On Wednesday, October 10, 2001, at 09:52 AM, Matthew Gaylor wrote:

Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 16:47:47 +1000 From: Danny Yee <danny@staff.cs.usyd.edu.au> To: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com> Cc: fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Re: US Food Aid Propaganda Mail-Followup-To: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>,

Air drops of food aid are a resort of last desperation; most of it will never be found or used. So dropping 40 000 food packages is definitely just a media stunt -- I can't see it having any real effect at all on the Afghan population it's supposed to be feeding.

Another way to do the math: -- 3 to 5 million Afghanis on the move, abandoning tiny farms and villages -- 40,000 orange food packlets, of which maybe 10,000 will be found in the mountains and ravines However, showing technicians pushing these orange packlets out the back of a transport plane made for good PR. Fact is, the peasant population of Afghanistan needs to be reduced by another 5-8 million. The West Nile and Crimea viruses introduced into the camps cannot do the whole job. Starvation must do its part as well. --Tim May, Corralitos, California Quote of the Month: "It is said that there are no atheists in foxholes; perhaps there are no true libertarians in times of terrorist attacks." --Cathy Young, "Reason Magazine," both enemies of liberty.