Food and Fuel — Hungry Breadbasket

The idea of “I live around farms” is only a cozy security blanket in a firefight.

10 August 2022
Amsterdam, Holland

I published this in National Review during the Iraq war. As you know, I spent more time in Iraq combat than any other war correspondent. I saw that war inside and out. Americans and now Dutch keep saying to me things like, “but I live on a farm,” or “I am surrounded by farmland,” as if that will keep them fed. Two Dutch farmers did tell me they are preparing to leave the Netherlands in case of famine. They realize their farms will be stolen.

The idea of “I live around farms” is only a cozy security blanket in a firefight. Read just five random books on famine. Or peer through my memories for five minutes.

I published it during the Iraq war. Similar happened in Afghanistan.

Iraq through my pen at the time:

“The situation under al Qaeda had degenerated on all levels. Although Diyala is Iraq’s breadbasket, it has been ten months since a food shipment arrived here. Fuel is near standstill; the lights are mostly off, and water flow is better measured by drip rate than cubic liters per second.”

https://www.nationalreview.com/2007/07/second-chances-michael-yon/