Congress members urge Iraq to buy US rice

[Judi Lynn]

Congress members urge Iraq to buy US rice
By Associated Press
Friday, February 24, 2012 - Added 53 minutes ago

HOUSTON — Congress members from the largest rice-growing states are urging Iraq to resume buying U.S. long-grain rice, calling the country’s standards "unreasonable."

~snip~

Congress members say there was a 77 percent drop in rice sales to Iraq between 2010 and 2011.

The Iraqi Grain Board has said it decided to buy cheaper basmati rice from India.

But the 12 legislators from Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Texas and Virginia say part of the reason U.S. farmers charge more is the risk involved in meeting Iraq’s quality demands.

Some rice farmers say Iraq should buy U.S. rice regardless of price because American lives were lost in the Iraq war.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/middle_east/view/20120224congress_members_urge_iraq_to_buy_us_rice/

[RufusTFirefly]

1. In a word: Chutzpah

"Some rice farmers say Iraq should buy U.S. rice regardless of price because American lives were lost in the Iraq war."

[stockholmer]

4. +10000

As opposed to the 1 million plus Iraqis killed (majority women and children) in Iraq since 1991 (2 wars and the Clinton-era sanctions).



As many as 576,000 Iraqi children may have died since the end of the Persian Gulf war because of economic sanctions imposed by the Security Council

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/01/world/iraq-sanctions-kill-children-un-reports.html

How Many Iraqis Died? We May Never Know

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0503-02.htm

Study: War blamed for 655,000 Iraqi deaths

http://articles.cnn.com/2006-10-11/world/iraq.deaths_1_gilbert-burnham-death-rate-ali-dabbagh?_s=PM:WORLD

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(06)69491-9/abstract

http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-iraq/iraq_deaths_4011.jsp

[atreides1]

2. It's a free market system

That's what the Repukes keep spewing....

[Lasher]

7. As we can see, they change their rhetoric when it works against them.

What happened to the benevolent Invisible Hand? The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

"...part of the reason U.S. farmers charge more is the risk involved in meeting Iraq’s quality demands."

It's dangerous to grow rice that doesn't suck? OK, let's venture for a moment to Planet Bullshit and say it is. How is it that US corporate farmers are subject to this danger while India is not?

[appleannie1]

3. We expect them to be grateful??????????????????????????????????

Besides the fact that US rice is twice as expensive.

Besides the fact that US rice is tasteless by comparison.

Besides the fact we bombed the crap out of their country, ruined their livelihoods, killed and maimed them by the millions, destroyed most of their buildings, destroyed most of their infrastructure and left them to deal with the effects of depleted uranium and other cancer causing crap from our bombs and chemical weapons. They are supposed to kiss our butts in gratitude and buy our damn rice!!!!! The logic of the insane.

[3waygeek]

5. Turnabout is fair play...

after all, US Rice sold war with Iraq to Congress and the American public.

[JohnyCanuck]

6. Maybe they don't want to eat rice contaminated with GMOs

The discovery of an unapproved genetically modified rice in the food supply has depressed rice prices, damaged US rice export markets, spurred farmer lawsuits against the rice’s developer, Bayer CropScience, and raised new questions about the US’s ability to control GM crops.

In late August, the US Department of Agriculture announced that unapproved GM rice, Liberty Link 601, was found contaminating commercial long-grain rice supplies. According to Riceland Foods, a farmer-owned rice cooperative, the GM rice was first discovered in conventional rice supplies by one of its export customers last January. In May, Riceland collected rice samples from several grain storage facilities, which tested positive for LL601. Bayer confirmed the findings and said the rice was present at levels equivalent to 6 of every 10,000 grains. Bayer reported the problem to the USDA at the end of July. It is not known how the contamination occurred.

http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/articles/GE-rice-contamination.php

[BadGimp]

8. We unnecessarily, illegally and imorally invaded their country and they have the gall not to buy our

Crap??