Home > German Plane With Katrina Aid Turned Back

German Plane With Katrina Aid Turned Back

by Open-Publishing - Saturday 10 September 2005
7 comments

Edito Europe Governments Catastrophes

BERLIN - A German military plane carrying 15 tons of military rations for survivors of Hurricane Katrina was sent back by U.S. authorities, officials said Saturday.

The plane was turned away Thursday because it did not have the required authorization, a German government spokesman said.

The spokesman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, declined to comment on a report in the German news magazine Der Spiegel that U.S. authorities refused the delivery on the grounds that the NATO military rations could carry mad cow disease.

The spokesman said U.S. authorities had since given approval for future aid flights, but it was unclear whether the German military would try again to deliver the rations.

Since Hurricane Katrina struck the United States, many international donors have complained of frustration that bureaucratic entanglements have hindered shipments to the United States.

A U.S. Embassy official, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name, blamed the German flight’s rejection on temporary technical and logistical problems that have accompanied recovery operations in the devastated region.

German military planes have flown several loads of rations to the Gulf Coast. Berlin is also sending teams equipped with high-capacity pumps to help clear floodwaters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050910...

Forum posts

  • The safety and the law for food supplies is much higher in Europe then in the U.S.. I have never seen those dirty refrigerator shelves in Europe as in the U.S..
    In the U.S. meat is often repacked a few times and treated and colourized. The reason is greed but also the bad paid retail jobs don’t attracted educated people anymoore, therefore e-coli and samonella is pretty common in your food stores in America.
    For some kind of proud the Americans think they are doing better then abroad - makes me love what fools you are.

    • fools? that wasn’t very nice. i often wonder if an over regulated Germany will ever get its
      economy moving. your taxes are killing your country.

    • Last month Germany produced and shiped more goods to the international market than the USA. America currently only employs aproximatly 10 million people in manufaturing. The Germans have gotten their economy moving. BTW I am an American and I would say that the word fool was used apropriatly in this case.

    • Still not nice to call one a fool, especially if your spelling is atrocious. You might want to try a dictionary. With over a 12% unemployment rate, I’m sure the Germans are happy. Rigid Inflexibility is an asset as much as it is a downfall.

    • Wonder how your German is? Most likely, you being a product of the U.S.A. school system, probably do not even know a second language...but that is not your fault, you live in a third world country from what I see on your t.v.

    • Nice? Perhaps not but in terms of Bush, appropriate at the very least. I also do agree what’s been said about Germany’s standard regarding food being way above that of the US. While I can certainly understand concerns about mad cow disease, let’s not forget we’ve had our own little bouts. More importantly however, I am quite certain that none of the food being shipped to LA consisted of meat, etc. Makes one wonder what the real reason was and one can (at least at this juncture) only speculate. Whatever it was however, it clearly cannot be argued that the people in the Gulf Coast region were let down by this administration. When State and local government failed (be it through incompetence, inability or whatever the reasons may have been), it became the Federal Government’s responsibility and duty to spring into action immediately. Unfortunately, this administration not only dragged its feet but made matters worse by initially refusing help from other countries, with the Prez proclaiming "we are Americans, we take care of our own." As "noble" as this may have sounded to many Bush supporters, his ignorance and arrogance no doubt resultet in the loss of lives that might otherwise have been saved. Lastly, yes, FEMA dropped the ball, clearly as a result of the person in charge (Brown, a Bush apointee) having no expereince whatsoever in running such agency. In fact, I can’t even really blame Brown (although he should not have accepted his appointment), I can (and do) however, blame Bush for knowingly appointing Mr. Brown merely based on the fact that he (Brown) is a friend of Bush and hence a loyal supporter rather than someone with the proper credentials/experience but perhaps an opposing political view.
      In closing, I hope my typos/spelling does not offend you, oh righteous one, as English is my second language (BTW - you never answered how many languages you speak)

      Fatou

  • I tell you one thing. We would love if the U.S. would block German goods! Why? Because we in Germany are sick and tired of your economy scam! We create value and yes we are honest with our unemployment statistics yours is a big fake! The poverty in the U.S. has reached an average level of 12.7 % - sounds familiar - that is almost the same figure someone on this board has mentioned as the German unemployment figure.
    The future of Germany lies more in eastern Europe and Russia. Those people have more common sense and they are also better educated then the average American. Why does Boeing employ 5000 Russian engineers?
    The American problem is an uncontrolled finance industry which doesn’t create real world values. Investment in American infrastructure hardly takes place, new factories are created by countries like Japan, Germany and Venezuela.

    We the German people demand also that you take your WMD and your troops and your rotten lifestyle home to the states.

    It’s time to cooperate or to go home, Ami! In difference with your wonderful country we have freedom, democracy and human rights.