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Heroin and Cocaine Prices in U.S. and Region
AP via TBO ^ | Nov 7, 2005

Posted on 11/07/2005 9:37:35 AM PST by ncountylee

Recent price per kilo (2.2 pounds) for heroin and cocaine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Note that prices generally increase the farther drugs move away from South America. Also, purity declines the farther the drug gets from the source country.

Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo:

Cocaine - $12,500

Heroin - $28,000

Puerto Rico, San Juan:

Cocaine - $15,000 to $17,000

Heroin - $50,000 to $80,000

New York City:

Cocaine - $17,000 to $32,000

Heroin - $48,000 to $80,000

Hartford, Conn.:

Cocaine - $18,000 to $26,000

Heroin - $90,000

Pittsburgh:

Cocaine - $25,000 to $30,000

Heroin - $150,000 to $200,000


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government
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1 posted on 11/07/2005 9:37:36 AM PST by ncountylee
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To: ncountylee

Ahem.

ncountylee, how would you know about the pricing of all these nasty things?







/teasing!


2 posted on 11/07/2005 9:39:05 AM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: ncountylee

Dealers are gouging the American consumer.


3 posted on 11/07/2005 9:39:16 AM PST by Semper Paratus
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To: ncountylee

Coupons????


4 posted on 11/07/2005 9:40:06 AM PST by Dallas59 (“You love life, while we love death.” - Al-Qaeda / Democratic Party)
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To: ncountylee

Looks like Pittsburg is getting gouged. How about a government investigation?


5 posted on 11/07/2005 9:40:20 AM PST by TX Bluebonnet
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To: ncountylee

http://www.lauramansfield.com/j/japan.asp


What we've long suspected: drug money helps fund terror

This article from the Japanese daily newspaper Sankei Shimbun explores what many have suspected for some time: a link between drug money and terrorism.

Earlier this week, the US extradicted accused drug lord Baz Mohamed from Afghanistan. Baz Mohamed is accused of having strong links to the Taliban.

The author also makes a good point about the relationship between Al Qaeda, Iran, and Iraq, using the analogy of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".

This article is well worth reading...

Japan's Drug Money Suspected To Have Ties With Islamic 'Terrorists' in Iran Part three of a three-part series on a growing drug-smuggling market involving Iranians in Japan by Ryosuke Sumii, Eisuke Asano, and Norio Sakurai: "Investigation: Iranian Crimes; (3) Deepening Suspicion Of Drug Money As 'Terrorist Funds'"

Sankei Shimbun

Thursday, October 27, 2005

In January 2002 the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested two Iranians on charges of forgery of notarized private documents as well as using them.

They were suspected to have illegally remitted overseas as much as 400 million yen, which is believed to have been raised from underground sales of amphetamine.

"There are odd flows of cash." Investigators got a tip from the Financial Services Agency. A savings account at a Kawasaki post office has had deposits worth as much as 840 million yen from a total of 140 people, including Iranians, since 2000. The two Iranians sent, under false names, half that amount overseas from a Tokyo branch of a major bank. There are hints that they were careful not to exceed the maximum amount of "5 million yen (at that time)" per remittance as determined under the Foreign Exchange Law.

In charge of investigation was the Public Safety Department, which is responsible for, among others, international terrorism. Specifically, it is the Third Foreign Affairs Section, which was newly created in October 2002 in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US. It is the nation's first police unit dedicated to international terrorism. The reason investigators of this section took note of this financial affair is where the money was sent.

Illegal overseas cash remittances, which are otherwise known as an underground bank, ordinarily involve illegal transfers of money deposited by fellow countrymen or countrywomen back to their home country. However, the two men sent money to a total of 17 countries and regions, including the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Ukraine. Recalls a senior Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department official: "We got excited because we suspected that the money was flowing into terrorist funds through money laundering."

Police found out, through the assistance of the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO), that five of the accounts turned out to be on the black lists in various countries prepared by local law enforcement authorities. They are suspected to have ties to projects to develop weapons of mass destruction, such as missiles and nuclear weapons.

A former investigator, who has now retired from the Public Safety Department, says: "We could not go any further because of barriers like police jurisdiction, but we were very shocked at the suspicion that the Japanese market of amphetamine and other drugs may be a 'source' of terrorist funds."

