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BBC is still referring to oil-for-food as 'aid' - see for example
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2897047.stm
we should get complaints to them as soon as possible, because there will
probably be substantial coverage of this in the media later this evening
and tomorrow morning. BBC complaints emails can go to
newsonline.errors@bbc.co.uk or there's a form at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/services/feedback/html/errors_form.stm.
Per's earlier email is a good template for comments - obviously the more
you change the wording, the better:
The 'oil for food' programme is the use of Iraqi funds for the
purchase of commodities. By no stretch of the imagination is it
'financial
or material help given by one country to another', a common dictionary
definition of 'aid'. This is not linguistic sophistry, but an important
part of the controversy that has surrounded the resumption of the
programme. Quite apart from the logistic problems of delivering supplies,
the funds committed by the United States and United Kingdom for
humanitarian assistance have been grossly inadequate to cover for the
damage and disruption of the war they are waging. Instead, Iraqis are
being made to bear all the cost and risk, and the fact that the UN assumes
the authority to administer the funds proceeding from Iraqi exports does
not make it 'aid'. I look forward to seeing this corrected.
------------
Daniel O'Huiginn
do227@cam.ac.uk
07789 260207 01223 564613
O9, Queens College
------------
"We cannot base our military strategy on the basis that Saddam is weak
and at the same time justify pre-emptive action on the claim that he is
a serious threat"
Robin Cook
"if there are continuous sandstorms for the next year and a half then they
won't be able to start the war"
Jonathan Stevenson
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