As of last July, the delivery of $5.4 billion worth of supplies to Iraq was blocked by the Bush/Blair Pair. It didn�t really make the news. But now under the loving caress of live TV, 450 tons of humanitarian aid-a miniscule fraction of what�s actually needed (call it a script prop)-arrived on a British ship, the Sir Galahad. Its arrival in the port of Umm Qasr merited a whole day of live TV broadcasts. Barf bag, anyone?
Nick Guttmann, head of emergencies for Christian Aid, writing for the Independent, said that it would take 32 Sir Galahad�s a day to match the amount of food Iraq was receiving before the bombing began.
We oughtn�t be surprised though. It�s old tactics. They�ve been at it for years. Consider this moderate proposal by John McNaughton from the Pentagon Papers published during the Vietnam War:............(more)
Arundhati Roy
In These Times 4.11.03
