Ted Rall: Let Them Drink Rapeseed Oil

In Tajikistan, U.S. Runs a Distant Fifth in the Race for Hearts and Minds

GORDO-BADAKHSHAN AUTONOMOUS OBLAST, Tajikistan -- Finally! I waited 43 years and traveled to one of the most remote places on earth to find it, but find it I have: American tax dollars being spent productively. "USA," the label on the bag reads in Helvetica Bold. "US-AID Flour." Just like the '70s, when my little kid heart swelled at the sight of "Gift of USA" food bags being delivered to starving African villagers! Thank God, America still finds time to help poor Third Worlders in between all the bombing and torturing.

As I chewed a nan bread my Pamiri hosts had baked using US-AID flour, I got the warm fuzzies. The struggle for hearts and minds never tasted so good.