Complex found bulging with food in hungry city

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CNN.com

Distribution center was used by U.N. oil-for-food program

From Mike Boettcher
CNN

BASRA, Iraq (CNN) --A giant food distribution complex seized Wednesday by U.S. and British forces in this city grappling with hunger contained massive amounts of food.

A walk through only about 20 percent of the warehouses in the complex revealed that tens of thousands of tons of supplies -- including huge quantities of baby milk -- were being stored in Iraq's second-largest city, which has been wracked by a food shortage.

There are vast amounts of food staples, tea, sugar, tires, car batteries and sewing machines in the warehouses.

Also found were large quantities of cash, weapons and documents relating to the food-distribution system. Coalition officials hope the documents will help them smooth out the distribution process.

A small force of Iraqis tried Wednesday night without success to retake the complex, which had been used by the U.N. oil-for-food program.

Iraq's second-largest city was controlled by Iraqis until Wednesday. Parts of it remained in contention Thursday. Six or seven volleys of rockets targeted armored positions Wednesday night in the part of the city still held by Iraqis.

British troops, with the support of American special operations forces, have been pushing steadily into the city in a slow and methodical process.

Although Iraqi paramilitary fighters were putting up fierce resistance, the suburbs and parts of the city appeared to be in coalition control.

British forces late Wednesday and Thursday bombarded Iraqi forces around Basra with long-range artillery. A British military spokesman said the situation around Basra was "stabilizing by the day." (Full story)

As we drove through a suburb Thursday, a few Iraqis waved, but most appeared neutral. On the other hand, we saw no glares of hatred, either.

Many people in Basra recall the failure of the United States to follow through on implied promises of military support to an uprising by Shia Muslims crushed by President Saddam Hussein. Thousands were killed by Saddam after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Meanwhile, coalition forces were trying to determine the needs of Basra's residents and then to meet them. Medical supplies and water headed the list.

CNN Correspondent Mike Boettcher is with U.S. special operations forces in southern Iraq.

EDITOR'S NOTE:This report was written in accordance with Pentagon ground rules allowing so-called embedded reporting, in which journalists join deployed troops. Among the rules accepted by all participating news organizations is an agreement not to disclose sensitive operational details.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/03/sprj.irq.basra.food.complex/index.html

© 2003 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
An AOL Time Warner Company.

Reply 1 - Posted by: hopeful, 4/3/2003 8:13:32 PM

Incredible!


Reply 2 - Posted by: dbmap, 4/3/2003 8:16:43 PM

It figures that this involved Saddom's dealings with the UN. Maybe Blind Blix was moonlighting.


Reply 3 - Posted by: Bad Dog, 4/3/2003 8:20:53 PM

2nd paragraph:
A walk through only about 20 percent of the warehouses in the complex revealed that tens of thousands of tons of supplies -- including huge quantities of baby milk -- were being stored in Iraq's second-largest city, which has been wracked by a food shortage.

Like #1 said, INCREDIBLE.


Reply 4 - Posted by: anotherctyankee, 4/3/2003 8:22:11 PM

Have that food analyzed. It may be poisoned.


Reply 5 - Posted by: Tsarevna, 4/3/2003 8:29:35 PM

Oh, I may just have to slap that Euro-Liberal I lunched with this week. He said, "You know, before starting this war, you were starving the Iraqis. You starved them."
I told how Saddam had purposely starved children to death so we would look bad, and only he starved people. Mr. Birkenstocks hrmphed at this. Well, looks like my side has the evidence now.


Reply 6 - Posted by: OldSailor, 4/3/2003 8:35:25 PM

PROOF! Attn: UN, France, Germany, etc.


Reply 7 - Posted by: SFGOP, 4/3/2003 8:37:17 PM

oooh, oooh, uh, uh, we were "about" to find this - uh...the inspections were working...


A big middle finger to Hans Blix, Eurotrash, and the anti-war crowd for their appeasement of Sadaam Hitler and these type of antics he employed to terrorize "his people."


Reply 8 - Posted by: Cato_the_elder, 4/3/2003 8:38:33 PM

Wow.


Reply 9 - Posted by: mthead, 4/3/2003 8:43:07 PM

We probably don't know 1/2 the whole story yet!!!!


Reply 10 - Posted by: Robin Scott, 4/3/2003 8:44:17 PM

That evil man knew what he was doing. A well fed populace is not easy to control.


