A close friend of mine just got back from Deployment #3 to Iraq and he's shared a lot of his observations from being there for so long. I also had a friend who has spent most of his military career in Afgahnistan (so sorry.. I know I spelled that wrong
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He said it is a very depressing place to be and couldn't imagine living in some of the conditions that he has seen there.
Despite all of the money and other non-monetary support that the U.S. gives to other countries, I don't think it will ever be enough in the eyes of others.
Many of our people live at or below poverty levels, but that isn't neccessarily the view of some people overseas. They think all Americans are arrogant, snobby, wealthy people when in actuality only a handful are really living that care-free life and many children over there are groomed to hate Americans because we supposedly have it all.
Did we "have it all" when Katrina hit and devastated that part of the U.S.? No. At that point other countries came to our aid. Even a year later they aren't recovered from that.
But it's things like that that they just don't see. Heck, they probably had a party when that happened for all we know.
To say that it's our fault is really messed up. That's like trying to solve a complex algebra equation without knowing what all the variables are.