GERMAN air force aid plane, 15 tons of MRE's TURNED AWAY by USA

[Bluebear]

BERLIN, Sept 10 (Reuters) - A German air force plane loaded with 15 tonnes worth of ready-to-eat meals earmarked for flood victims in New Orleans was refused entry into the United States last week, a government spokesman said on Saturday.

Confirming a report in Der Spiegel news magazine, the spokesman said the Luftwaffe Airbus was loaded with 9,000 military "eimannpackung" ("one-man packages") but was grounded in Germany because it did not get U.S. flight clearance.

The spokesman said he did not know the reason for the decision by U.S. authorities. He said the refusal to allow German aid had since been lifted.

Der Spiegel news magazine reported that U.S. authorities had blocked the import of German military rations that contained hamburgers, goulash, sausages, pasta and jam due to fears of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)....

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L10340393.htm

[Bluebear]

1. The magazine reported that relief flights from Britain and Russia....

were also denied entry for the same reason.

[John Doe II]

10. And also the Swedish plane

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4707858

[Poiuyt]

14. They would turn down food from the Swedish Chef??

[tocqueville]

19. Vhet dun't zeey leeke-a my fuud ? Bork Bork Bork!

[maine_raptor]

2. But I thought aid was requested from Europe by Shrub the Drowner

[Bluebear]

3. Requested then turned away.

After all, you don't want to give a half-drowned victim German sausage that may or may not have mad cow disease.

[justabob]

4. A few days ago

there was a story posted here that one German aid plane had landed in Pensacola(sp? sorry) and that due to "diplomatic irritation" the second plane was not welcome. I assume this is part of the same story. It is ridiculous, we have Mexican soldiers helping, Canadian rescuers helping, why turn back aid from others? And since when is the US government concerned with mad cow disease?! What a lame fuck you to the Germans.

[tocqueville]

5. All that stuff with allowing foreign aid is a red herring

1) Bush initially refused
2) Since it was going to "look bad" they formally accepted.
3) No foreign aid team was allowed into the disaster area with a few exceptions. Professional search and rescue from Europe with great experience of that kind of catastrophies (probably with a greater experience than the US) could have saved hundreds maybe thousands of lives.
4) HEAVY aid (boats, planes, helicopters + equipment) has mostly being delayed or turned down.
5) PR stunts with Mexicans were allowed (no criticism of they work from me). MSM draw parallels with old wars instead of discussing the mission they come for.
6) MSM don't cover foreign aid or problems with it. You read about it in minor papers or in press agencies.
7) Allowed teams work in states outside the disaster (Texas, Arkansas)

European media have already debunked the story. The problem is that the responsability for this "spitting on the reaching hand" can fall on ALL Americans in people's mind, not only on Bush. And of what I hear, it's already the case...

[Bluebear]

6. Der Spiegel and Reuters are not minor papers or press agencies

?

[tocqueville]

7. I meant US papers

Even if I have only access to on-line editions, I have never seen any FRONTPAGE or main article with anything about foreign aid, maybe with the exception of CNNs INTERNATIONAL edition...

When I use the term MSM it relates to US media. This term doesn't realy make sense in Europe.

[marcus_b]

9. We have the same screwed up MSM.

We have the same screwed up MSM as you have, just a different one. Yeah, ok, you can bash America like mad here, but try to criticize the European governments, and it gets a lot more recognizable to you.

There is a small difference in quantity and quality of criticism, but we have the same fundamental defects and symptoms, and for exactly the same reason! This is because in essence the American system and the European systems are not that much different.

[tocqueville]

11. I live in Europe myself and write from an European perspective

and I don't mean it's "perfect" here, far from it.

What I meant is that the US media obviously don't report about the foreign aid. There is not much to report, since there is little to show up, but the fact that the aid isn't delivered or delayed is barely reported at all. Even if Reuters writes about it, who reads Reuters, AFP, AP, UPI ? Not the US average citizen, unless the dispatch ends up in some front page.

