''Food Gift from the People of the United States of America,'' the package read in English, a language the woman did not understand. Above the words, however, were images anyone could comprehend: an American flag and a drawing of a smiling man raising a spoon to his mouth.
The woman opened the bag and pulled out a package of peanut butter and a package of jelly. She tried them. She did not like them. She fed them to her donkey. He liked them.
quoting further
"The product is not cheap: each packet costs roughly $4.25 to produce."
and still further
"''If you would give peanut butter to a severely malnourished child, you are likely to do more harm than good,'' said Lucas Van den Broeck, executive director of the New York-based Action Against Hunger."
You can view the link http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/298/nation/Puzzle_and_profits_in_the_food_drops+.shtml
I am forced to conclude that the airdrops are a bad idea. A useless idea. A pointless idea. We spend $4.25 to help some profiteer make $0.70, and then the food is either fed to the donkey or isn't good for them.
It's worse than a mistake. It's silly.
but it makes us "feel good" (and here you thought only the liberals thought feeling were more imnportant than outcome)
The Taliban controls the food. If we can break that control, we win and the people will no longer need to kowtow to the Taliban to get fed. Plus it is the Christian thing to do.