U.S. Plans Humanitarian Air Drop

In our ''Crisis Messages'' announcement right after the September 11 events, we printed a former Afghani writer's plea that his countrymen be seen as victims of Bin Laden, not perpetrators of the atrocities he commits, followed by Gregg Braden's suggestions that we ''bomb them with bread.'' It is with great happiness that we are able to tell you that these kinds of ideas are apparently being more than lip service by our leaders. Associated Press writer Robert Burns, reporting from Cairo and quoting Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, affirmed last Thursday (October 4) that the Pentagon will airdrop relief supplies into Afghanistan as part of a broader U.S. government humanitarian aid effort. In an interview aboard his plane en route to Cairo, Rumsfeld allegedly told reporters that the Bush administration is making preparations to provide emergency assistance to the Afghanis, many of whom are fleeing in terror of a potential attack again the Taliban regime, and that the plans to implement this assistance were being worked out in Washington as he (Rumsfeld) spoke. The AP story said that a large humanitarian aid program for Afghanistan — particularly if it included Air Force planes delivering food to the impoverished and destitute — would dramatize Bush's remarks that the problem for the U.S. is one of international terrorism, not religion. Rumsfeld reportedly described satellite photos he had seen that showed masses of Afghans fleeing on foot in search of food and refuge, and commented that it was ''a heartbreaking thing to see.'' Burns reported that, according to Rumsfeld, the Pentagon would be careful to design an airdrop that could succeed (''You wouldn't want the rations to fall into the wrong hands'') and that the United States has positioned more than 300 aircraft in the region around Afghanistan, some of which could be used for air drops. In advance of Rumsfeld's arrival in Cairo, Burns wrote, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that his country was committed to fighting terrorism but would not send troops abroad for any military action. ''We do not participate with troops anywhere because the Egyptian army is there to defend Egyptian lands.'' According to Burns, it was Mubarak who assisted the United States a decade ago in creating Arab support for the international coalition that ousted Iraq from Kuwait in the Persian Gulf War.