It's bad, but again, nothing new.
After World War II, the US destabilized the trade union of French dock
workers (too sympathetic to communism) and allowed organized crime to
take over control of French ports. Thus was born the famous French
Connection. People cheered the exploits of the cops fighting against
the operation in the movie, but the US government was responsible.
The dope trade in the Golden Triangle was useful to the US government
- they made strategic military deals with the drug lords, and they
made drug deals of their own. It was a good source of off-the-books
money. This is meticulously documented in the Alfred W. McCoy's
Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia.
The 1991 updated and expanded version, The Politics of Heroin: CIA
Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, is available from Amazon.Com.
Publishers Weekly wrote: "Nearly 20 years ago, McCoy wrote The
Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia , which stirred up considerable
controversy, alleging that the CIA was intimately involved in the
Vietnamese opium trade [the CIA denies it, just as holocaust
revisionists deny that there were death camps, but nobody talks about
"alleged Nazi atrocities." How many times does something need to be
proved before it's regard as fact rather than allegation?]. In the
current volume, a substantially updated and longer work, he argues
that pk the situation basically hasn't changed over the past two
decades; however the numbers have gotten bigger."
It's such a useful way of raising off-the-books money, it came up
again in Iran-Contra when we learned that black ops were funded
through the cocaine trade. It's worth noting that this stuff goes on
whether Democrats or Republicans are in office. There has never been
enough inquiry into the use of air bases in Arkansas as transshipment
points when Clinton was governor there during this time.
When investigative reporter Gary Webb linked the CIA to crack sales in
the US, his career and life were destroyed, and he eventually
committed suicide.
Now it's another decade and a half after MoCoy's book, and it's still
more of the same, only bigger. The US threw it's lot in with the crowd
that wanted to re-establish the opium trade in Afghanistan. As time
goes on, perhaps we'll find stronger connections, and it would be no
surprise.
The whole illegal war of aggression thing is nothing new either.
While Iraq and Afghanistan are bad, they are nothing compared to the
theft of the whole middle band of the North American continent from
the indigenous population.
What is discouraging about the Bush Administration is there were some
feeble, hopeful signs that the US was getting ready to join the
civilized world, and Bush represents a return to the barbarism that's
been the natural state of the US since the inception.
On 5/22/07, Larry Wilson <larry@larry-wilson.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Governments will do just about anything to get their hands on money that doesn't need to be accounted for. Any government - anything.
>
> Keep in mind the only definition of government:
>
> The most people with the most guns.
>
>
> On 5/22/07, Scott Peden <scotpeden@cruzio.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Have you noted that in EVERY WAR since WW II, massive drug operations were
> > involved. The CIA was knee deep in the Golden triangle in SE Asia as well as
> > the drugs from the south American countries Ollie North so gleefully
> > IMPORTED from, to sell drugs to AMERICANS to keep the war machine funded
> > after congress tried to shut down it's ILLEGAL operations.
> >
> > Follow the money, but also follow the drugs, those drugs are being imported
> > here!
> >
> > And while gas prices go up, street drugs go down.
> >
> > Someone is getting massively rich off of this and who the hell do they get
> > these drugs in the USA if they don't have help from the same people that
> > could fly jet liners for ONE HOUR AND FOURTY THREE MINUTES without a single
> > Norad interceptor being sent to investigate?
> >
> > Scott
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: OregonDems_etc@yahoogroups.com [mailto: OregonDems_etc@yahoogroups.com]
> > On Behalf Of Larry Wilson
> > Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 3:20 PM
> > Subject: [OregonDems_etc] Fwd: SECOND YEAR RECORD OPIUM CROP IN AFGHANISTAN
> >
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> > From: "Larry Wilson" <larry@larry-wilson.com>
> > X-Yahoo-Profile: larrywilson909
> > Sender: OregonDems_etc@yahoogroups.com
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> > Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 17:20:09 -0500
> > Subject: [OregonDems_etc] Fwd: SECOND YEAR RECORD OPIUM CROP IN AFGHANISTAN
> > Reply-To: OregonDems_etc@yahoogroups.com
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> >
> > Another mission accomplished.
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > From: John Stroebel <john.stroebel@gmail.com>
> > Date: May 21, 2007 4:47 PM
> > Subject: SECOND YEAR RECORD OPIUM CROP IN AFGHANISTAN.
> >
> > Amazing. Pardon my French (who were right, BTW) but THIS is FUCKAMAZING.
> >
> > a SECOND YEAR of RECORD CROPS, the profits of which to to the TELEBAN AND
> > TERRORISTS.
> >
> > Bin Laden still FREE and Bush sez "BIN WHO"? You remember Bush, the guy you
> > told us planned the 911 attack, put over 3000 Americans in their graves and
> > you did that whole 'DEAD OR ALIVE' shtick about?
> >
> > THE ONE WHO YOU SENT TROOPS TO AFGHANISTAN TO GET DEAD OR ALIVE AND IS STILL
> > FREE?
> >
> > *Tell me people WHEN WILL WE RISE UP AND SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH????*
> >
> > Oh, that SMACK they are making from this record crop....the one that
> > supplies 90% of the worlds smack?
> >
> > *IT IS COMING TO YOUR HOME TOWN. TELL YOUR KIDDIES.*
> > **
> > **
> > *AND CONGRESS IS GIVING BUSH HIS RECORD MILITARY BUDGET REQUESTS WITH NO
> > TIMETABLE FOR WITHDRAWAL.*
> > **
> > Had we done *nothing at all* after 911, the Taliban would have stopped this
> > dope from being grown. We would have 3300 more Americans alive. We'd be
> > almost a trillion richer. 650,000 innocent Iraqis would still be breathing
> > and living in homes with LESS repression and tyranny.....taking showers and
> > using electric....
> >
> > *CAUSE WE ACCOMPLISHED NOT A FUCKING THING!!!!*
> > **
> > * U.S., NATO Stepping Up War on Opium Production In Afghanistan*
> > By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer
> > 2 hours, 49 minutes ago
> >
> > KABUL, Afghanistan - Profits from Afghanistan's thriving poppy fields are
> > increasingly flowing to Taliban fighters, leading U.S. and NATO officials to
> > conclude that the counterinsurgency mission must now include stepped-up
> > anti-drug efforts.
> >
> > This year's heroin-producing poppy crop will at least match last year's
> > record haul and could exceed it by up to 20 percent, officials say, meaning
> > more money to fuel the Taliban's violent insurgency.
> >
> > "It's wrong to say that you can do one thing and not the other," Ronald
> > Neumann, who recently stepped down as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, said
> > of the link between anti-drug and anti-terrorism efforts. "You have to deal
> > with both at the same time."
> >
> > *Afghanistan accounts for more than 90 percent of the world's heroin
> > supply*,
> > *and a significant portion of the profits from the $3.1 billion trade is
> > thought to flow to Taliban fighters, who tax and protect poppy farmers and
> > drug runners *.
> >
> > Drug control has not been part of the official mandate of international
> > forces in Afghanistan. But there is a growing push for NATO's International
> > Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, to play a more active role in sharing
> > intelligence and detecting drug convoys and heroin labs, said Daan Everts,
> > NATO's senior civilian official in Afghanistan.
> >
> > There is "increasing international interest in seeing a more assertive
> > supportive role in ISAF in the counternarcotics strategy implementation," he
> > said before quickly adding that it would not include eradication.
> >
> > International forces also might provide support for operations targeting
> > senior drug traffickers, Neumann said.
> >
> > Military commanders who viewed drugs as a minor irritant in 2002, when poppy
> > production was much lower, have reassessed the importance of the vast fields
> > of red and white poppies their soldiers drive past in security convoys, said
> > a Western official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he didn't
> > want to be seen as criticizing the military.
> >
> > It's too early to say definitively what this year's crop will be. But
> > another Western official with knowledge of the drug trade said it could
> > exceed last year's record 407,000 acres by as much as 20 percent. The
> > official declined to give his name because of the nature of his work.
> >
> > Gen. Khodaidad, Afghanistan's deputy minister for counter-narcotics, said
> > that estimate is likely accurate. "The problem is a lack of security, a lack
> > of governance, the Taliban, druglords, warlords and corruption," said
> > Khodaidad, who goes by one name. "It's a bad list with very bad results."
> >
> > Thomas Schweich, a senior State Department official, said he has briefed
> > NATO ambassadors and Gen. Dan McNeill, the top NATO general in Afghanistan,
> > on the need for increased military cooperation on the drug front.
> >
> > There is a growing recognition that "counternarcotics and counterterrorism
> > are effectively the same thing," said Schweich, the U.S.-based coordinator
> > for counternarcotics and judicial reform in Afghanistan. "I think everybody
> > recognizes that with the Taliban receiving funding from narcotics, much more
> > so than in the past, that there has to be a coordinated effort."
> >
> > While poppy production is falling in north and central Afghanistan, where
> > security is stronger, that decline is expected to be overwhelmed by a surge
> > in production in the southern province of Helmand, the most violent region
> > in the country and the scene of heavy fighting this year.
> >
> > Helmand is expected to account for more than 50 percent of Afghanistan's
> > poppy crop for the first time, meaning the province by itself would be the
> > world's largest opium-producing region.
> >
> > "The amount of production in Helmand has undone successes in other parts of
> > the country," Neumann said. "What you see is that where you have a
> > reasonable level of peace and a little bit of government, you can start to
> > make progress against the poppy. Where you are in the middle of the
> > insurgency, it's much harder."
> >
> > The United States would like to see Afghanistan undertake ground-based
> > spraying of poppy fields with herbicides. The new U.S. ambassador here,
> > William Wood, oversaw U.S.-backed coca field eradication efforts in Colombia
> > as ambassador there.
> >
> > But some Afghan Cabinet members have expressed reservations about the impact
> > on legitimate crops or livestock. President Hamid Karzai at first agreed to
> > allow spraying last year before changing his mind, according to the Western
> > official familiar with the drug trade.
> >
> > Khodaidad said the Afghan government may permit ground-based spraying next
> > year and is even considering aerial spraying. Afghan officials have not
> > talked publicly about aerial spraying before, out of fear of public
> > opposition.
> >
> > "We have left the option open," he said. Any decision to start ground-based
> > or aerial spraying would have to come from Karzai, Western officials say.
> >
> > ___
> >
> > http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070521/ap_on_re_as/afghan_drugs
> >
> > --
> > America: We need to find our conscience.
> >
> > "...We have nothing to fear but fear itself" Franklin D. Roosevelt
> >
> > When Bush Took Office, Gas Was $1.46 A Gallon
> >
> > ------=_Part_142649_14793122.1179786009355
> > Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
> > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> >
> > <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
> > "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
> > <html>
> > <head>
> > </head>
> >
> > <!-- Network content -->
> >
> > <body style="background-color: #ffffff;">
> >
> > <!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlStartT|**|-~-->
> > <div id="ygrp-mlmsg" style="width:655px; position:relative;">
> > <div id="ygrp-msg" style="width: 490px; padding: 0 15px 0 0; float:left;
> > z-index:1;">
> > <!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlEndT|**|-~-->
> >
> > <div id="ygrp-text">
> > <p>Another mission accomplished. <br><br>----------
> > Forwarded message ----------<br><span class="gmail_quote">From: <b
> > class="gmail_sendername">John Stroebel</b> <<a
> > href="mailto:john.stroebel@gmail.com">john.stroebel@<wbr> gmail.com
> > </a>><br>Date: May 21, 2007 4:47 PM<br>Subject: SECOND YEAR RECORD OPIUM
> > CROP IN AFGHANISTAN.<br></span>
> >
> > <div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
> >
> > <div>
> > <div>
> >
> > <div>
> > <p></p><div><font color="#000066" face="trebuchet ms"
> > size="4">Amazing. Pardon my French (who were right, BTW) but THIS is
> > FUCKAMAZING.</font></div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"></font> </div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4">a SECOND YEAR of
> > RECORD CROPS, the profits of which to to the TELEBAN AND
> > TERRORISTS.</font></div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"></font> </div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4">Bin Laden still FREE
> > and Bush sez "BIN WHO"? You remember Bush, the guy you told us
> > planned the 911 attack, put over 3000 Americans in their graves and you did
> > that whole 'DEAD OR ALIVE' shtick about?
