Preferring Food Over F-16 Fighter Jets: An Iraqi Initiative

Food Over F-16 Fighter Jets

Iraq has delayed the purchase of F-16 fighter jets for its air force to put $900mn of allocated funds into its national food ration programme instead, a government official said yesterday.
Iraq had hoped to have the first of the Lockheed Martin Corp combat aircraft in operation by 2013 to help shape its air force after years of war.
But a growing number of demonstrations over food and electricity shortages have worried the government after popular uprisings have toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt.
“The (F-16) contract was postponed and the $900mn that was allocated to it was transferred to support the (food) ration card (programme),” said Tahseen al-Sheikhli, adviser to government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.
The F-16 is seen as a symbol of military and political cooperation between Iraq and the US.

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Arab world in for more revolutions?

 Arab countries might be in for revolutions similar to the one in Tunisia, the results of an opinion poll conducted by Press TV have shown.

Around 54 percent of 1,555 respondents to the online poll believed a revolution may take place in other Arab countries.
Roughly 29 percent of those polled were convinced that the West ostensibly threw its weight behind the revolution in Tunisia, but, in fact, was against it.
More than 17 percent also suggested that the West actually facilitated the revolution.
The poll was carried out from January 18-23.
A former Arab League envoy to the UN said in an interview with Press TV that the Tunisian revolution is inspiring the Arab world, which is worn-out by various dictatorial regimes.
Clovis Maksoud said Tunisia's revolution “is one of the most inspiring events of the Arab world in the contemporary time.”
The revolution “is the prognosis by which many frustrated people in various countries -- suffering dictatorship, poverty, and marginalization, are now being empowered,” said the former ambassador to the United Nations.