Papua New Guinea leader defends nation after Biden's 'cannibals' comment
Prime Minister James Marape said the people of his Pacific Island nation did not deserve to be labeled cannibals after President Joe Biden implied his uncle’s body might have been eaten during World War II.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said many unsolved mysteries of World War II remained in the Pacific Island nation.Andrew Kutan / AFP via Getty Images file
April 22, 2024, 6:35 AM EDT
By Mithil Aggarwal
The prime minister of Papua New Guinea defended the Pacific Island nation after President Joe Biden appeared to imply that his uncle’s body was eaten by “cannibals” there during World War II, urging the United States to clean up the remnants of the conflict in the region.
“President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such,” Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement Sunday, referring to Biden’s comment about cannibals.
Speaking at an event in Pennsylvania last week, Biden said that his uncle, Army Air Corps aviator Ambrose J. Finnegan, had been “shot down in New Guinea.”
“They never found the body because there used to be — there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea,” he said.
U.S. military records about Finnegan’s death make no mention of the aircraft being downed or of cannibalism, saying the plane was forced to ditch in the ocean off the north coast of New Guinea for unknown reasons and that the three men killed in the crash were never found.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates did not address Biden’s apparent mischaracterization but told NBC News in a statement last week that Biden was “proud of his uncle’s service in uniform who lost his life when the military aircraft he was on crashed in the Pacific after taking off near New Guinea.”
Blinken signs U.S. defense pact with Papua New Guinea
The Asia-Pacific was a theater of heavy fighting during World War II, with the remains of bodies, plane wrecks, shipwrecks, tunnels and bombs still littering Papua New Guinea and other countries more than seven decades later. Marape pointed out that residents live in daily fear of being killed by unexploded ordnance. “World War II was not the doing of my people; however, they were needlessly dragged into a conflict that was not their doing,” he said.
Marape said many unsolved mysteries of World War II remained in the seas, mountains and jungles of Papua New Guinea.
“I urge President Biden to get the White House to look into cleaning up these remains of WWII so the truth about missing servicemen like Ambrose Finnegan can be put to rest,” he said.
Biden’s comments appeared to offend a key U.S. strategic ally in the southwestern Pacific Ocean as it competes for influence in the region with China, which already has a security pact with the neighboring Solomon Islands. The U.S. signed a security pact with Papua New Guinea last year.
Marape met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is visiting this week.
History note: The Chichijima Incident: Japanese Soldiers Ate US Pilots That Fell Into Their Hands. WWW ll Human cannibalism, or the practice of humans eating another human’s flesh or internal organs, was first recorded in the 17th century in New Guinea and parts of the Solomon Islands and some other places. During World War II, the gruesome act happened on the island of Chichijima Chichijima in Japan on what was known as the Chichijima incident. https://sofrep.com/news/the-chichijima-incident-japanese-soldiers-ate-us-pilots-that-fell-into-their-hands/
History note: The Chichijima Incident: Japanese Soldiers Ate US Pilots That Fell Into Their Hands. Human cannibalism, or the practice of humans eating another human’s flesh or internal organs, was first recorded in the 17th century in New Guinea and parts of the Solomon Islands and some other places. During World War II, the gruesome act happened on the island of Chichijima Chichijima in Japan on what was known as the Chichijima incident. https://sofrep.com/news/the-chichijima-incident-japanese-soldiers-ate-us-pilots-that-fell-into-their-hands/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/papua-new-guinea-leader-defends-nation-biden-cannibals-rcna148748
Papua New Guinea leader defends nation after Biden's 'cannibals' comment Prime Minister James Marape said the people of his Pacific Island nation did not deserve to be labeled cannibals after President Joe Biden implied his uncle’s body might have been eaten during World War II.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said many unsolved mysteries of World War II remained in the Pacific Island nation.Andrew Kutan / AFP via Getty Images file
April 22, 2024, 6:35 AM EDT By Mithil Aggarwal The prime minister of Papua New Guinea defended the Pacific Island nation after President Joe Biden appeared to imply that his uncle’s body was eaten by “cannibals” there during World War II, urging the United States to clean up the remnants of the conflict in the region.
“President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such,” Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement Sunday, referring to Biden’s comment about cannibals.
Speaking at an event in Pennsylvania last week, Biden said that his uncle, Army Air Corps aviator Ambrose J. Finnegan, had been “shot down in New Guinea.”
“They never found the body because there used to be — there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea,” he said.
U.S. military records about Finnegan’s death make no mention of the aircraft being downed or of cannibalism, saying the plane was forced to ditch in the ocean off the north coast of New Guinea for unknown reasons and that the three men killed in the crash were never found.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates did not address Biden’s apparent mischaracterization but told NBC News in a statement last week that Biden was “proud of his uncle’s service in uniform who lost his life when the military aircraft he was on crashed in the Pacific after taking off near New Guinea.”
Blinken signs U.S. defense pact with Papua New Guinea The Asia-Pacific was a theater of heavy fighting during World War II, with the remains of bodies, plane wrecks, shipwrecks, tunnels and bombs still littering Papua New Guinea and other countries more than seven decades later. Marape pointed out that residents live in daily fear of being killed by unexploded ordnance. “World War II was not the doing of my people; however, they were needlessly dragged into a conflict that was not their doing,” he said.
Marape said many unsolved mysteries of World War II remained in the seas, mountains and jungles of Papua New Guinea.
“I urge President Biden to get the White House to look into cleaning up these remains of WWII so the truth about missing servicemen like Ambrose Finnegan can be put to rest,” he said.
Biden’s comments appeared to offend a key U.S. strategic ally in the southwestern Pacific Ocean as it competes for influence in the region with China, which already has a security pact with the neighboring Solomon Islands. The U.S. signed a security pact with Papua New Guinea last year.
Marape met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is visiting this week.
Besides, Uncle Bosie was a stewer and not a fryer.
Just like Dennis The Menace said at dinner time “not sure what this is but it needs more ketchup”
History note: The Chichijima Incident: Japanese Soldiers Ate US Pilots That Fell Into Their Hands. WWW ll Human cannibalism, or the practice of humans eating another human’s flesh or internal organs, was first recorded in the 17th century in New Guinea and parts of the Solomon Islands and some other places. During World War II, the gruesome act happened on the island of Chichijima Chichijima in Japan on what was known as the Chichijima incident. https://sofrep.com/news/the-chichijima-incident-japanese-soldiers-ate-us-pilots-that-fell-into-their-hands/
History note: The Chichijima Incident: Japanese Soldiers Ate US Pilots That Fell Into Their Hands. Human cannibalism, or the practice of humans eating another human’s flesh or internal organs, was first recorded in the 17th century in New Guinea and parts of the Solomon Islands and some other places. During World War II, the gruesome act happened on the island of Chichijima Chichijima in Japan on what was known as the Chichijima incident. https://sofrep.com/news/the-chichijima-incident-japanese-soldiers-ate-us-pilots-that-fell-into-their-hands/
Not cannibals... they were OMNIVOROUS.
They had salad and bread sticks in addition to eating people.
The salad was unlimited. We're not savages after all.
They don’t eat junk food in PNG.