The February 6 issue of the New York Times included an inspiring article about a program that educates poor girls from fundamentalist areas of Egypt. They learn English, learn about the United States. It cost about $2000 over two years to teach a 15-yr-old girl named Yousra Yousef to speak English. (The article is called Beni Suef Journal: A New Tongue to Win Hearts and Minds by Michael Slackman.)
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Here is what I loved the most. She said "The most important idea I learned it to respect differences."
We've spent millions in Iraq and Afghanistan. We've spent billions in foreign aid over the years propping up dictators who were despised by their people.
The article states that some officials in Washington complained about the $2000 spent when the same program in other countries only cost $1000. (Probably the same people who had no problem with the mounting cost of operations in Iraq.)
We're not going to change everyone. However this program shows we can change some people who may be able to change others. Isn't this what our country should be about? Changing hearts and minds can be done. It's just more labor intensive to do it this way. Also, there's no money in it for Haliburton.