"'Cell phones with clients' can be sold for as much as 45 million yen," confides a senior Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department official.

Cell phones with clients refer to cell phones that are used to receive calls from customers over transactions of amphetamine and others. To be precise, they are "cell phone numbers." Even if rival dealers or the police take possession of the cell phone in question, its owner can immediately transfer the number to a new cell phone.

Some cell phones have lists of up to several hundred customers, and they are traded at a premium among Iranian drug dealers.

The authorities have figured out the "mechanism" of cell phones with clients, which can generate huge profits. They succeeded in putting five cell phones with a client list, owned by Iranians, out of service under the law to prevent illegal use of cellular phones, which partially took effect in May.

Under the law, wireless telephone service providers, when asked by police to verify the user of a cell phone suspected to have been used in a crime, are allowed to discontinue services if the owner cannot be verified.

A senior National Police Agency official emphasizes: "The best remedy against cell phones with clients is not to let cell phones with no clear ownership run loose." However, it is also true that privacy and other issues stand in the way.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Public Safety Department was also charged with the task in 1993 to clean up the group of Iranians selling fake telephone cards. In the background back then were also crackdowns on international terrorism.

In 1988, a terrorist bomb blew up a Pan Am jet liner over Scotland. At the time, some speculated that "Islamic extremists" were the attack's culprits. The World Trade Center in New York was bombed in a terrorist attack in February 1993. Alarmed by these attacks, police officials in Japan were beginning to privately discuss the need to put measures against Muslim radicals in place.

Morohiro Ohno, a senior researcher at the Middle East Institute of Japan, with in-depth knowledge of Islamic affairs, reminds us: "Shiite Iran and Sunni Al-Qaeda are not basically compatible with each other." He then goes on to point out: "The US criticizes that Iran tacitly approves of activities by Al-Qaeda in that country. It is a fact that after Afghan bombings, some Al-Qaeda members took refuge in Iran. They are feeling something of an affinity, as they are both against the US."

An official in charge of public safety says: "We cannot rule out the possibility that Japanese drug money is linked to a nuclear weapon project or Islamic terrorist organizations. We should not ease our grip on drug crackdowns involving Iranians."

(Description of Source: Tokyo Sankei Shimbun (Internet version-WWW) -- Internet version of daily published by Fuji Sankei Communications Group)


6 posted on 11/07/2005 9:41:36 AM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: TX Bluebonnet

Paging Keith Richards, Paging Keith Richards, plese pick up the white courtesy phone.


7 posted on 11/07/2005 9:41:57 AM PST by TXBSAFH ("I would rather be a free man in my grave then living as a puppet or a slave." - Jimmy Cliff)
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To: ncountylee

What a waste of money. I wonder how much the average user pays a year to support their habit?


8 posted on 11/07/2005 9:43:40 AM PST by TX Bluebonnet
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August 23, 2002
Notes from the Pentagon

Al Qaeda South
U.S. intelligence agencies have identified a group of Middle Eastern men in South America who are suspected of having ties to Islamic terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden.

The group is said to be part of the network of al Qaeda terrorists believed to be operating in about 60 nations around the world.

One U.S. intelligence official said there are indications that al Qaeda is working in Latin America in preparation for a future terrorist attack. Little is known about al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist activities in the region.

One of the men under suspicion in Brazil is Egyptian national Mohammed Ali Soliman, who was arrested in April. The Egyptian government believes Mr. Soliman is an al Qaeda member and has asked for his extradition to Egypt.

A second terror suspect is El Said Hassan Ali Mohammed Mokhles, who was arrested in Paraguay.

U.S. intelligence officials said both men are linked to Egyptian members of al Qaeda and were involved in the 1997 terrorist attack on tourists in Luxor, Egypt.

The men are also suspected of having links to terrorist attacks in Argentina against the Israeli Embassy in 1992 and a Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994.

U.S. intelligence agencies have identified at least 22 Islamic terrorists who are believed to be operating in the so-called tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

Information about the activities of al Qaeda in South America was obtained by U.S. intelligence following operations in Afghanistan.

