Thursday, October 05, 2006

Shoot the Europeans First

It seems there is a drug problem in Afghanistan. And it appears that European mercenaries may be protecting the Afghan opium crop.

A NEW threat to Australian forces in Afghanistan is emerging as cashed-up opium lords employ highly trained European mercenaries to protect their booming drug trade.

Australian special forces have been given orders to shoot the Europeans first if they get into a firefight, a source close to the military said.

The hired guns are said to have the latest American-made weapons, including 50-calibre sniper rifles that can kill at a range of 2.5 kilometres.

The mercenaries honed their deadly trade in the Balkans, former Soviet states, the Middle East and Africa.

Their ranks are said to include a renegade British SAS soldier.
Of course one must consider the value of the Australian troops in providing price supports to the opium crop. Without the war on drugs the Afghanis might as well be growing wheat. It is the drug war that makes a pile of vegetable matter worth its weight in gold.

3 comments:

Doug said...

"It's Time to End the Fifty Year War on Drugs."

Anonymous said...

FROM: CAROL HERMAN

War on drugs isn't ending. It's older than the War on Terrorism. And, most people live with BOTH just fine.

No surprises about the "european" entity in all of this. They also feed the UN forces. And, those are as culpable, too.

There are some things to learn during war; and, part of this is that the USA was giving the opium growers plenty of room to keep their crops.

IF this really gets worse, and the local yokels think they've got just the thing by hiring "european" thugs, have I got news for them!

Vietnam experienced NAPALM, like you wouldn't believe. SO far, to help Karzai, we've kept those planes grounded.

But that's not to say that our military is without choices. Or that we're gonna take a back seat to a few thugs.

Again. The war lords are aggressive. Not just in Afghanistan, either. But in the Phillipines, as well.

And, since we're fighting this for the long haul, some of the things you see look less than dramatic. Less than perfect.

But the drug wars has given us a wedge, where we've built the prisons, that house the worst offenders. (Gone are the Nixon days, when the War on Drugs was set up; to jail a few weed smokers.)

Once you see WHERE the war on drugs has been successful, you'll noticed that it birthed an industry we just cannot send overseas. So men can get jobs carrying badges.

When we expand Homeland Security, I expect it will also be a sponge, to the hopeless. The male, without too much education, that can earn a living plunking him into a middle-class life.

Afghanistan's war lords? There's more than one way to skin this cat. And, "cooperation" to a few may be a ticket. Where if you're a european thug, you've got to live in a similar hole as Osama. You can't really bank your profits. And, you can't just toodle home. (Since, here, you need to use a passport.)

You just never know what can happen to access to travel. In a world overseen by electronics. I guess you can row home, huh?

M. Simon said...

Carol,

Actually the drug war jails mostly weed smokers and dealers.

Think about it: 20 to 60 million weed smokers in America. The Old Farts are getting back into it to relieve the general aches and the rumor is that it is better than Viagra.

Now compare that with the 3 million or so users of meth, crack, heroin, etc.

There are not enough hard drug users to sustain a war.

Also note that there are big efforts around Aug - November to harvest all the ditch weed the cops can find. Ditch weed is basically unsmokeable. So the late summer early fall program is a jobs program for the police.

Roughly 80% of all drug arrests in America are for the weed.

You are correct. The Drug War serves no useful purpose other than to give the otherwise unemployable jobs. Plus it jails others with mild to severe mental problems. And must provide jails and jailers for them. I suppose it also gives the CIA contact with the criminal classes in every country so there is another plus (not to mention off the books profits).

It is ugly. It does provide a "service" in that those involved (except the users) can pretend they are doing something useful. The USSR had a lot of programs like this. Were they well served by them?