Richard, it isn't that we want the world poorer, we just want ourselves richer. That is the end game. And for many players throughout US history, the ends justify the means.
Our country has a history of choosing our "assistance opportunities" with a very simple set of criteria: will it make us money. The official term for that now is "will it make us safer". But terrorists are everywhere, not just in oil-bearing countries.
We had a crew shoot a documentary in Cambodia last year. What went on there was stunning. Almost all of the educated people were eradicated. At the end of Pot's regime, there were a total of 20 physicians in the entire country. Millions of people were killed. We're talking Holocaust proportions. Didn't seem to make our radar though. If only Cambodia had natural gas reserves, and Dick had Halliburton ready to "help."
There are people in government that want to do good. And there are people in government that want to get rich at anyone's expense (including yours). Then there's Microsoft...I don't even want to start with how much evil resides there
