we don't even want your stupid life-saving medical supplies
From a Reuters article charmingly titled First E.U. Aid Airlift to Iraq Finally Takes Off comes the following tidbit:

The aircraft, loaded with 19 tonnes of supplies such as surgical equipment, vaccines and anesthetics, left Melsbroek military airport outside Brussels but was due to stop in Athens and only reach Baghdad on Wednesday, an EU spokesman said.

The Belgian airforce C-130 had been due to take off last Tuesday, but departure was repeatedly delayed pending a green light from the U.S. military in Baghdad, ostensibly for security reasons. The flight path was changed several times.

Here are some other links to the story, most from last week.

So clearly someone is fucking with this for a political advantage, but to be fair, it's hard to tell who it is. It could be the EU trying to make the US look bad, although presumably in that case the Army would have issued a denial of the "flight path" thing. Or it could be the US is deliberately delaying the shipment in order to minimize the credit Europeans could get for helping Iraqis. Or I guess it could just be honest stupidity on the part of the European planners or the US military, or a real problem on the ground, but these seem unlikely.

But whoever's fault it is--seriously, guys, fucking stop it.
posted by Mike B. at 11:25 AM 0 comments