The New York Times reported last Saturday that hundreds of thousands of children in Zambia are at risk of starvation because Congress won't permit US aid agencies to purchase plentiful food stocks from Zambian warehouses. Congress insists that the aid agencies buy only American-produced food shipped on American freighters. It will take many months for that food to arrive, and in the meantime Zambian children will begin to starve. Tom Lantos, the new chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, supports this policy, and is quoted in the Times as saying that it is "beyond insane" to allow US aid agencies to buy local supplies. Let's call Tom Lantos's office and tell him that HE is beyond insane to let children starve for the benefit of American agribusiness and shipping interests.
You can read the article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
This is very important. I hope readers of this site will respond swifty to this horrible story. Congress must reverse this deadly policy immediately. The phone number for Tom Lantos' congressional office is 202-225-3531.
This is my first diary.