Tim Blair

PROBLEM SOLVED

Yet more brutal US oppression of tragic Iraqis:

When they realized that the newly trained local police force desperately needed walkie-talkies, the U.S. troops who patrol Iraq's fourth-largest city didn't wait for civilian bureaucrats to buy them, as have their Baghdad counterparts.

The soldiers in Kirkuk found a dealer and ordered the radios with their emergency funds. They did the same with weapons, vehicles and office furniture.

"Security was our top priority, so we couldn't wait," said Col. William Mayville, commander of the 173d Airborne Brigade, the main ground force in Kirkuk. "We're a couple of chapters ahead of the rest of Iraq on a lot of this stuff."

And several light years ahead of the European Union:

With business-class air fares paid and an all-day limousine service on tap, Euro MPs had only to pay for the taxi home after dining out in Brussels’ vaunted restaurants. Now they have eliminated even that small cost.

Blithely ignoring charges of "moral corruption", MEPs have voted to give themselves an allowance of up to $50 a week to cover the cost of getting back to their Brussels pads after the free limousine service ends at 10pm.

No wonder Europe was so keen to avoid going in to Iraq. Imagine the airfares!

Posted by Tim Blair at October 6, 2003 12:23 AM