Urgent: war on iraq...what happens

[LeadRiccardoT]

If there is to be a war on the iraq we will be unable to attend the trip to houston. Will we be recieving a refund? Or what will happen.

[Jay5780]

I think your team advisor should contact FIRST directly. I don't think there is anyone here that can answer your question.

[hixofthehood]

Yeah, ask FIRST.

[David Kelly]

why wouldnt you be able to go to houston?? that sounds a little crazy. and usually FIRST doesnt give out refunds

[Rob Colatutto]

out of the country teams might have a really hard time getting in to go to the competition

[Solace]

Originally posted by Nataku
out of the country teams might have a really hard time getting in to go to the competition

generally, sure, but from Canada? just because bush decides to go bombing Iraq doesn't mean that every other country suddenly becomes the bad guy too.

I find it unlikely that a school robotics team would be denied access to the US. This sounds more like an internal problem. so let me ask - will it be physically impossible to get in to the US during wartime, or is your school simply not allowing you to go?

to answer the original question, FIRST does not have a great track record of giving refunds. However, I don't think they've ever faced these particular circumstances. If it is completely out of your control, you might be able to persuade them.

[Brett W]

It is the school or more specifically the school Board that wouldn't let us go. After 9/11 The School Board but a ban on all out of country field trips for one year. Now that the ban is gone from 9/11 they will just put out another one if USA goes to war. It is a liability thing. If we go to the USA from Canada here it is the School Board that is responsible for us. If we get blown to pieces from a bombing raid, there would be law suit after law suit to the school board because they let us go to a country that would be in a state of war. I am sure all Canadian teams are praying for this war to not happen otherwise Bush will have screwed us out of the nationals. That is why this is a potential problem for out of country teams.

[D. Gregory]

Just to clarify, It is our school board that could impose the ban on out of country trips. We need to know if we can get a refund on the 5k(CDN national fee) and possibly the FIRST hotel package.

[Vincent Chan]

Originally posted by Solace
...just because bush decides to go bombing Iraq doesn't mean that every other country suddenly becomes the bad guy too.

Sure it does. At least the Canucks. They called him a moron, which, I'm sure, in his mind makes them a part of the 'axis of evil.'

[MarcusF]

I’m sure somewhere there is a force majeure clause, if you don't know what that is basically, its something in a contract that says if there is anything that is out of the control of either party they can back out with no consequences some examples are War, Sever weather... etc etc.

[Solace]

they weren't that far off the mark. hopefully the future will show that he was, in his own terms, misunderestimated



look on the bright side though - unless the US elists our robots to invade Iraq, I don't think that the competition will be very high on the hit list.

[srjjs]

http://www.idleworm.com/nws/2002/11/iraq2.shtml
Oh, did you mean something else?
I guess some of the stuff, like drills, hacksaws, etc, might look suspicious, but being a school-sponsored organization, I think it'll be okay.

[Katie Reynolds]

Originally posted by Solace
look on the bright side though - unless the US elists our robots to invade Iraq, I don't think that the competition will be very high on the hit list.

But that's not what the school board is worried about.

The school board is worried that when their students are in the country, the US could get bombed, and the potential for someone to get hurt is there. Our school also put a ban on travel in and out of the country after 9/11. Luckily, the ban was lifted by the time we were to go to Nationals. I understand where the school board is coming from ... I hope that we don't go to war.

Oh, one last thing: please - keep this thread on topic. Don't turn it into a "Bush bashing" thread.

- Katie

[Mike Rush]

You're right. A Saddam Hussein bashing thread is much more appropriate.

[Bill Gold]

Originally posted by Mike Rush
You're right. A Saddam Hussein bashing thread is much more appropriate.

Um... No, you're wrong. A Saddam Hussein bashing thread is just as inappropriate.