Dept of The European Pysche: Blame Angela Jolie
Adoption or abduction? Here in Spain, the attempted Chadian orphan kidnapping debacle has been the biggest story by far over the last week.
After today, much of the drama has been deflated since most of the Spanish flight crew has been rescued from what looks like the scariest country ever by Papa Sarkozy himself. The hoopla came after a French NGO tried to take 103 kids from Chad to France for adoption using a Spanish flight crew. Probably not to the zealous NGO’s surprise, many of the orphans had family and weren’t orphaned by the Darfur conflict, and even in Chad you can’t airlift people without documents. But what about our self-righteousness and bribe money?
I can’t help being struck by an issue completely untouched by the press: If I were those kids, would I prefer to go to France? This assumes they will actually be adopted by French families and become citizens, but as important as it is to Spaniards to get their citizens home safe, isn’t it important to consider that these uncared for children, whether they are truly orphans or not, may want an out, as well?
