March 2003
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OPINION

Au revoir French fries, hello Freedom Fries
By Farah Kurji, SNN Editor, Hugh Boyd Secondary, Richmond, BC

On Tuesday March 18th, 2003 Bob Ney, a Congress representative from Ohio led a movement to have the word "French" removed off of congressional cafeteria menus after France's decision to remain uninvolved in the war or Iraq. France has made public that they want peaceful disarmament and would use their veto if needed to make sure that the innocent in Iraq would not be harmed. But aren't there more important things to worry about when a war is upon us than the name of food?

Bob Ney believes that this is a "small but symbolic effort to show the displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France." But what about Russia and China who also threatened to use their veto like France at the United Nations. Are we going to change the name of Russian or Chinese dishes?

Does it honestly make a difference whether they are French or Freedom fries? French Fries did not even originate from France but from Belgium in fact. You would think that with a war on Iraq the United States Congress would be spending its time figuring out ways to help the innocent people in Iraq who are caught in the middle of a war.

After UN International staff left Iraq on March 19th, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy commented that UNICEF "delivered therapeutic food for more than 400,000 malnourished children. But there are more than 1 million malnourished children in Iraq. We did a lot, but we had hoped to do more." She also commented "Conflict could very well have disastrous consequences for Iraqi children. Malnourished children, children who have not been immunized, children who are displaced from their homes - all these children are at very high risk."

Children make up half the population in Iraq posing the question of how many of these children will actually survive? One-quarter of children under the age of five is malnourished, and sixty percent of the population is dependent on food rations from the government. So knowing these facts as "intelligent people" should Congress be spending time thinking of food names to change? Or should they be finding ways to help these innocent children who have no way out?

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COMMENTS:

Lorena W., 17, Birchy Bay, NL
I agree with the author of this article. I think that the politicians should be more worried about the actual war than changing the names of foods. The fact that they even thought to do something so ridiculous is unbelievable. They should do more valuable things with their time, rather than thinking up new names for foods from different countries.


     



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