> > </font></div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"></font> </div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4">THE ONE WHO YOU SENT
> > TROOPS TO AFGHANISTAN TO GET DEAD OR ALIVE AND IS STILL FREE?</font></div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"></font> </div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><strong>Tell me
> > people WHEN WILL WE RISE UP AND SAY ENOUGH IS
> > ENOUGH????</strong></font></div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"></font> </div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4">Oh, that SMACK they
> > are making from this record crop....the one that supplies 90% of the worlds
> > smack? </font></div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"></font> </div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><strong>IT IS COMING
> > TO YOUR HOME TOWN. TELL YOUR KIDDIES.</strong></font></div>
> > <div><strong><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS"
> > size="4"></font></strong> </div>
> > <div><strong><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS"
> > size="4"></font></strong> </div>
> > <div><strong><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4">AND CONGRESS
> > IS GIVING BUSH HIS RECORD MILITARY BUDGET REQUESTS WITH NO TIMETABLE FOR
> > WITHDRAWAL.</font></strong></div>
> > <div><strong><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS"
> > size="4"></font></strong> </div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4">Had we done
> > <strong><em>nothing at all</em></strong> after 911, the Taliban would have
> > stopped this dope from being grown. We would have 3300 more Americans alive.
> > We'd be almost a trillion richer. 650,000 innocent Iraqis would still be
> > breathing and living in homes with LESS repression and
> > tyranny.....<wbr>taking showers and using electric....
> > </font></div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"></font> </div>
> > <div><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><strong>CAUSE WE
> > ACCOMPLISHED NOT A FUCKING THING!!!!</strong></font></div>
> > <div><strong><font color="#000066" face="Trebuchet MS"
> > size="4"></font></strong> </div>
> > <div align="center"><strong> <font size="6">U.S., NATO Stepping Up War
> > on Opium Production In Afghanistan</font></strong></div>
> > <div>By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer <br>2 hours, 49 minutes
> > ago<br> </div>
> > <p><br>KABUL, Afghanistan - Profits from Afghanistan's thriving
> > poppy fields are increasingly flowing to Taliban fighters, leading U.S. and
> > NATO officials to conclude that the counterinsurgency mission must now
> > include stepped-up anti-drug efforts.
> > </p>
> > <p> <br>This year's heroin-producing poppy crop will at least match
> > last year's record haul and could exceed it by up to 20 percent,
> > officials say, meaning more money to fuel the Taliban's violent
> > insurgency.
> > </p>
> > <p>"It's wrong to say that you can do one thing and not the
> > other," Ronald Neumann, who recently stepped down as U.S. ambassador to
> > Afghanistan, said of the link between anti-drug and anti-terrorism efforts.
> > "You have to deal with both at the same time."
> > </p>
> > <p><font size="4"><em>Afghanistan accounts for more than 90 percent of the
> > world's heroin supply</em></font>, <font size="4"><em>and a significant
> > portion of the profits from the $3.1 billion trade is thought to flow to
> > Taliban fighters, who tax and protect poppy farmers and drug runners
> > </em></font>.</p>
> > <p>Drug control has not been part of the official mandate of international
> > forces in Afghanistan. But there is a growing push for NATO's
> > International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, to play a more active role
> > in sharing intelligence and detecting drug convoys and heroin labs, said
> > Daan Everts, NATO's senior civilian official in Afghanistan.
> > </p>
> > <p>There is "increasing international interest in seeing a more
> > assertive supportive role in ISAF in the counternarcotics strategy
> > implementation," he said before quickly adding that it would not
> > include eradication.
