Last Saturday a German military cargo plane loaded with 15 tons of military rations was refused permission to land in the U.S. and had to return to Germany. The Germans had already sent several loads of the same rations when the incident occurred. An anonymous official at the U.S. embassy blamed it on "temporary technical and logistical problems." But the German magazine Der Spiegel wanted to know just how the event unfolded.

Here's what they found—

As it turns out, the US Department of Agriculture had rejected the rations -- originally prepared for NATO troops -- out of fear they may be tainted with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the agent thought to cause mad cow disease. Despite intensive efforts on the part of Germany's foreign ministry, the US government refused to give the plane flyover rights.

So the food was good enough for NATO troops, which would include American soldiers, but was too risky for Katrina survivors? Gimme a break!

No, it was more like this—

... officers at a US base in Pensacola -- where previous German aid planes had landed -- believe there was another reason. In reality, the critics said, the Bush government was trying to avoid embarrassing images of Europeans making food relief deliveries to the States. After all, the meals had already been certified by NATO as BSE-free. Additionally, the same types of meals have been used in common deployments in Afghanistan, and they've also been consumed by American troops. Startled by a query from SPIEGEL on Friday evening, the US Embassy here in Berlin said the ban on the pre-prepared meals delivered from Germany would be lifted. Indeed, the shiny, new US Ambassador to Germany, William Timken, had only recently thanked the German government for the first 20,000 donated meals -- all of which have already been eaten by Katrina victims.

Being an ambassador for the United States must be one of the worst jobs in the world—if you're an actual diplomat rather than just a Republican Party contributor buying a post, that is.