Iraq trades F-16s for food for poor

Baghdad (UPI) Feb 21, 2011 Amid violent uprisings against autocratic Arab regimes, the Iraqi government says it has taken a novel step to head off trouble: shelving plans to buy 18 Lockheed Martin F-16s and diverting a $900 million down payment to buy food for its poor. Whether that decision was a consequence of the wave of street protests largely driven by poverty, hunger and unemployment