>>Sorry for the late response. I don't think the problem is about poverty. I think it has to do with the fact that a lot of people in this world - ghetto kids, refugees, etc. - have seen a lot of atrocities in their lives, and when you add to generations with no opportunity, education or anything to live for, they become prime candidates to believe those who are in power, getting them to join some kind of religous/gang brotherhood.<<
Teresa, I agree. Unfortunately in wars many unwitting pawns are created, and they are programmed almost like robots to kill the perceived enemy. Should they die in the process, their survivors, having been deluded, will never understand that their own leaders have used them as cannon fodder. They will blame who they have been programmed to blame, and there is little we can do to change this in countries where there is no democracy, no free press, and a governmental need to scapegoat an enemy.
I do not know a formula the US can use to bring the middle eastern dictatorships democracy and a free press. There are only two countries in that area of the world that hold free elections--Israel and(strangely) Iran. Irans' movement toward democracy (which we all hope will continue) has everything to do with the will of the Iranian people, and nothing to do with US policies, one way or the other. It has to come from the "grass roots." |
