Kim, the point is that you teach a pig to sing. And you can't change some people's minds.
Frank, there are poor people in ALL the Arab states, even those who have oil. There is a big gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots" but it is the responsibility of those countries governments to address those issues. If we interfere then we are meddling with the affairs of another nation. And thats wrong.
It was wrong when we did it in Chile, it was wrong in Nicaragua and El Salvador AND IT'S WRONG HERE TOO>.
Afghanistan has no oil. The Mujahadeen are for the most part, Afghan tribesmen. bin Laden brought in what he called "Afghan Arabs" to help fight the Russians. These were not poor men but men who already had some experience in warfare and/or terrorism.
When the Russians left,the country erupted into civil war with one group of Mujahadeen fighting another. The Tailban -mostly Pashtuns from the south- came out on top.
The rest of the country is in ruins and the tribes who lost out now skulk and starve in the mountains or, in the north, conduct guerrilla warfare.
A couple of months ago, the US sent $42 million in aid -mostly food and medicines- to Afghanistan but it is unlikely that the aid ever reached anyone but Talliban supporters.
I am not sure which poor people we are ignoring, but their own governments can't deny them the aid we send and then blame us.
Unless you want us to be the cops of the world.
BTW, yes, we are the reciepient of 75% of the worlds GNP. We make most of it.

troll