Reply 11 - Posted by: 3M_TA3, 4/3/2003 8:44:22 PM

We've been saying all along the Saddam has been starving his own people, that the oil-for-food-program was a sham, and that the sanctions have in no way hurt the Iraqi people.


Reply 12 - Posted by: Viking2002, 4/3/2003 8:44:40 PM

May God look upon the UN and the appeasement crowd, and damn them to Hell for their cowardice. When this is all over, it will redefine the course of humanity for generations to come.


Reply 13 - Posted by: Clark Kent, 4/3/2003 8:48:19 PM

weapons of mass starvation


Reply 14 - Posted by: Penney, 4/3/2003 8:54:19 PM

I pray this won't be the case but Saddam is beginning to remind me of Jim Jones. Absolutely no respect for life.


Reply 15 - Posted by: rts, 4/3/2003 8:58:15 PM

#4:
I wouldn't put it past him!


Reply 16 - Posted by: Double Dog Dare, 4/3/2003 9:00:17 PM

Oh, how I hope Saddam and his evil sons died a very, very slow and painful death when we hit them. However they died, it will be absolutely nothing compared to what they are going to get in the afterlife. And, it won't be 72 virgins either.


Reply 17 - Posted by: Harmony1, 4/3/2003 9:02:11 PM

what reply 12 said.......


Reply 18 - Posted by: ProudVet, 4/3/2003 9:02:33 PM

#5 Give him a few good shots for me. No slaps, close your fist when you hit him. The Euro trash killed babies.


Reply 19 - Posted by: msjena, 4/3/2003 9:03:44 PM

What is with CNN calling infant formula "baby milk?" Is it to prove that Saddam was telling the truth about that "chemical weapons" factory we bombed? I don't trust CNN and can't quite figure out what the implications of this story are.


Reply 20 - Posted by: GreatWhiteNorth, 4/3/2003 9:08:05 PM

This happens in every dictatorship where food aide is sent. The criminals in power confiscate the food and sell it on the black market, give it to their supporters, and withhold it from their enemies. Food is used as a weapon. The United Nations and other do-gooders turn a blind eye, although they know perfectly well this is happening. There has never been a famine in a country with freedom of the press. The United Nations doesn't want to know that.


Reply 21 - Posted by: MickeyMouse, 4/3/2003 9:34:04 PM

Hollyweird appeasers, call your office.


Reply 22 - Posted by: Double Dog Dare, 4/3/2003 9:37:12 PM

Jimma Carter and all the doubters should be made to go over there and see for themselves what this evil regime did to its own people. Pray for your forgiveness Jimma since you seem to consider yourself so righteous.


Reply 23 - Posted by: seven, 4/3/2003 9:42:20 PM

The U.N. is useless. Get them out of my country, and get my country out of the U.N.


Reply 24 - Posted by: Aitch748, 4/3/2003 9:42:41 PM

My loathing has just gone up a notch. My loathing is not only for Saddam and his human-shredding freak regime, but also for the Bush-hating leftists and the America-hating movie stars and the increasingly violent "peace protesters" and the rest of that skanky civilization-hating mob, who now insist that American soldiers (ALL of them) are war criminals.

As the things we find in Iraq get worse and worse, so do the insults and provocations hurled at the rest of us by the Chomsky cult. (Next week we'll find one of those industrial plastic shredders, maybe with the remains of children inside them, and some professor or singer or actor will be yelling that all Americans need to be exterminated.)

(Sorry. Not my most coherent post, but I've been seething for days about the latest from Iraq.)


Reply 25 - Posted by: KnightErrant, 4/3/2003 9:52:29 PM

There are two sides to this world-wide battle:

A culture of death.

vs.

A culture of life.

To all: Are you with us or against us?!?!?


Reply 26 - Posted by: usmcsarge, 4/3/2003 9:55:11 PM

First off, this will have no effect on the hate America Leftoids. Zero.

Next, it is NOT incredible. This is SOP for totalitarian thug regimes. Recall the first Somalia famine scenes on CNN? Swollen bellies on infants and small children. Old men curled up and dying in the dirt streets? When we got there, same thing. Warehouses of food. It was used as a weapon amongst the clans and to keep the military fed and fat.

The "human rights" and "peace and justice" crowd are oblivious when these things occur in the Third World, killing thousands (and sometimes millkions) in the process. But let an American stub his toe incorrectly and the outrage is on page one of the NYT.

