Is there any point at throwing food at the Afghans?

[p_p_man]

Is there any point in throwing food at the Afghans?

News item after news item tell us the same story:

a) Food is of the wrong type (peanut butter and jam yet).

b) Each yellow packet is only good for one day.

c) It's being collected by groups of people and sold off to those who have none.

d) The Northern Alliance is collecting a large proportion for its own troops.

e) Hardly any is getting through to the really needy.

Is it worth all the effort and the dollar each American kid is being asked to send to the White House?

Why not just deliver truckloads of provisions to the refugee camps and give Pakistan a helping hand.

 

[A_Jacks]

Didn't we do this in Viet Nam?

I think it should be a full court press...

Advertising baybee!

'he one thing we do betta' than wa'

uh what is it good fo'

 

[p_p_man]

Didn't we do this in Viet Nam?

Yes but you were already occupying part of the country and could go into villages delivering gift parcels personally.

The strategy was winning until the powers that be thought it wasn't winning fast enough and changed tactics to death and destruction.

And we all saw how successful that was!

 

[A_Jacks]

I say

throw them Nitendo, and not enough batteries....

 

[Guest]

Re: Is there any point in throwing food at the Afghans?

News item after news item tell us the same story:


Why not just deliver truckloads of provisions to the refugee camps and give Pakistan a helping hand.

that's being done too. and us northern fighters need to eat too.

 

[p_p_man]

Re: Re: Is there any point in throwing food at the Afghans?

us northern fighters need to eat too.

Well earn your keep. Go and do some fighting.

 

[A_Jacks]

Anybody getting along to this point don't need no aid!

Just the next group of defiant muther fuckers that will have to be weeded out.

Shit man, don't you get it?

"HE HATE ME"

 

[cactiphile]

Send them tinned mushy peas is what I say!

They ain't no good to us, and a tin of peas landing
on Ol' Bin's head is just as good as a bomb at
1/1000000th the cost.



Cactiphile

 

[p_p_man]

We can't seem to win on the food front anyway...

Some breaking news that has just been announced on TV is that the Talaban have raided two UN Aid Agency warehouses and impounded the food that was kept there ready for distribution to Afghan children...

 

[Myrrdin]

Makes more sense to drop tins.
Then if the Taleban co-operate, send another plane in to drop the tin openers.

 

[Guest]

 

[Meow4U]

Dont forget the Pop-Tarts. Yes, those little yellow packets contain Pop-Tarts. What do they know about Pop-Tarts??

I think a good idea is turning into really bad PR. I mean your starving, someone finally sends you food and its a flat dried out cookie with pink stuff on it in a silver wrapper. Oh boy, the Americans sent us some of there pre-packaged crap.

It would be alot cheaper to just send rice.

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

The point is to feed people:

a) The food is a multi-cultural meal; no animal products, etc. for various cultures and religions. Some of the meals have rice, beans, etc. (rice is very hypoallergenic; it can be eaten by just about anyone regardless of food allergies. Something like two-thirds of the world eat rice as a staple).

b) The packets of food are good for more than just one day - if you are talking about how long they will keep. While the claimed shelf life is probably optimistic - in this case the food won't spoil before eaten. MREs are supposed to last months in storage - but that depends on being kept away from heat; in the back of a 100 degree car trunk they won't last more than a few weeks.

They can be eaten warm or cold (although certainly better warmed).

As for the rest of your complaints - hey it is not your money, why are you complaining? If people get fed then that is a good thing. Sure there are probably people who are hoarding and/or making a profit - the same goes just about any food relief effort.

Sure it is a PR stunt, and most people recognize it as that - but whatever the motive, if the end result is that someone gets fed that would otherwise be hungry - is that not a good thing.

My only problem with any government sponsored charity is just that; it is government sponsored - it is not the function of the government to forcibly take wealth from one person and redistribute it to someone else. If you don't think force is involved, just try not paying your taxes for a little while.

 

[nasty]

*Screaming*Food fight.

 

[p_p_man]

*Screaming*Food fight.

*Responding* *Throw Pie* whoooosh!!

Damn - missed!

 

[nasty]

Hehe, "You'll never get me, p.p."

 

[p_p_man]

Hehe, "You'll never get me, p.p."

"We'll see..."

Walks out of thread hatching diabolical food fight strategy...

 

[OUTSIDER]

I say send them all the tin's of spam they can choke down.

 

[miles]

Another trolling post

PeePee, if we hadn't airlifted food to them you would have raised hell about the starving Afghans.

When someone is drowning you throw them a rope.

 

[Thumper]

Re: Is there any point in throwing food at the Afghans?

News item after news item tell us the same story:

a) Food is of the wrong type (peanut butter and jam yet).

b) Each yellow packet is only good for one day.

c) It's being collected by groups of people and sold off to those who have none.

d) The Northern Alliance is collecting a large proportion for its own troops.

e) Hardly any is getting through to the really needy.

Is it worth all the effort and the dollar each American kid is being asked to send to the White House?

Why not just deliver truckloads of provisions to the refugee camps and give Pakistan a helping hand.

A. There is a wrong type when you are hungry?
B. Better than half a day.
C. Hey, They're coming around. God love Capitalism.
D. Fighting Taliban gives a good mujahedeen big appetite!
E. If one person eats then it did it's job.


Besides this stuff wasn't moving off the shelf at Kroger's...send it to'em.

 

[Oliver Clozoff]

And wasn't it Peeps...

who suggested dropping all kinds of Western-made goodies on the Afghans instead of conducting military strikes? So which is it, Peeps? Should we or shouldn't we?

 

[Thumper]

Makes more sense to drop tins.
Then if the Taleban co-operate, send another plane in to drop the tin openers.

Sorry. Can't do that.

Not allowed to take them on airplanes anymore.

 

[Bigdog]

This is not like feeding cattle, we can't run down to the feed store and buy a few bags of Afghan Chow.

The MRE's we are dropping happen to be what we had in warehouses ready to go. Yes, they are labeled in English and Spanish only. Yes, some of the foodstuffs in them would be a bit unusual to the Afghan people. Yes, there is a bit of PR and politics that goes with each planeload. Even so, it is the best we can do on short notice. It would take months to get a supplier up to speed on special MRE's for this cause.

As for the UN refugee camps in Pakistan, we are helping but it takes longer for bulk shipments to reach their destination.

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

Makes more sense to drop tins.
Then if the Taleban co-operate, send another plane in to drop the tin openers.

a) Tins would burst on impact.

b) If they didn't burst, tins can be opened with a knife.

c) If they hit someone they would probably kill them.

 

[April]

Let's see, which would I rather be hit by: a falling tin, or a huge falling box full of yellow MRE's? Hmmm.

Have y'all seen the loads being dropped? I did tonight on TV. Man sized boxes full of 'em. Run!!