Pork shortage in Green Zone?

[interesteddad]

<p>A memo sent to Green Zone workers in Iraq suggests theaterwide problems with food supply convoys from Kuwait. I sure hope this doesn’t limit the availability of pork. I’m confident that we won’t have a trouble supplying our personnel after the world’s largest US embassy is complete in September.</p>

<p><a href=“http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/files/iraq_food_deliveries.pdf[/url]”>http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/files/iraq_food_deliveries.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

All Mission Employees </p>

<p>Due to a theater-wide delay in food delivery, menu selections will be limited for the near future. While every effort will be made to provide balanced meals, it may not be possible to offer the dishes you are used to seeing at each meal. Fresh fruits and salad bar items will also be severely limited or unavailable. </p>

<p>Although we are expending every effort to resolve the situation, should the food convoys be delayed further, DFACs will be required to serve MREs for at least one meal out of the day. </p>

<p>We regret any inconvenience this may cause but we ask for your understanding of the situation.

</p>

[mini]

<p>Oh, no! What possible reason could there be for the continuation of an aggressive, hostile occupation if we can’t provide that budding democracy with pork?</p>

<p>(Halliburton hit an all-time high today.)</p>

[citygirlsmom]

<p>guess we can ignore the lack of water, electricity, schools, medical care…</p>

[fundingfather]

<p>I’m sure that you were going to set the record straight and post the update. Right?</p>

<p>

UPDATE: I’ve received a note from a journalist buddy who say’s that the US military Public Affairs Officer in Baghdad says this is a phony document.

</p>

[conyat]

<p>

UPDATE: I’ve received a note from a journalist buddy who say’s that the US military Public Affairs Officer in Baghdad says this is a phony document. We’ll see.[emphasis mine]

</p>

<p><a href=“http://noquarter.typepad.com/[/url]”>http://noquarter.typepad.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>There ya go, FF, fixed it for ya.</p>

[conyat]

<p>The blogger at No Quarter was right to say “We’ll see.” Turns out the memo was legitimate.</p>

<p>I’m sure FF was planning to set the record straight. </p>

<p><a href=“Little Green Footballs”>Little Green Footballs;

<p>Little Green Footballs (a hard core conservative blog) retracts their earlier accusations about the memo, but can’t quite bring themselves to apologize:</p>

<p>

Monday, May 28, 2007
Iraq Food Memo Genuine</p>

<p>**Iraqslogger has confirmed that the food shortage memo from Iraq is the real thing. It’s a memo from the Baghdad Embassy<a href=“not%20the%20military”>/b</a>, and surprisingly, it was indeed sent out in Microsoft Word form with a photo of a Lenox eagle figurine as a logo. So we apologize for getting this one wrong—but not for questioning the legitimacy of an official memo that used a picture from the internet instead of an official logo.

</p>

<p>Not that it was any real surprise. The Washington Post had already confirmed the basic facts.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/23/AR2007052301344.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/23/AR2007052301344.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

Sreebny, [a spokesman] who said on Tuesday that the last supply trucks arrived in Baghdad two weeks prior, attributed the delays to paperwork problems on the border, traffic jams and “security issues.”

</p>

<p>

Instead of rice pilaf with turkey or fish – Monday night’s main entree, according to embassy spokesman Dan Sreebny, who said he topped it off with two cookies – the staff would have to make do with military Meals Ready to Eat, freeze-dried concoctions with prescribed amounts of starch and protein, capable of withstanding parachute drops and remaining edible for three years after packaging.</p>

<p>“We’ve run out of some things,” Sreebny said.

</p>

<p>The good news is that some trucks have finally gotten through.</p>

[bullwinkle]

<p>Pork in a muslim country. That would figure.</p>

[barrons]

<p>Yes, and our females drive over there too. Next complaint.</p>

[mini]

<p>Three meals a day. And they force all Muslim employees in the Green Zone to eat in the dining room in the Pork Zone where it is served.</p>

<p>Winning hearts and minds…</p>

[bullwinkle]

<p>barrons- the point being that it is just another display of our disrespect and/or ignorance of their culture and why they don’t want us there, never wanted us there and “terrorize” us to keep us away. And yes, in respecting THEIR culture, they probably don’t care for females driving and any number of things that may appear odd, trivial or wrong to westerners. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, as is at the heart of these ongoing “Crusades” and the approach of the bush administration is our government’s presumption that our way of life is better and that everyone wants to be an American. Other cultures don’t think that and they don’t want that and that is central to the current circumstances and; and, introducing pork products into a muslim society is an insult of significance.</p>

<p>It is this very ignorance that prevented our goverment from ever understanding the results of their actions in Iraq, their failure to understand the Muslim religion, the different factions and the history of the region. Not much different then our failure to understand the history of Vietnam, etc.</p>

[barrons]

<p>What happened to honoring differences?? They should honor our love of driving and pork. Especially a good pulled pork sandwich and a cold beer. We’ll let them continue their cool traditions–like stoning women to death for alleged infidelity.</p>

<p><a href=“http://theres-something-about-islam.blogspot.com/2006/04/stoning-video.html[/url]”>http://theres-something-about-islam.blogspot.com/2006/04/stoning-video.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[bullwinkle]

<p>Thanks for proving the point.</p>

[barrons]

<p>Maybe introducing some post medieval ideas would be an improvement.</p>

[Dadguy]

<p>You mean like gay marrigage and reproductive rights?</p>

[barrons]

<p>I’d settle for the more basic ones.</p>

[Dadguy]

<p>Would you impose those on the people we are trying to help or just the ones who are putting up a fight?</p>

[barrons]

<p>I think the problem goes far beyond just Iraq. A good portion of the religion has been hijacked by extremists through threats and intimidation. The lack of a tradition of separation of church and state makes it everyone’s problem in many countries. Read some of the new books by Muslim moderates and modernists. Not pretty.</p>

[mini]

<p>“A good portion of the religion has been hijacked by extremists through threats and intimidation.”</p>

<p>Funny, that’s exactly how I would describe the attitude of the hostile, aggressive occupiers toward Iraq’s democratically elected government. (Iran’s, too.) :eek:</p>

[barrons]

<p>Try to stay on one topic for once.</p>

[mini]

<p>That IS the topic, remember? (“Pork shortage in in the Green Zone.”)</p>

<p>I can’t help it if you have a short attention span.</p>