Bardsley has pretty much hit the nail on the head there (although Iraq's economy wasn't really agriculture based... I think)...
I dont think we'de be making internal combustion engines on a large scale, or anything for that matter, any work to do with the economy would be seriously difficult if they hadn't invented modern numbers... In fact i dont think personal computers as we see them now would exists if they hadn't invented algebra...
Do you know how many gallons of Oil there are in a barrel?
IT's not a case of who owe's who right now, the arab world is having political probelms and needs help... The same goes for the far east... Real help, not help just to quickly cash in on the countries' resources...
One last point, I think you'll find the multi-national companies have alot of enemies, because they're not wholly honest, just read up on "SHELL" that nice company wich sells you petrol, they've bribed dictators to basically let them do what they want, as poeple who campaingn against them are hanged... Check for your self..
Read up on NAFTA ( i think that's how you spell it) that came about under Clinton, and see how mexico's poor feel about that...