The representatives of 171 Nations held a major talk show in Monterrey, Mexico: The U.N.’s Secretary-General said, “No one in this world can feel comfortable, or safe, while so many are suffering and deprived.”

The WTO’s Director General called poverty “a time bomb lodged against the heart of liberty.” The president of the U.N.’s general assembly said the world’s poorest areas are “the breeding ground for violence and despair.” He added that “In the wake of Sept. 11, we will forcefully demand that development, peace and security are inseparable.” And U.S. President Bush joined the parade: “We fight poverty because hope is an answer to terror,” adding that he will ask Congress to put an extra $10 billion into core U.S. development assistance by 2006. Has Bush succumbed to the veiled threats of violence expressed above?

This linkage of poverty, foreign aid and terrorism needs to be critically examined. The message seems to be: if only the capitalistic west would share its wealth, poverty and terrorism would go away. Terrorism is not caused by the poor people of the world. It is caused by professional criminals, corrupt dictators, political radicals and religious fanatics. The threat of terrorism is a form of international economic blackmail.

If submission to this blackmail becomes institutionalized as U.S. foreign policy, it can only make terrorism more attractive, more profitable and more frequent. We must not go down that road. Foreign aid should be frozen at current levels. Make sure it reaches only the people it is intended to help.

Carle G. Gray

Sullivan