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| Fifth Column |
| Peaceniks just hate those food drops |
| 2001-10-09 |
Heading the growing list of US foreign policy decisions that are infuriating and disgusting peace activists since Sept. 11: the food packages being dropped in Afghanistan. ''It's a cynical, cynical ploy,'' Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks, of the Alliance for a Secular Democratic South Asia, told a group of about 400 at a peace rally on City Hall Plaza yesterday. ''It's a sop for the American conscience.'' There are 7 million people starving in Afghanistan, she said. America is dropping enough food to feed about 37,500 people a day. The government is spending $324 million for humanitarian aid. It costs $2.1 billion to build a B-2 bomber. We would need to multiply this aid by 100 to really help these people,'' Seshadri-Crooks said. ''Why isn't that happening? Why?'' Carrying signs bearing such slogans as ''No more victims anywhere,'' ''Honor them with peace,'' and ''Precision bombing is a lie,'' the crowd chanted and applauded as speakers criticized decisions being made in Washington, calling them cruel and misguided. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |