Posted on 09/27/2001 5:36:38 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
On December 19, 2000 the United Nations adopted Resolution 1333 "strongly condemns the continuing use of the areas of Afghanistan under the Control of the Afghan faction known as Taliban...for the sheltering and training of terrorists and planning of terrorist acts,." The resolution also noted that the "Taliban benefits directly from the cultivation of illicit opium by imposing a tax on its production and indirectly benefits from the processing and trafficking of such opium" and that the resources gained by the Taliban strengthened its "capacity to harbor terrorists."
On Afghanistan's Western border is Iran. Approximately 50% of Afghanistan's production of opium, hashish, morphine, heroin and marijuana ends up in Iran where it is further processed and sent on its way (See Map - http://www.undcp.org/iran/country_profile_annex1a.pdf ) mostly to Turkey. From Turkey, the drug route for Afghan drugs headed to Europe is across Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania. The CIA Factbook says of Albania, "Illicit Drugs: increasingly active transshipment point for Southwest Asian opiates, hashish, and cannabis transiting the Balkan route and - to a far lesser extent - cocaine from South America destined for Western Europe; limited opium and cannabis production; ethnic Albanian narcotrafficking organizations active and rapidly expanding in Europe.
Columbia, which is the Western Hemisphere's largest producer of coca, the raw material for cocaine, according to the CIA had over 300,000 acres in coca, the base for cocaine, and nearly 20,000 acres in opium poppies in 1999. It supplies about 90% of the cocaine in the United States and the majority of the cocaine to other international drug markets as well as much of the heroin used in the US.
Afghanistan, by way of comparison, which is about two-thirds the size of Colombia, is the world's largest producer of heroin, with over 100,000 acres of its approximately 150,000 acres of arable land, in opium poppies. Since the Taliban have controlled most of Afghanistan, opium production has increased approximately 20-23% per year. Afghanistan also is a major source of hashish. The CIA Factbook notes that "major political factions in the country profit from drug trade."
The London Telegraph today has a lead article in which it reports that the United Nations is asking for millions in aid to keep the Afghans from starving. At the risk of sounding callous, it seems to me that a nation that puts 2/3rds of its limited arable land into growing opium poppies instead of wheat for its people to eat needs to redirect its resources. The people grow opium poppies to help the Taliban underwrite the costs of its worldwide terrorist campaign and the rest of the world is supposed to be responsible for feeding them?
It is increasingly obvious that if President Bush is serious about getting rid of the terrorists by drying up their money sources that the best place to start is to get rid of their cocaine, heroin, hashish and marijuana production. A great deal has been written over the years about the drugs that were brought into Arkansas during the years that Bill Clinton was its governor. In fact, Clinton biographer Roger Morris in his "Partners in Power - The Clintons and Their America, states that drug smuggler Barry Seals, in the years between 1982 and 1986 when he was assassinated::
"In one brazen act ...brought drug cartel kingpin Jorge Ochoa to Arkansas to show off his operation. In the years that Seal's traffic was based in Mena it brought tons of cocaine and heroin to American cities, affecting an incalculable number of lives. A partial estimate, Louisiana's attorney general informed Attorney General Edwin Meese in 1986, suggested that Seal had 'smuggled [drugs worth] between $3 billion and $5 billion into the U.S.'"
And, Barry Seals was only ONE of many smugglers who is or has brought drugs into the United States. This is a multi-billion dollar, worldwide industry. Who was it that laundered the money Barry Seals was generating in Arkansas? Morris wrote:
"Only relatively small change from the [drug] traffic spilled into Western Arkansas, though with resounding impact. Secretaries at Intermountain Regional Airport later told an IRS agent that, after some Seal flights, 'there would be stacks of cash to be taken to the bank and laundered.' Couriers were told to buy cashier's checks, each just under $10,000 to avoid federal reporting. 'The bank officer went down the teller lines,' is how one witness described what happened when an airport employee brought a bag of money into a nearby bank, 'handing out the stacks of $1,000 bills and got the cashier's checks.'"For years Mena buzzed with stories of shoeboxes and suitcases stuffed with cash. In 1982-83, according to IRS and state police calculations, hundreds of thousands washed through local banks, a minor fraction of the profits taken from Seal's Mena runs (most of the money was laundered elsewhere.)"
Well, of course. It would have to be laundered elsewhere. Most of the drugs were sold in America's big cities. There's not enough money in all of Arkansas to purchase a billion dollars worth of illegal drugs.
The obvious question, of course, how could that kind of operation be maintained in full view of the Arkansas police and the Federal law enforcement agencies. Of course, it is said, it was because the CIA was involved with it and was using Mena as a part of a gun-running operation to overthrow the communist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua.
While the CIA and other intelligence agencies "routinely denied responsibility for Seal and Mena," Morris wrote, "security for the operation was generally careless; cover-up from Arkansas to Washington seemed taken for granted. There was a paper trail of federal aircraft registrations and outfittings. Air America, Inc. had previously owned some of Seal's fleet, which included a Lear jet, helicopters and former US military transports,, widely reported to be a CIA proprietary company. ...Between March and December 1982, according to law enforcement records, Seal fitted nine of his aircraft with the latest electronic equipment, paying the $750,000 bill in cash."
