We believe in international charity. In America, our "poor" are rich, by comparison to third world countries, so we're more inclined to ship our donations across seas. Yet, we gotta wonder: Does our money do more harm than good? We've generally resisted foreign aid through the federal government. Such aid just props up dictators. Private agencies like UNICEF support abortion, and even "good" agencies are infected with crooked individuals. And now, it appears private aid efforts might help terrorists. It makes sense. If we're shipping wealth to countries with large militant Muslim populations, those militants might benefit.
Charitable donations to help people affected by the Asian tsunami disaster are falling into the hands of radical Islamic groups linked to terrorists in Indonesia, a leading expert on the global al-Qaeda network warned yesterday.
Relief money had become the "primary source" of income for two militant groups, including one founded by a Muslim cleric serving a prison sentence in connection with the Bali bombing in 2002 in which more than 200 people were killed.
Link.
Maybe it's time just to spend our charitable money on beer and Bibles and distribute both to the needy.