I think it's because there are "brakes" coming from the upper spheres and because there is obviously a sense of unease even from the NON-republican sphere. Many Americans feel insulted by the fact that they have to receive aid from abroad. I think plenty of people will resent Bush because aid had to be sent. I think the White House is very aware of that : it's unamerican to be helped - specially by strangers, it's degrading. So they make jokes about Mexicans "invading" again, or OK Canadians because they are "neighbours".

What I am the most angry at is that the rescue teams were turned down.
Maybe 1000 Americans were sacrificed on the altar of US jingoism. Then accepting one and half week after K-rations from NATO is a bad joke. It's only a way of testing NATOs response capacity.

The other thing that I meant is that European media (I can go mostly for the French ones, but even UK and Scandinavian) are increasingly showing that the US doesn't want the help offered. In a country like France it creates a special outrage due to the special ties between Louisiana and France.

Regarding your post I still think that there is a QUALITATIVE difference between the degree of independence of the European media
towards the own power sphere. Of course they don't say EVERYTHING, or keep it for a later occasion, but it's not comparable with the numbing of the US MSM. Which doesn't mean we could end up in the same situation someday.

[AmyDeLune]

15. I agree with most of what you wrote...

but it is Shrubya and his minions preventing foreign aid from reaching NO and the other areas in need of it. This gives the general impression to the American public (i.e., those who don't dig deeper than the headlines of the newspapers/cable news channels) that no foreign aid is being offered. We know it's not true because of posts/threads like this one but to J. Q. Public it's looks like the rest of the world doesn't care.

[tocqueville]

18. No argument about that

The primary responsability is on Dubya of course. But the media are playing his game, that was my point.

[goforit]

8. Bush is pissing me off more. Rejecting peoples help. Outrageous!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. Disgusting.

[jmowreader]

13. I know what they're really afraid of

They're scared shitless that some American GI is going to sink his teeth into a German einmannpackung, take a week's leave, go to Natick Labs and beat to a pulp the guy who runs the US MRE program.

Trust me on this: if you want to keep even the slightest semblance of morale in the Army, you do NOT let them eat foreign field rations!

[Tim4319]

16. I guess this is local governments fault also?

[tlsmith1963]

17. This Stuff Really Angers Me

People from other countries want to help, & Bush won't let them because they didn't want to send troops to Iraq. I *know* he is doing it for this reason. We have a 5 year old spoiled brat running the US. Time to give him a spanking.:evilgrin:

Tammy

[AspenRose]

20. Mad Cow Disease?!

"Der Spiegel news magazine reported that U.S. authorities had blocked the import of German military rations that contained hamburgers, goulash, sausages, pasta and jam due to fears of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)...."

I'm more fearful of the Mad COWBOY Disease Bush exhibits.

[tocqueville]

21. That's the only thing they could come up with....

even if then same rations are eaten by GIs in Iraq or Afghanistan...

[Kellanved]

22. Pictures: what was sent away

Here a few pictures of a Bundeswehr ration, identical to the ones delivered to Pensacola (this one is courtesy of my brother in the Bundeswehr):







Stew, Pasta, spread cheese and two packages of sausage:


Instant tea, instant coffee, kool aid, sugar and milk chocolate:

Apricot and cassis jam, semolina pudding, rusk, rye bread, salt, chewing gum and a refreshing tissue.


Water purification tablets and matches:

[reorg]

23. as an aside

- if you ever have tried one of those Einmannpackungen you'll have to admit that this was not such a great loss. The instant fruit drink is not bad, the matches and the moist towelettes are usable, maybe the water treatment tablets, but better forget about the rest ... ;-)

[Kellanved]

24. that's so true.

Alas, they were better than the Pickpott rations. Even the water treatment tablets probably taste better than that.

[malaise]

25. I'm surprised Bush didn't take the

Kool Aid. That's the sheeple's beverage of choice.