humanitarian aid

[Jasper Fidget]

*Sigh*.  Read the following transcript excerpt carefully, Barbara:

Q: The World Food Program today said that it has actually discontinued aid
shipments into Afghanistan as a result of the strikes, and that's a cutoff
of about 700,000 tons of food going into Afghanistan today. So it would
appear that there's actually a net loss as a result of this action. Does
that concern you at all?

Rumsfeld: Well, I think it would be a misunderstanding of the situation.
What you have is a group of people, the Taliban, that have repressed the
Afghan people, contributed to their starvation. And to suggest that what is
taking place now is a net loss for the Afghan people would be a total
misunderstanding of what's taking place.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2001/t10082001_t1008sdm.html

Interpretation: Food stopped going in during the *strikes*, ie *yesterday*,
not since Sept. 11.

exhausted,
Jasper Fidget

----- Original Message -----

From: <barbara100 at jps.net>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2001 9:39 PM
Subject: Re: humanitarian aid


> It's me who guessed a 'week' or a 'day.'  I apologize.  To be honest
though
> I didn't think it mattered much for the point I was trying to get across.
> And that point is--more clearly this time--before September 11, there was
> real humanitarian aid going to Afghanistan.  You know, the Christian aid
> organizations who feed the World's hungry every day. Since September 11,
the
> borders have closed, and the relief workers with nothing better to do have
> run for their lives. The passage of food and everything else was stopped
by
> request of the US Government. For four weeks there's been no food going
into
> that country.  So for the US to tout about their measly 37,000 rations a
day
> is a 'mischaracterization' indeed. Thirty-seven-thousand to make up for a
> month's deficit for 2-4 million people.  Sorry I can't provide you with
more
> accurate figures than that, but go ahead, take the low one if it'll make
you
> feel more comfortable with yourself.  It's the least I can do to help aid
in
> the world's suffering.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: mike j <michaelmailing at yahoo.com>
> To: Pynchon List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Monday, October 08, 2001 4:18 PM
> Subject: re: humanitarian aid
>
>
> > to paraphrase: we are not the world's denny's, are we?
> > besides, how much does one ration weigh? the
> > journalist mentioned 700 tons a day OR a week going
> > over? umm, big difference between those two
> > assertions, no? you'd think the journalist would have
> > his facts straight, or is it you that forgot? don't
> > compare apples to oranges, or in this case,
> > potato/bean vinaigrette to rice. we may or may not be
> > being 'manipulated terribly,' but to suggest that the
> > US is starving a population seems a bit off base. no
> > need for rumsfield to spin, it IS the fault of the
> > Taliban that it's people are starving and/or dead
> > already.
> >
> > ---------
> > I just listened to Donald Rumsfield on TV.  It was a
> > press conference to
> > discuss the recent Bomb Damage Assessment in
> > Afghanistan.  Two reporters,
> > however, brought up the Food issue.  One noted the
> > 37,000 daily rations the
> > US is dropping off to the refugees isn't nearly enough
> > to feed the presumed
> > 4 million starving.  He only responded with, 'Well if
> > you were one of those
> > 37,000, you'd be pretty appreciative, wouldn't you.'
> > The other reporter noted that before September 11
> > there were some 700 tons
> > of food moving across the Afghan boarder on a daily or
> > weekly basis: 'So
> > even with the aid packages the US is dropping,  isn't
> > there a net loss in
> > aid going to Afghanistan?'  Donald Rumsfield got a
> > little flustered with
> > that one, and all he could say was, 'It would be a
> > terrible
> > mischaracterization to say there's a net loss.'   I
> > was so appalled by then,
> > I can't remember what he said after that, but he
> > definitely tried to spin it
> > back on the fault of the Taliban regime before moving
> > quickly to the next
> > question.
> > Our government is manipulating us terribly, not to
> > mention slowly starving
> > to death 4 million Afghan refugees.
> >
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>