Policy analyst says Mideast anger at U.S. has no basis

Ever since the attacks of September eleventh were traced to the al-Qaeda group in the Mideast, some Americans, including some Iowans have said perhaps people in that region have reasons to be angry at the U-S. Most often cited is our focus on their oil, not their well being. But policy analyst David Hogberg says U-S actions don’t justify terrorist attacks.Hogberg is with the “Public Interest Institute,” a nonprofit, nonpartisan public-policy research institute located on the campus of Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant. Hogberg’s seen the claims that America’s consumerism and power widen the gap between the rich and the poor in the world.He says we don’t exploit the Middle East for resources, we pay them for their resources. He says last year the U-S paid one-point-two trillion dollars. It doesn’t deepen the poverty of the developing world, he says that poverty’s declined from 29 percent to 24% in the last decade. The Public Interest Institute’s website touts its extensive library of information from sources including the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Brookings Institution and the Family Research Council.