BUREAUCRACY WATCH : Teddy Bear Flap

In the annals of bureaucracy no case may stand out as more illustrative of the inherent inflexibility of bureaucracies than the ludicrous case of the Great Teddy Bear Holdup.

You probably did not know that shipping teddy bears to children in war-torn Iraq would be a violation of the U.N. embargo that is intended to bring Saddam Hussein to his knees. But that’s precisely what’s holding up 1,000 pounds of donated medicine, used clothing and toys in a warehouse at Los Angeles International Airport. Our government, particularly the State and Treasury departments, says OK to the medicine--that’s considered medicinal relief exempted by the embargo’s terms--but nixes sending any teddy bears.

Relief workers argue that teddy bears have time-honored pediatric value. They could offer psychological comfort to Iraqi children--still reeling from the Western attack on their society that all but leveled vast portions of the infrastructure and left a legacy of malnutrition and disease. Many Iraqi children are said to be suffering from severe post-traumatic stress.

But the U.S. government is unmoved. Bizarrely, one Treasury Department official even questions whether Iraqi children have the same cultural and psychological affinity for teddy bears as Western children. Iraqi-Americans consider that view to be ethnocentrism at its worst.

It’s hard to see what harm could come of granting an export license to the relief workers behind the “Teddy Bears for Iraq” movement.

What’s most disturbing is the realization that it’s even an issue.