That kind of operation, going on in full view of the Arkansas political hierarchy, headed by Bill Clinton, involves more than just a few people. It involves a lot of money that has never been taxed. And, a lot of that money was used in politics in Arkansas.
And that, of course, led to 8 years of Bill Clinton in the White House where known drug kingpins were invited to attend key White House functions. A book was written on that situation too by former FBI agent Gary Aldrich who was appalled at what he saw coming into the White House when the Clintons arrived. He wrote:
"One only had to look at Clinton associates like Little Rock businessman Dan Lasater, who was convicted of cocaine distribution (and later pardoned by then-Governor Clinton) and whose former business partner is current (1996) Clinton director of White House Management and Administration Patsy Thomasson (responsible for drug testing at the White House) or at the cocaine distribution conviction of Clinton's half brother or of Surgeon General Joycelyn Elder's son to get a hint of possible murky depths."...Clinton staffers, older or younger, made no apology for their illegal drug use, which was more extensive and included many 'heavy' drugs like cocaine, crack, LSD and met amphetamine. Many were 'in your face' about it, using the FBI interview to try to debate me on the merits of making drugs legal. Of course, when I asked them how they obtained their drugs, the lies began."
The bottom line in all this is relatively simple. If America really wants to get rid of terrorists, it will get rid of the illegal drug trade. If it really wants to get rid of drug dealers, it will demand that existing laws be enforced. It will demand much harsher penalties than a slap on the wrist and a Presidential pardon that we've seen in the recent past.
Singapore, once the most corrupt and crime ridden city in the world is pretty much devoid of both drugs and crime. How did they do it? My son Gary, who is often in China on business as a Shao-Lin instructor, tells me that visitors on planes arriving from America or Europe are politely told that the laws of Singapore are such that, if they are found with illegal drugs they will be executed. On the other hand, if the women on board the plane want to walk somewhere at night on in Singapore, they will be safe, unlike in American cities.
Of course, Americans are often horrified. What if they are innocent? What if someone PLANTED the drugs on them! Why, it would be unjust to execute them, wouldn't it? Gary observes that if ALL the people caught with drugs and executed in Singapore each year were innocent that there would be far fewer innocent people killed than are killed each year in Atlanta due to drugs and the resulting crime.
President Bush tells us that those who are not FOR getting rid of the terrorists are FOR the Terrorists. An extension of that will inevitably be, those who are not FOR getting rid of the illegal drugs are FOR the drug dealers and terrorism.
To comment: mmostert@bannerofliberty.com
There is only one way to get rid of the illegal drugs: legalize them. I take it you support this?
To any and all, who 'enjoy' any illegal substances; STOP NOW; and be a part of the solution. . .
There, now that's correct.
Since I don't think that Americans are willing to execute drug users, legalization is the only reasonable route to take.
The drug trade could be almost completely collapsed overnight if we adopted two simple strategies:
1. Legalized marijuana and sell it in a controled manner as we sell alchohol. It is probably less harmful (but not harmless) than alchohol.
2. Give addicts to hard drugs a prescription for the drug they use, and let them buy it for a nominal cost at a pharmacy. Believe it or not, this is how it was handled until about forty years ago. The doctor could write a presecription for, lets say, morphine, and would write "addict" in the cornor of the prescription. The pharmacy would then dispense the drug. It was a quiet, efficient and dignified way of handling addiction, and it resulted in fewer addicts than there are now.
Unfortunately, there are so many people making huge fortunes on drugs, including customs agents, police, DEA agents, politicians and financial institutions, that there is little hope that these forces would actually allow the problem to be solved.
The other force arrayed against actually solving the problem is the "moralizers". These are the same individualas who would have demanded Prohibition 80 years ago, but now the focus is drugs. Unfortunately, these people can't get past their moralization and solve the problem. These same people would for the most part be appaled if it was suggested that we execute addicts. They offer no realistic solutions to the problem except more of the failed War on Drugs.
'if' you ban them?
They ARE ALREADY banned. . .so, let me repeat. . .
DRUGS. . .if you DO them, you ARE part of the problem.
And that's the problem.
Considerable debate on whether banning is or is not a problem. . .that is really another discussion.
For the immediate import re THIS problem and it's unfolding. . .'doing them' IS, and again. . .being part of the problem, (and not part of the solution).
Like it or not. . .
No, it's inseparably related.
. . .Doubt that 'most' drugs are produced here; save 'crack' perhaps. . .
Can we just accept a cause/effect, 'karmic' chain here; regardless of whether your drug selection came by way of 'your next door neighbor' or not.
Families are destroyed, jobs lost, productivity goes down, accidents happen and innocent people die; people are murdered for drugs and because of drugs. . .people are damaged. . .there is a crime infested chain of individual choices that goes into any illegal drug before you even have the chance to 'enjoy' it.
Bottom line seems inescapable. . .do them; and you are a link in that 'karmic chain' of pain and suffering that ultimately harms the innocent, and destroys the very fabric of our society and our future.
As for legal vs. non. . .have you seen Whitney Houston lately? One talented, but totally wasted human being and Mother of small children. . .and not BECAUSE her drugs are illegal. . .
Yes, the War on (Some) Drugs does all that and more.
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