I found the following in the NY Times. I knew much of it, but here is a nice summary of why there is terrorism in the world and why what we are doing will not work. So many Americans think we spend an inordinate amount on foreign aid without out looking at what and where. We spend it where we think we will gain the most from it. That’s not charity. Spending it where it is most needed is charity. It also elucidates promises broken.
It’s a very interesting article. Here’s the web link followed by a couple very brief quotess from the article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/23/opinion/23thurs1.html?oref=login&th
Almost a third of the way into the program (United Nations Millennium Declaration which we signed), the latest available figures show that the percentage of United States income going to poor countries remains near rock bottom: 0.14 percent of GNP). Britain is at 0.34 percent, and France at 0.41 percent. (Norway and Sweden, to no one’s surprise, are already exceeding the goal, at 0.92 percent and 0.79 percent.)
The government spends $450 billion annually on the military, and $15 billion on development help for poor countries, a 30-to-1 ratio that, as Mr. Sachs puts it, shows how the nation has become "all war and no peace in our foreign policy."