NATO's next
Gen. James L. Jones, Marine Corps commandant, was as surprised as the next person to learn he was the pick to go to Europe as the new supreme allied commander.

After all, most commandants serve a four-year term and retire. Gen. Jones says he and his wife were already discussing life after the Corps when he met with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. The agenda called for assessing the generals and admirals who might be good candidates for upcoming openings as regional commanders, such as the NATO post.

When the discussion ended, Mr. Rumsfeld asked whether Gen. Jones would be interested in going back to Europe — he grew up in France and was stationed at U.S. European Command in the early 1990s. Assured that the defense secretary was serious, the commandant thought it over for a few days, discussed it with his wife, and then said yes.


"That was the only indication I had. No pre-warning. Nothing at all," Gen. Jones told us of his Rumsfeld meeting. "I came back a few days later and said if he really was serious about it that that was probably the one assignment that I feel I have a lot of passion for in terms of the alliance and my own background as a youngster growing up in Europe and having a lot of affinity for Europe and NATO."

Gen. Jones confirmed he has recommended several generals from which to pick the next commandant. Asked to name them, the general laughed and said, "They're wonderful officers. A group of highly talented people, any one of which would do a great job."

Marine sources say the next commandant likely will be one of five generals:

# Lt. Gen. Emil R. Bedard, deputy commandant for plans, policies and operations.

# Lt. Gen. Wallace C. Gregson, commanding general of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, with headquarters in Japan.
# Lt. Gen. Michael W. Hagee, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

# Lt. Gen. Edward Hanlon Jr., commanding general, Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Va.

# Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Nearly every career Marine officer dreams of one day becoming commandant, a position second only to God in the Corps' pecking order. But Mr. Rumsfeld may want to keep Gen. Pace in his current post, where he has the special responsibility of overseeing the war on terrorism on a day-to-day basis.

Naval air power
As the Navy works on integrating Marine and Navy tactical air squadrons and braces for an explosion in weapons costs in 2007 and beyond, a few decisions already have been made inside the Pentagon.

Our sources say the Navy plans to accelerate procurement of the F-18 Super Hornet. The service also wants to speed up development of the EA-18 Growler, which will replace the aging and overworked EA-6B Prowler electronic-warfare aircraft.

On the readiness front, the Navy has achieved its flight-hour training goals for pilots for the first time in 10 years. This is a result of Adm. Vern Clark, chief of naval operations, making improved combat readiness his chief goal.

Legal readiness
Elaine Donnelly, who heads the Center for Military Readiness, believes one reason she is being sued for libel by a former Navy combat pilot is to put her group out of business.

Last week, Mrs. Donnelly won a major victory in the 6-year-old suit. A federal judge dismissed the case, ruling the former pilot, Carey Dunai Lohrenz, was a public figure and, as such, was not libeled by Mrs. Donnelly's claim that she received special treatment in F-14 fighter qualifications.

Still, Mrs. Donnelly expects an appeal and more legal bills. To date, the fees have topped $500,000. She says she has paid every bill as it comes, thanks to more than 3,000 supporters, many of them retired or active-duty military people, who have contributed to her defense fund.

Job switch
Paul Schneider, a longtime figure in Navy weapons procurement, is leaving the sea service for a post at the National Security Agency, the nation's electronic eavesdropper.

Mr. Schneider rose from an engineering job at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in 1965 to the No. 2 Navy civilian overseeing procurement, as its principal deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition (RDA).

Navy headquarters is navigating choppy waters these days. Navy Secretary Gordon England has ordered a streamlining of the bureaucracy, and part of the plan calls for eliminating all deputy positions, such as Mr. Schneider's.

A Navy document said he was to get a new job. "Paul Schneider will take direct responsibility for the critical budget and strategic planning functions of the RDA as these are two cross functional areas where his experience and talents can be brought to maximum use," the planning document says.

But a Navy official said Mr. Schneider chose not to take this new job. In October, he will become the senior acquisition executive at NSA.

In an e-mail to colleagues, Mr. Schneider said, "The recent SecNav-directed reorganization has resulted in a situation whereby I would be better professionally doing something else outside the Department of Navy I want to express my sincere thanks for all of your support throughout the years and especially the last four years that I have been in this position. You have made this truly a wonderful experience."

# Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough are Pentagon reporters. Gertz can be reached at 202/636-3274 or by e-mail at bgertz@washingtontimes.com. Scarborough can be reached at 202/636-3208 or by e-mail at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com


9 posted on 11/07/2005 9:44:08 AM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld
January 8, 2004

"Drug money sustains al Qaeda," declared the headlines, last week. "The linkage between terrorists and drug trafficking are only now becoming clear and are a great concern," said government officials. Indeed, if only now al-Qaeda's involvement in the drug trade entered the radar of the US authorities, it is not surprising that al-Qaeda has been able, not only to sustain itself, but also to expand.

The globalization of narco-terrorism, and particularly of the Islamist narco-terror network, has been common knowledge to international law enforcement and intelligence services for decades. And it is not necessarily only a tool to raise funds. Jihad by drugs appears to be one of the terrorists' most favored methods because it also helps undermine targeted countries politically and economically, while creating public health crisis. According to the most recent publication of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, our national annual cost of drug abuse exceeds $160 billion (including treatment, crime, accidents, and the War on Drugs). In one Administration's single term of office this amounts to $640 billion of the taxpayers'.

The Al-Qaeda dependence on heroin began in the mid-1980s soon after Bin Laden established his organization in Afghanistan, which is, was, and continues to be the world's major producer of heroin. That the US neglected to identify the danger of Al-Qaeda is one thing, but to miss the connection between al-Qaeda and drugs one has to be willfully blind. And al-Qaeda is not alone - the State Department has already identified at least, 12 other terrorist organizations as dealing in drugs.

Al-Qaeda's drug-trafficking business involves other terrorist groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), the stated purpose of which, like al-Qaeda's, is to turn the sharia into the law of the land. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, al-Qaeda gave the IMU access to poppy- growing areas in northern Afghanistan for a fee. The Taliban are gone, but al-Qaeda continues to profit from drug trafficking. In fact, according to Interpol, "the IMU may be responsible for 70% of the total amount of heroin and opium transiting through the area."

The Balkan route has facilitated smuggling for centuries, and is also used by al-Qaeda to traffic in drugs and to smuggle al-Qaeda operatives into Europe. Al-Qaeda's network in the region is led by Muhammed al-Zawahiri, the brother of Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden's closest advisor

A report prepared by Macedonia's Ministry of the Interior in the spring of 2002, supported by UN and European law enforcement reports, not only lists al-Qaeda's operations in the Balkans, but also describes their criminal activity and the extent of their cooperation with local organized crime syndicates. Their activities include: running prostitution rings; trafficking in illegal immigrants; smuggling illegal arms, oil, cigarettes, alcohol; trafficking in heroin; and laundering money. According to authorities in Scotland, the Albanian Islamist network have used at least $4 million in profits from Afghan heroin, sold in European cities in 2002, to purchase weapons, including SA-18 and SA -7 surface-to-air missiles.

Another center for drug trafficking for al-Qaeda is the South American Tri-border region-a lawless jungle corner of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. This no-man's land is the heart of Islamist terrorist activity in Latin America. With its porous borders, numerous unguarded waterways, and more than 100 unmonitored hidden airstrips, and with only infrequent passport checks, the region has become a haven for arms dealers, drug traffickers, smugglers, counterfeiters, and terrorists.

According to Brazilian law enforcement, al-Qaeda's activities in the Tri-Border region include: cocaine and heroin trafficking, arms and uranium smuggling, counterfeiting CDs and DVDs, and money laundering operations, frequently in cooperation with Chinese Triads (criminal groups) and the Russian Mafiya. Moreover, Al-Qaeda's relationship with Colombian, Peruvian, and Bolivian drug-traffickers often includes arms-for-drugs deals with Latin American terrorist organizations, such as the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), the ELN (National Liberation Army), and others.

Al-Qaeda's involvement in Latin America's illegal drug trade was preceded by activities of Afghan and Pakistani heroin traffickers, who had worked with the Colombian Cali cartel and the FARC. Not surprisingly, the Colombians' methods of poppy cultivation resembled those in Afghanistan. According to Colombia's former police chief, General Rosso Jose Cerrano, Pakistani and Afghan heroin traffickers, like al-Qaeda operatives, often enter Colombia with false identification papers.

