Heute habe ich ungefähr zwanzigmal gelesen, dass der Krieg nun doch schleppender vorankommt und mehr Opfer auf Seiten der Allierten fordert als erwartet. Die Sache ist bloß: Erwartet haben nur die Durchblicker, die denen, die es nicht erwartet haben, jetzt vorhalten, dass sie angeblich etwas erwartet haben, was die aber gar nicht erwartet haben. Aber geht schon in Ordnung, wenn es der eigenen Rechtschaffenheit nützt....

Eine kleine Spurensuche im Netz über Erwartungen:

Bracing for worst is firm's business

By Susan Salisbury, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Tuesday, February 4, 2003

BOCA RATON -- It's a gruesome essential when war or disaster strikes.

Government officials prefer to call it a "human remains pouch," but it's better-known as a body bag, and a Boca Raton -based company is among those supplying the military with the bags as the nation gears up for possible war in the Persian Gulf.

"They don't tell us where they're going," said Paul Rodden, a sales manager for Extra Packaging Corp . "We made the assumption it's preparation of the war. The department has been buying since 9/11 and before as a general buildup for emergencies."

Extra Packaging, whose roots go back to the 1930s, began manufacturing body bags for hospitals, mortuaries, coroners' offices and other clients 10 years ago. Three years ago the company began supplying the bags to the U.S. government, although it has been a military contractor for many years, Rodden said.

Late last year, the company filled a $565,000 order from the Pentagon for more than 10,000 body bags, Rodden said.

The bags range from $5 economy models suitable for transporting a body from a hospital bed to a morgue to $100 heavy-duty pouches with up to 10 handles sturdy enough for airlifting by helicopter.

Extra Packaging made an estimated 75,000 body bags last year. The company, with five employees at its Boca Raton headquarters, has a total of 85 employees nationwide, with manufacturing plants in Texas, New York and Mexico. Rodden declined to disclose annual sales figures.

The privately held company, which has been in Boca about five years, makes a wide variety of products such as polyurethane-coated nylon emergency water storage bags, shopping bags, oven bags and zip-lock bags, in about 1,000 different sizes.

"Body bags are only one part of our business. We manufacture a broad number of products for government, industry and retail," Rodden said. "The biggest part of our business is protective packaging for preserving and protecting parts made out of metals or plastics."

The Defense Supply Center in Philadelphia, a branch of the U.S. Department of Defense that procures food, clothing and everything else for all branches of the military on a budget of $7.8 billion a year, has 34,000 heavy-duty six-handled body bags in its inventory, and it has ordered an additional 8,890, spokesman Frank Johnson said. He said he could not provide figures on how many bags the military uses each year.

The military's use of body bags is obviously not just for those killed in combat, but for all military personnel who die in the service, as well as their families.

"You could have a service person in Germany who could have a 2-year-old child die," Johnson said.

The supply center had 924 "rugged terrain" rubber-coated body bags on hand as of Dec. 31 and has ordered 750 more.

"Right now, all we are doing is replenishing," Johnson said. "There's no war. It is normal for us to look at our inventory. We are aware of world events.

"What we have done with a lot of our contractors is now we are saying, 'If something happens, what is your capacity, what do you have in stock?' You don't want to be caught short," he said.

Casualties are transported in body bags to military bases where they are then transferred to reusable aluminum "transfer cases" that cost the government $1,100 each.

Year-A-Round Corp. of Mankato, Minn., a military supplier, is in the middle of one order from the military for 80 transfer cases, said Mike Anderson, the company's president, and in the last few weeks was asked to bid on another.

Johnson said the government has to be prepared for the worst, although, of course, no one wants any casualties at all.

Rodden agreed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks did not create a need for their product.

"We sold New York City over 30,000 bags for the 9/11 emergency," he said. "They didn't use them. There were no bodies.

Nearly 10,000 bags were ordered, but officials say they have not been shipped to the Persian Gulf.

By SYDNEY P. FREEDBERG St. Petersburg Times, published January 31, 2003

In the last six months, the Pentagon has ordered 9,640 body bags, but they are not immediately headed for the Persian Gulf.

"Right now, we're just replenishing supplies" in military warehouses, said Frank Johnson, a spokesman for the Defense Supply Center in Philadelphia. "It's not necessarily an indication of things to come."

But two military suppliers said it is logical to assume that the government is anticipating battlefield casualties.

"The fact is, they are preparing for casualties," said Gerald Kramer, president of Extra Packaging Corp., a Boca Raton-based supplier of body bags. "This is a buildup of bags for a war that may occur."

FEARS that Iraq will inflict heavy casualties on British and American troops intensified yesterday when it emerged the Pentagon had ordered almost five times the number of body bags it requested before the last Gulf War.

Within weeks it will have more than 77,000 bags at the ready, compared with 16,000 in 1991.

In the last conflict, 148 US soldiers were killed in combat, including 35 by "friendly fire", while Iraqi forces suffered some 30,000 casualties.

The increased order will reinforce concern that Saddam might be preparing to use chemical or biological weapons.

It will also fuel speculation that planners are expecting to suffer high casualties in street fighting as the troops try to take major cities such as Basra and Baghdad.

"We hope no one dies, but you just don't know what will happen," said Frank Johnson, director of public affairs for the Defence Supply Centre in Philadelphia.

US military sources say that if soldiers are killed as a result of an Iraqi attack with chemical or biological weapons, the bodies will most probably be cremated on the battlefield to avoid the spread of contamination.

The Pentagon yesterday denied a claim by a senior Vatican official that the US was secretly shipping 100,000 body bags and 6000 coffins to a military base in Sicily.

But it admitted that it has 34,000 of the bags stored at military bases around the world and available to be sent to the Gulf at short notice.

It has ordered another 8890 for delivery this week and is about to sign a contract for another 30,000 to be delivered next month.

That will bring the total to 72,890 of the black vinyl bags. Each bag has a full-length zip and six handles and costs $70. The Pentagon is also buying 3500 heavier duty olive-green bags at a cost of $150 each.

These bags are coated with rubber and are used to lift bodies by helicopter from rugged terrain. Hundreds of coffins have also been ordered for those soldiers flown back to the US for burial.

The Pentagon has also ordered 15,000 body bags.

The Navy denies this has anything to do with Iraq. However, the 77,000 body bags the Pentagon just ordered certainly are Iraq-related (and represent nearly five times the body-bag order placed before the 1991 gulf war). According to a Catholic Archbishop, thousands of body-bags and coffins have already been secretly delivered to a U.S. base in Italy. Then again, neither morticians nor body bags will be much use should the Pentagon follow through with plans to cremate American soldiers felled by chemical or biological attacks, and -- in a callous break with American military tradition -- to leave their remains to mix with foreign sands.

UP to 100,000 body bags and 6,000 coffins have been secretly delivered to a US base in Italy, a Catholic archbishop claimed yesterday.

Archbishop Renato Martino, president of the Pope's Council of Peace and Justice, said the consignment had arrived at the Sigonella base near Catania on the island of Sicily 10 days ago.

He said: "Americans are expecting a high number of casualties. That is why so many body bags and coffins have been sent to the base.

Every day you face unique challenges in getting your products to the market. The difference between success and failure can be as simple as the proper packaging. At Extra Packaging we provide custom packaging solutions to leading companies in a variety of applications. Extra Packaging has the knowledge, technology and expertise to meet your most critical specifications. All at cost-effective prices with the personalized attention your business deserves.

What kind of body bag are you looking for?