> > </p>
> > <p>International forces also might provide support for operations targeting
> > senior drug traffickers, Neumann said.</p>
> > <p>Military commanders who viewed drugs as a minor irritant in 2002, when
> > poppy production was much lower, have reassessed the importance of the vast
> > fields of red and white poppies their soldiers drive past in security
> > convoys, said a Western official, who spoke on condition of anonymity
> > because he didn't want to be seen as criticizing the military.
> > </p>
> > <p>It's too early to say definitively what this year's crop will be.
> > But another Western official with knowledge of the drug trade said it could
> > exceed last year's record 407,000 acres by as much as 20 percent. The
> > official declined to give his name because of the nature of his work.
> > </p>
> > <p>Gen. Khodaidad, Afghanistan's deputy minister for counter-narcotics,
> > said that estimate is likely accurate. "The problem is a lack of
> > security, a lack of governance, the Taliban, druglords, warlords and
> > corruption," said Khodaidad, who goes by one name. "It's a bad
> > list with very bad results."
> > </p>
> > <p>Thomas Schweich, a senior State Department official, said he has briefed
> > NATO ambassadors and Gen. Dan McNeill, the top NATO general in Afghanistan,
> > on the need for increased military cooperation on the drug front.</p>
> >
> > <p>There is a growing recognition that "counternarcotics and
> > counterterrorism are effectively the same thing," said Schweich, the
> > U.S.-based coordinator for counternarcotics and judicial reform in
> > Afghanistan. "I think everybody recognizes that with the Taliban
> > receiving funding from narcotics, much more so than in the past, that there
> > has to be a coordinated effort."
> > </p>
> > <p>While poppy production is falling in north and central Afghanistan, where
> > security is stronger, that decline is expected to be overwhelmed by a surge
> > in production in the southern province of Helmand, the most violent region
> > in the country and the scene of heavy fighting this year.
> > </p>
> > <p>Helmand is expected to account for more than 50 percent of
> > Afghanistan's poppy crop for the first time, meaning the province by
> > itself would be the world's largest opium-producing region.</p>
> > <p>"The amount of production in Helmand has undone successes in other
> > parts of the country," Neumann said. "What you see is that where
> > you have a reasonable level of peace and a little bit of government, you can
> > start to make progress against the poppy. Where you are in the middle of the
> > insurgency, it's much harder."
> > </p>
> > <p>The United States would like to see Afghanistan undertake ground-based
> > spraying of poppy fields with herbicides. The new U.S. ambassador here,
> > William Wood, oversaw U.S.-backed coca field eradication efforts in Colombia
> > as ambassador there.
> > </p>
> > <p>But some Afghan Cabinet members have expressed reservations about the
> > impact on legitimate crops or livestock. President Hamid Karzai at first
> > agreed to allow spraying last year before changing his mind, according to
> > the Western official familiar with the drug trade.
> > </p>
> > <p>Khodaidad said the Afghan government may permit ground-based spraying
> > next year and is even considering aerial spraying. Afghan officials have not
> > talked publicly about aerial spraying before, out of fear of public
> > opposition.
> > </p>
> > <p>"We have left the option open," he said. Any decision to start
> > ground-based or aerial spraying would have to come from Karzai, Western
> > officials say. </p>
> > <p>___ </p>
> > <p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070521/ap_on_re_as/afghan_drugs "
> > target="_blank">http://news.<wbr> yahoo.com/<wbr>s/ap/20070521/<wbr>ap_on_re_
> > <wbr>as/afghan_<wbr>drugs</a></p><br>--
> > <br>America: We need to find our conscience.<br><br>"...We have nothing
> > to fear but fear itself" Franklin D. Roosevelt
> > <br><br>When Bush Took Office, Gas Was $1.46 A Gallon
> > <p></p>
> > </div>
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> > </html><!--End group email -->
> >
> > ------=_Part_142649_14793122.1179786009355--
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Larry
>
> "Ashcroft supermoralistically draped the body of the department's statue of justice to hide her contours; Gonzales amoralistically tore off her blindfold." Ronald Goldfarb
>
> Impeachment - now, more than ever!
>
>
