply of nongovernmental organizations doing heroic relief work on that continent.

Working for these goals is critically important. But so is the truth about what is really going on today. Next time your interlocutor assails the Bush administration for its hard-heartedness, remember Africa.

Mr. Brooks, the Louis A. Bantle Professor at the Syracuse University's Maxwell School, is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.