Hizballah, which according to US Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, "may be the A-team of terrorists," is also profiting from the illegal drug trade worldwide. But "while al-Qaeda may be actually the B-team," according to Armitage, Hizballah's criminal activities, including drug trafficking, are on a par with al-Qaeda's. Already in the mid-1980s, Hizballah's use of the illicit drug trade as a funding source and a weapon against the West was sanctioned by an official fatwa (religious edict), saying:" We are making these drugs for Satan America and the Jews. If we cannot kill them with guns, so we will kill them with drugs."

Furthermore, the drug trade has helped Islamist terrorist organizations recruit new members by citing drug abuse they have inflicted as an indication of Western degeneracy, and then, as a justification that such corrupt societies should be destroyed.

Clearly, the drug trade has become one of the major sources of funding terrorism, and the need to eradicate it is greater than ever. An effective solution: The use of mycoherbicides for inducing specific soils to become permanently inadequate to grow selected narcotics producing plants. These mycoherbicides have been tested and proven environmentally and ecologically safe. Eradicating narcotics at the source would not only cut off the funds for terrorists, but would also eliminate a great deal of human suffering, and the enormous cost they presently incur. Moreover, it would render acts of terror much less likely for the future.

The worldwide savings from not having to use billions of dollars to fight the consequence of opium and coca would make monies available to help to fight terrorism, and to help current poppy and coca farmers adjust to loss of narcotics income (which is not much; most of the profits go to the drug lords and the terrorists). These monies could also provide extra funds to support education, women's rights, and the promotion of democracy.


- Rachel Ehrenfeld is the author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It and director of the Manhattan-based American Center for Democracy. She is available through
www.benadorassociates.com.


10 posted on 11/07/2005 9:47:30 AM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: ncountylee

hmm, one of them doubles in price, the other one 8x. Due to difference in interdiction efforts?


11 posted on 11/07/2005 9:48:55 AM PST by The Red Zone (Florida, the sun-shame state, and Illinois the chicken injun.)
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To: ncountylee
New York City:

Cocaine - $17,000 to $32,000

Heroin - $48,000 to $80,000

Hartford, Conn.:

Cocaine - $18,000 to $26,000

Heroin - $90,000

Wow, there's some arbitrage opportunity, and Hartford is only about a two hour drive from NYC. You could buy a KG of heroin in NYC for $48,000 to $80,000 and sell it in Hartford for $90,000. Then you could take the proceeds and find a cheap cocaine dealer and then sell it in NYC for up to $32,000 per kilogram. It's quite rare that arbitrage opportunities like this can exist in two markets of close geographic proximity and that there can be effective arbitrage in BOTH directions, which would serve to further minimize transport costs and maximize profitability.

What I'm wondering is if there's a difference in purity in the markets. Because if there is, then the arbitrage may not work as well. I'll have to give this idea more thought before changing my line of work.

Also, I'm wondering if you did this in enough volume that you could negotiate large volume discounts? I guess another problem with my arbitrage strategy is that I'm willing to bet that the dealers in the said markets probably wouldn't be willing to extend much credit on very favorable terms. This would probably be a mainly cash business, which would mean that the effective tax rate would probably be zero, but it would also make it difficult to distribute dividends to investors in this scheme. I'll have to model this a bit more.

12 posted on 11/07/2005 9:50:26 AM PST by Koblenz (Holland: a very tolerant country. Until someone shoots you on a public street in broad daylight...)
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To: ncountylee

Does Southwest fly to Santo Domingo???

Time for a "Road Trip!!!"


13 posted on 11/07/2005 9:53:23 AM PST by aShepard
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To: ncountylee
Since the bulk of this stuff moves overland nowadays, it would be interesting to see prices for Guadalajara , Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, Juarez and TJ.

But that may cause some discomfort for W's buddy Vicente.

