British Aid Plane Prevented From Entering Iraq

Reuters/Yahoo ^ | 4-17-2003 | Kate Holton

[Howlin]

Are you aware that literaly dozens of warehouses were found and are still being found in Iraq with MILLIONS of dol;ars of food and medicine in them?

Are you aware that just ONE of Saddam's palaces had over two million dollars worth of medicine in it?

Saddam Hussein made 40 MILLION dollars a day on the "legal" oil he sold for food; if anybody starved them it is him.

I imagine that the people who live in the slums outside of Saddam's palaces got the sock of their lives when they walked through those doors and saw all that opulence.

Sure these aid people parrot whatever the liberals say. It is just you buying it that I can't get over it.

BTW, convoys with TONS of food went into Iraq today from Turkey AND Jordan.

[Howlin]

Convoys went in today from Turkey and Jordan.

[GAGOPSWEEPTOVICTORY]

Under the Geneva Convention, occupying forces are obliged to protect civilians, restore law and order and open up space for humanitarian relief.

Funny, I thought we were still a "liberating army" and not an "occupying force" right now. Brig. Gen. Briggs a couple of days ago very clearly stated that we were not an occupying force because of these kinds of issues. These reporters should check their facts first.

[m1911]

Don't worry, I'm NOT buying it. I repeat from my last post: "Whether I agreed with them on where the blame should go or not, a lot of these groups have certainly been talking about it"

Ok, let's get my position straight:
I think the commanders on the scene know more about the security situation in Irbil than the UN.

I am aware of the finds that make it impossible for anybody to deny the horrific nature of the Ba'ath regime. I didn't doubt it before the finds. I know very well that Saddam Hussein used the combination of sanctions and Oil-for-Food program as: 1) his personal get rich scheme 2) A way to control his population by controlling the food, and 3) an easy scapegoat for the horrors he visited on his own people.

So, what we are (not?) disagreeing about is: 1) whether it's odd that the area in question is considered unsafe, 2) whether the organization in question is being completely honest about what they were told, and 3) whether aid organizations were concerned about starvation in Iraq before this war.

I don't think we're that far apart on our opinions of this war, we just managed to get out of tune on this thread.

[norcalvet]

The source of UN information:

"No, I am not scared and neither should you be!"

[JHrules]

I have something to add and a question at same time: Isn't Abril in the No Fly Zone?? Isnt the NO f

[JHrules]

NO...er No fly zone still in effect??

what happened there lol

[Jorge]

Of course this war was really against Iraqi civilians... it only makes sense that they would block any aid from reaching them....right?
This story should get a lot of play in the Arab and liberal western press.

[PeterPrinciple]

How do you feel about the boy scouts discriminating against homosexuals?

NOISEmaker norrow says, "What if the Boy Scouts prevented, say, Jews from being scout leaders? Or blacks? Would that be wrong? If so, why is it all right to discriminate against homosexuals in the same way?"

Sound off: Homosexuality

If this survey is representative of save the children, I remember why I stopped giving.

[uncbuck]

"A U.S. official told the charity no aid flights would be allowed until the area was safe but the U.N. has already declared Arbil a "safe and secure" area, the charity said. "

Uuuhhhh, can someone tell me when this was a UN operation, and when they were made responsible for declaring the area 'safe & secure'?

[Keith]

[GretchenEE]

Did the charity plane have preflight clearance to land? I doubt it.

More likely they just got tired of waiting to be helpful and forced the issue onto the public and into the press by a play for dramatic effect.

[piasa]

In Ethiopia in the 80s money and equipment like trucks from ‘Save the Children’ and other NGOs was used by the regime to forcibly resettle people from the north to festering camps in the south where they were ‘socially transformed.’ Many tens of thousands died on the way.