Aid agencies blast U.S. "aid drops"

Kirsten Neilsen kirsten at Infothecary.ORG
Mon Oct 8 12:14:26 PDT 2001


[those interested in this aspect of u.s. actions may also be interested in the following.]

Let us look at the food issue first. The figure given by the CNN for the first day's airdrops of food was 37500 rations. One ration is 3 meals, or one person-day of food. There are between 3-7 million people at risk of starvation. So in order to alleviate the danger, the rate of airdrops has to increase by a factor of one hundred.

Bush pledged $324 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. Each ration costs $4.25. Let us assume that there are only 3 million at risk of starvation, that every ration will reach one of those people, and that every dollar of that $324 million is going to rations (and not to the planes, fuel, staff, medicine, or any other item). Under these generous assumptions, there will be enough food to feed these people for 25 days. The reality is probably worse-- since millions are now fleeing the bombing, and will not sow their crops of winter wheat for example, but even in this scenario the money is insufficient to last for the winter. Also for comparison, $40 billion was appropriated for the war effort, and a single B-2 bomber costs $2.1 billion.

http://www.zmag.org/poduranswers.htm



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