Military bears are 'insensitive' (Project to provide children in Iraq with teddy bears criticised)

BBC News ^ | 4/23/04

[CAIndependent]

A project to provide children in Iraq with teddy bears has been criticised by peace campaigners, as the toys are made from military uniforms.

Volunteers at the US RAF Lakenheath base in Suffolk have been producing the soft toys from old and torn uniforms which were found in an attic.

But campaigners Suffolk 4 Peace have said the scheme is insensitive and could traumatise the Iraqi children.

A US Air Force spokesman said they were only trying to do the right thing.

Lieutenant Jason McCree told BBC Radio Suffolk it was an act of charity.

Inappropriate material

"We feel that we are doing the right thing because we're trying to give to people who may not have the opportunity to have amenities other people have," he said.

Annie Wimbush, of Suffolk 4 Peace, said the material being used was inappropriate.

"The camouflage material, the uniform material that's being used could in fact trigger trauma symptoms in a child as well as relieve them," she said.

The old uniforms are also used to make blankets for homeless people in Suffolk, Norfolk and London.

[CAIndependent]

[goldstategop]

I guess it traumatizes jihadists and terrorists. I wonder if we can could drop planeloads of Winnie The Pooh toy bears on Fallujah. That could quieten down that Iraqi hellhole for good.

[JLS]

You just can't make this stuff up. These people are too funny for words.

[goldstategop]

No you can't. I mean these people hate even singing "kumbaya" to our enemies. You can never figure out from one day to the next what they're thinking.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

It leaves one speechless that such idiocy is reported with a straight face.

[eclectic]

Sniperbear bump

[Stew Padasso]

Actually, food and soap would make more sense.

[SevenofNine]

They are cute what critizsm about them

Those bears are so previousss

Very cuteee

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Ro make them more appealing to the Arab mind set we need to put a small imitation explosive vest on them.

[dandelion]

If "Sucking 4 Peace" is so concerned, they ought to pony up the dough to make up more "appropriate" bears.

Barring that, they could just shut the wahoodihoo up.

[goldstategop]

Toy homocide bomber bears? That ought to be a hot seller in the Muslim world.

[Defend the Second]

I wonder if anyone has pointed out to these idiots that the uniforms worn in Iraq are not green, nor do they have the same camo pattern. Woruld this make a difference to them? Can logic or better, ridicule be used to influence them? On second thought, nevermind.

[Quix]

I doubt there's one microgram of evidence for the concern . . . except maybe a dellusional rusted B-B rolling around in the vacuum space of the hollow brain of the liberal idiots whining about it. The dellusional rusted B-B keeps throwing out the projecting dellusion that children in Iraq are traumatized at the toy just so the idiot liberal will have something new and inventive to whine about.

Sheesh.

[holyscroller]

Sew a little pigskin heart inside each one.

[Ruth A.]

Fancy, they were not traumatized by Saddahm, but a stuffed bear is going to do it. More and more people should be slapped unsilly.

[piasa]

They should be grateful they are not made of UN baby blue- nothing could be more traumatic than having a blue UN bear steal your kid's heart like the UN stole the Iraqi people's oil-for-food money.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Speaking of being "traumatized," this reminds me of one of the funniest lines I ever heard on a "Simpsons" episode. Homer was attacked by a bear and he was traumatized by that event. He was having nightmares about bears. In a dream, Homer sees this cute toy bear and asks hopefully, "Are you a Care Bear?" The toy bear brings out a crow bar he had hidden behind his back, waves it in a threatening way and says, "No, I'm an Intensive Care Bear!" That was one of the funniest things I ever heard of -- Intensive Care Bear -- maybe I'm sick, but that was so very funny!

[jagrmeister]

I like how these peaceniks are so irrational about their anti-war sentiments that they want Iraqi children to suffer in order to satisfy the peacenik's sensibilities. This "criticism" does not merit a response. If anything, these kinds of "criticism" should remove the organization from public dialogue.

[kcvl]

shout@suffolk4peace.org

[kcvl]

48FW.PA@lakenheath.af.mil