14 posted on 11/07/2005 9:53:33 AM PST by Freebird Forever (If they're truly public servants, why do they live in mansions?)
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To: Calpernia

Your posts should be posted on their own. Too many here still believe that no terrorism could possibly be coming from Latin America/Mexico. Here's another one.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0411/16/ldt.01.html

DOBBS: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is warning of the threat of terrorists entering this country through the same routes as those used by illegal aliens. Secretary Rumsfeld, traveling in South America, warned that enemies look for weaknesses and take advantage of them.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The risk is that some of these human-smuggling routes into our country from this hemisphere could be used just as easily for terrorists.

DOBBS: And three million illegal aliens are estimated to be entering this country this year.

Secretary Rumsfeld also said the United States has to be, as he put it, smarter and quicker in securing our borders. The federal government's failure to secure those borders is leading individual states to take action. Arizona's Proposition 200, which limits state benefits for illegals, passed overwhelmingly two weeks ago. Now at least half a dozen other states are considering similar measures.



15 posted on 11/07/2005 9:55:53 AM PST by WatchingInAmazement (You can’t tell someone much about a boxing glove until it hits them in the face.)
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To: ncountylee

Even the Dominican prices are at least 100 times the cost of production.

A $3/day habit will confine its damages to the user, instead of the current $300/day junkie stealing cars and TVs worth thousands to support his habit.

Follow the money to discover the truth about drug laws. It's not pretty.


16 posted on 11/07/2005 9:59:12 AM PST by headsonpikes (The Liberal Party of Canada are not b*stards - b*stards have mothers!)
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To: WatchingInAmazement

>>>Too many here still believe that no terrorism could possibly be coming from Latin America/Mexico.

Mexico Discovers Islam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1326561/posts

>>>>Too many here still believe that no terrorism could possibly be coming from Latin America/Mexico.

Many don't realize that Reagan's War on Drugs morphed into Bush's War on Terror.


17 posted on 11/07/2005 10:02:32 AM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: Koblenz

You must also take into account the competive dynamics of the market and try to speculate what competive response your rivals will attempt, particularly if you plan on engaging in multi-market competition. Your 'late mover' status will probably only allow you to earn average returns for the industry.

*studying for a strategic management exam*


18 posted on 11/07/2005 10:03:28 AM PST by somniferum
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Drug money sustains al Qaeda


By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network has become deeply involved in international drug trafficking, using the money to buy arms and, possibly, radioactive material for use in a so-called "dirty" nuclear bomb, senior U.S. officials say.

The seizure earlier this month of boats carrying heroin and hashish, and operated by al Qaeda-linked persons, has brought to light an al Qaeda drug operation that has grown tremendously since the September 11 attacks, the sources say.

"Bin Laden does not mind trafficking in drugs, even though it's against the teaching of Islam, because it's being used to kill Westerners," said a defense official who asked not to be named. "He has allies and associates who are not members per se, but who move products for him and take drugs and buy arms and give the arms to al Qaeda."

This official and other sources say the intelligence community still does not have a firm grasp on the scope of the al Qaeda drug operation and how much money it raises, although estimates are in the millions of dollars. And officials say U.S. Central Command is so busy fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan it does not devote large resources to stopping the drug trade.

(snip)

The poppies are converted into opium and heroin, which fetch huge sums of money as they move from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region to the West.

"If you're going to get terrorism under control, we've got to stop their livelihood, which is money," said the defense official. "Without money, they die."

Said Andre Hollis, a former senior counternarcotics official under Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, "The linkage between terrorists and drug trafficking are only now becoming clear and are a great concern. The methods by which terrorists and other underworld actors move drugs are the same routes that are used to move weapons, terrorists and, potentially, [weapons of mass destruction]."

Bin Laden reaps the profits in two ways: His allies regulate smuggling routes out of Afghanistan into Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and other countries, essentially placing a tax on each shipment to let it pass. Or, alternatively, al Qaeda takes the drugs as payment and uses them to buy arms.


(excerpt)


http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20031229-120302-2009r.htm


19 posted on 11/07/2005 10:04:47 AM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: ncountylee

Reminds me of a little dos (remember dos?) game I used to play on the PC called 'drug dealer'. That's probably where the DEA gets it's prices from.


20 posted on 11/07/2005 10:55:25 AM PST by Forte Runningrock
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