The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "foreign aid" ...
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Collateral Damage: Human Rights and U.S. Military Aid After 9/11
This project investigated the impact of foreign lobbying and terrorism on U.S. post-9/11 military training and aid programs. Controversial U.S. allies such as Pakistan received billions of dollars in additional, new military aid to fight the global war on terror. Additionally, foreign governments spent millions lobbying the White House and the Pentagon, taking advantage of the chaotic policymaking environment to ask for their own military aid. The investigation revealed that the change in priorities often came at the cost of human rights and fiscal accountability.
Tags: human rights; foreign countries; international relations; war on terror; military expenses
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Exporting Faith
The Boston Globe used "a complete raw database of all USAID awards (prime contracts, grants and agreements) obligated from FY 2001 to FY 2005" to investigate the results of President Bush's Executive Orders that "created the faith based initiative and relaxed federal regulations for religious groups using government funds that once sought to protect church-state separations." The series shows that the percentage of USAID awards going to ngo faith based organizations in 2005 was almost doubled the percentage in 2001, from 10.5% to 19.9%. This creates the potential for problems where aid recipients "might forgo assistance because they don't share in the religion of the provider."
Tags: separation of church and state; faith-based initiatives; foreign aid; executive orders; church-state ties; White House Office of Faith and Community Based Initiatives; President Bush; USAID; NGO; Christian evangelicals; Kenya; Angola; Pakistan; Focus on the Family; James Dobb; FOIA; UNICEF; UNDP; State Department; Samaritan's Purse; National Association of Evangelicals; Americans United for Separation of the Church and State; Global Health Outreach; Offfice of Volunteers for Prosperity; Youth for Christ; World Vision; Yellowbook;
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The McConnell Machine
The Herald-Leader investigates U.S. Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, whose campaign fundraising has reached impressive levels to the tune of $220 million, largely on behalf of fellow Republican senators. As the 2006 mid-term elections approached, McConnell was seen as a likely contender for Senate Majority leader, should the Republicans retain control (they did not, and he is now Senate Minority Leader). Anticipating this news, the Herald-Leader "examined McConnell's 22-year record of aggressive fundraising, cozy ties with top donors and related actions in the Senate." The newspaper found that McConnell benefited from his "influence over a little-known foreign aid committee; his marriage to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, who regulates his corporate donors; and a former McConnell chief of staff turned Washington "gatekeeper lobbyist," whose clients tend to receive appropriations earmarks and helpful legislation from McConnell." McConnell has gained a reputation as an opponent of campaign-finance reform.
Tags: Campaign finance; Mitch McConnell; Elaine Chao; Senate Minority Leader
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Aids in Africa: In Search of the Truth
AIDS is a major crisis in African countries and there seems to be no end in sight. Malan charts the beginnings of the epidemic and what's been done and what's not being done to stop it.
Tags: AIDS; medicine; health; doctors; health care; Africa; foreign aid
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Global Apartheid
The Nation looks at the AIDS pandemic fueled by unequal access to medical care, and by social and economic conditions. The article reveals that Bush administration and the corporate interests of the giant American pharmaceutical companies prevents Africans from receiving lifesaving AIDS treatment. The author points out that African countries are "forced to give priority to paying illegitimate foreign debts over making investment in public health."
Tags: HIV; AIDS; patents; international political economy; politics; United Nations; pharmaceuticals; racism; World Health Organization
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The price of oil
The New Yorker investigates a ten-year multibillion oil swap involving Kazakhstan, Iran and a subsidiary of the Mobil Corporation. The story reveals that Mobil possibly violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying more than a billion of dollars to Russian companies in "unorthodox transactions." The report raises "questions about the company's decisions to enter deals that ultimately benefitted powerful figures in the region, including President Nursultan Nazarbayev, of Kazakhstan, and former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, of Russia." The investigation exposes the involvement of James Giffin, an American and a trusted aide of the Kazakh president, and looks at the role that some western high-ranking officials played in the corrupted scheme.
Tags: Soviet Union; Russia; Kazakhstan; mafia; Iran; misappropriation of funds; corruption; foreign politics; Exxon Mobil; Vaeko Europe; Caspian Sea; politics
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Bird Brains
"While 2.3 million Americans suffer from bipolar disorder, the National Institute of Mental Health is studying how pigeons think." Only eight percent of NIMH's grants go toward research of clinical or treatment aspects of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic disorder. In 1997, NIMH spent more money on AIDS research than on schizophrenia research. "Therefore, the total amount of federal funds spent upon individuals with severe psychiatric disorders is over $40 billion per year. This is three times the annual cost of the nation's space program, four times the cost of all our foreign aid programs, and more than 10 times the cost of the federal prison service."
Tags: NIMH; CRISP database; grants; funding; homelessness; deinstitutionalization; research; government
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Liberty's Heavy Hand
"'Liberty's Helping Hand' is a six-part series, preceded by daily coverage, regarding the Immigration and Naturalization Services' mistreatment of immigrants, foreign travelers and U.S. citizens."
Tags: Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); FOIA; asylum; detention; juvenile immigrants; jails; legal aid clinics; Portland International Airport; citizenship; Court of Appeals; Executive Office of Immigration Review; PACER
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The Global Willowbrook
The story documents a small organization called Mental Disability Rights International, which travels worldwide to document the treatment of the mentally disabled. The group's aim is to get the U.S., European nations, the U.N. and the World Bank to include the care of mental patients among the other human rights when considering foreign aid and trade decisions.
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Amy's Story
CBS News 60 Minutes reports that "Amy Biehl went to South Africa to study and write about women in emerging democracies and to realize a life-long dream of working to build a free South Africa. Most people remember her story: Biehl, a Fullbright scholar and All-American athlete was murdered in South Africa in 1993 by a mob of black teenagers -- some of the very people she was there trying to help..... To cope with her death, (her parents) did not seek vengeance, justice or therapy.... The Biehls now spend more than half their time in South Africa, and in the five years since Amy's death, they've met their daughter's killers who have been released from prison and forgiven them. And they've picked up where their daughter left off...."