Old Marine Sarge


Reply 27 - Posted by: Armed Eagle, 4/3/2003 10:14:22 PM

I am very puzzeled.
All that food, and it was there because of the U.N. food for oil program? Does this mean that all of that food was never given out to any Irag citizens?
Who received the food if anyone?
The Republican Army?
This is when the reporters should all see that complex, and I would love to see General Tommy Hanks enlist the help of the reporters as well as American troops pass out the food to the Irag citizens.
How long has all that food been stored?
How many people would that food feed for one month?
God, I have so many questions running through my head.
Right now I am convinced.
Saddamn was an incarnation of Satan.
I almost feel guily thinking about it but, I think I could pull the trigger of a weapon to kill Saddamn, and smile.


Reply 28 - Posted by: Duke of Duval, 4/3/2003 10:14:57 PM

They must give large photos of all that food in the warehouse to those groups that operate begathons on TV to get money to feed the starving in such countries. If they'd get rid of corrupt governments they would have plenty except for shiftless bums that won't work. They are everywhere.


Reply 29 - Posted by: boscon, 4/3/2003 10:16:09 PM

I'm shocked, shocked that hoarding of food is going on here.
My apologies to Claude Rains.


Reply 30 - Posted by: pugacre, 4/3/2003 10:26:55 PM

You can array a long list of evidence of wrongdoing by Iraqi regime and the leftist Eurotrash and Ameritrash will not acknowledge any of it. But they will tell you that Fidel has a superb health care system. Idiots.


Reply 31 - Posted by: bakajin, 4/3/2003 10:32:03 PM

In Revelations, is not the " WHORE OF BABYLON" mentioned ? and as this is laterday Babylon, ----- (draw your own conclusion)


Reply 32 - Posted by: browneyes, 4/3/2003 10:32:40 PM

A couple of weekends ago, Lucianne & staff graciously invited us to comment on the war and our troops. Don't know where my comments are appropriate to post, BUT, I asked for and received a service man's address from a fellow LDotter. I wrote tthe next day and guess what? I am so happy to say he e-mailed me today. Wow! He's on the Constellation, has a family in California and more importantly, was truly appreciative. I am so proud of all our military and feel very blessed that I have a new friend. Will be sending his 15y/o son a BD present. Great feeling!


Reply 33 - Posted by: kennowen, 4/3/2003 10:39:06 PM

The left loses more and more of their argument each time we find something like this. Still, they will find a way to spin their lies. Incredible. (And I'm betting none of the food was from the French, Russians, or Germans either.


Reply 34 - Posted by: jls1213, 4/3/2003 10:44:22 PM

Sickening. And so is KNN. WHY or why do they call the resistance 'the Iraqis'??? They are NOT the Iraqis. The Iraqis are a sad, oppressed and tortured people who are soon to have a life they never dreamed possible. those 4ucx should be called the 'Saddamites'. That is what they are.


Reply 35 - Posted by: SayHey2u, 4/3/2003 10:50:10 PM

I just did a quick Google search on food distribution in Iraq. I was actually looking for more information on this story, but instead found article after article of different organizations making appeals for money to begin their own food distribution program. A sample:

* The Canadian Red Cross (Whitehorse Star, Canada - needs $219 million
* Save the Children (Westport, Conn.) - needs $35 Mil
* U.N. emergency appealed for US $2.2 billion

I wonder if there is any coordination between these groups or any accountability at all! It's beginning to remind me of all the money that poured into the charities after 9/11 before anyone even did an assessment of what was needed. This sounds like a subject for O'Reilly.


Reply 36 - Posted by: rotstan, 4/3/2003 11:00:57 PM

Death to the Left and their accomodation, enablement, appeasemnt and collaboration with evil. They are all scum and must pay the price for their wickedness!


Reply 37 - Posted by: jls1213, 4/3/2003 11:04:10 PM

35, great point. But O'Reilly I am not sure I agree about. He did perform a certain service insofar as demanding accountability for our donations. However, he also performed a disservice as he provided a forum for the greedy.


Reply 38 - Posted by: Marney, 4/3/2003 11:04:46 PM

#4 That was my first thought too. Perhaps it's a chache of WMD.


Reply 39 - Posted by: pensom2, 4/3/2003 11:32:31 PM

If Saddam had allowed infant formula to be distributed, he would have deprived himself of the images and statistics of starving babies. The useful idiots of Hollyweird and the UN feed off these images/statistics, and Saddam knew it.

We need to shine a HUGE LIGHT on these discoveries--the alphabet networks will never do it.