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| Enemies Domestic |
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Posted by FoM on June 22, 2001 at 07:33:27 PT By Joel Miller Source: WorldNetDaily 
The ugly side of the war on drugs was shoved smack-dab in the nation's face in April when the Peruvian air force, acting with U.S.-provided intelligence, shot down a plane packed with missionaries – presumably under the impression that the pontoon craft was hauling coca, not Christians. A report detailing the "whys" and "hows" of the shoot-down that killed missionary Roni Bowers and her baby, Charity, is set for release late in July, according to a nameless U.S. State Department official, cited in the June 20 Miami Herald. "We need to make sure," said the official in a great example of the duh-speak that infects government "that every possible safeguard is in place to prevent the accidental loss of civilian life as a result of the anti-drug program in the Andes." You think? Too bad the State Department wasn't so keen on safety before bullets riddled the plane and ripped through the bodies of Roni, Charity and the pilot – who, by the grace of God, still managed to live and land the craft. A lot of good that report will do Roni's widower and motherless son, who had to watch wife and mother, daughter and sister be shot through while they sat in the plane unable to prevent the loss of their loved ones. Especially tragic is the fact that anyone could have seen this coming. When President Bill Clinton ordered the U.S. to resume shoot-down participation in March 1995, after a 10-month lull in the radar-sharing program, there were Jeremiahs warning about dangers involved. "I don't think we should be doing it," said radar operator John Fowler, quoted in a September '95 AP story. "I'm a Christian man. I'm a believer. How can I as a believer work toward an end which deals with killing people?" And Fowler had a pretty tragic rabbit to pull from the evidence hat. In a case very similar to Bowers', while enforcing the northern Iraq no-fly zone in April 1994, two U.S. fighter planes blew a pair of U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters out of the sky. Twenty-six people were killed. "An investigation found that a radar plane failed to warn the fighters of the choppers' presence," according to AP. Drug warriors didn't listen to the naysayers or pay attention to the newspapers, however, as advice to the contrary was canned and memories of the downed Black Hawks ignored. When there's a war to be won, tragedies are an accepted fact – a common sentiment among drug warriors. "It's a shame what happened," said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss, R-Fla., about the Bowers shoot-down, "but this is a war and, unfortunately, there are casualties." Enough sympathy in that quote to melt your heart, right? This is the same sort of crock-peddling position sported by a number of pro-drug war congressmen. "While not excusing or minimizing the tragedy," said Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., who along with Goss was quoted in the June 20 Miami Herald, "we must bear in mind that nearly 16,000 Americans lose their lives each year from the use and sale of illicit drugs, many of which originate in the Andean region." Goss and Gilman's take is that Americans are dying, and we've got to fight back. What are a few missionaries, when the lives of thousands of U.S. citizens are at stake? "[T]his is a war and, unfortunately, there are casualties." Trouble is, both of these congressmen are hovering three feet above ground in the same pipedream. Goss is wrong – it's not a war, it's a policy, one that makes drugs illegal. It is that policy that contributes to Gilman's "16,000 Americans" who die from the "use and sale of illicit drugs." It's the illegality that creates the problems. Sure, some Americans are going to keel over from overcoking. This is really no different from alcoholics drinking themselves to death, a fact of life with which most of us can deal without calling for the resurrection of the 18th Amendment. The real killer is drug-related crime, a problem particular not to drugs, but to their illegality. The illegality of drugs artificially inflates their prices, in many cases out-pricing users from the market – at least in terms of legally acquired funds. Not able to procure enough money by methods that keep the angels smiling, some drug users turn to crime to generate the necessary greenbacks. All in all, however, these are mostly property crimes, which do not particularly endanger human life. A study reported in 1995 by the New York Times found that sellers – not cash-strapped users – are the gun-packers of the drug market. And for obvious reasons. While the prices of drugs are driven sky-high by their illegality, so is police protection eliminated for the "businessmen" involved. To protect his property, a drug seller is forced to go armed, since he's all the protection he's going to get. "This is an important study," said criminologist Alfred Blumstein, "because it suggests we should rethink the presumption that the pharmacological effect of drugs makes people violent and do crazy things." It's not the dope, it's the law. Because the trade is illegal, lacking any legal protection, the trade is subject to violence. The people who thrive in the drug market are those with, as the Cato Institute's David Boaz once put it, a "comparative advantage in violence." Why? When Pfizer has a problem with a client or competitor, it calls the lawyers. But for those dealing in an illegal trade, it is only a law firm like Smith & Wesson that will belly up to the bar of justice. As such, the very things drug warriors fight to stop are exacerbated and encouraged by the war on drugs. And, as I pointed out Monday, so is the ever-heightening disrespect for life, liberty and property by government officials prosecuting the war. With the spiral of crime and death increasing as the thumbscrews are tightened, the response is simply to tighten some more. W.C. Fields had a pertinent observation about this sort of dog-back-to-his-vomit repetition: If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again," he said, "and then give up. Don't be a damn fool about it." Too late. As we pursue a policy ensnared by the metaphor of war, we continue to justify the deaths of complete innocents like Roni and Charity Bowers along with the deaths of our freedoms. Necessary casualties, we say. And the more we justify those casualties by perpetuating the war, the more we hike up the damage toll – damage that is doing irreparable harm to the Constitution and our liberties which we've fought hard over the years to keep and protect. Helping preserve those liberties is part of the job description of our congressmen and state representatives. In this role as protector, politicians swear an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. As is becoming increasingly clear, however, the real enemies are not drug lords foreign, they are drug warriors domestic – those who seek to eradicate the flow of narcotics both in and outside of the country with any method or means, however brutal, shortsighted, stupid and irresponsible. Joel Miller is the commentary editor of WorldNetDaily. His publishing company, MenschWerks,recently published "God Gave Wine" by Kenneth L. Gentry Jr. E-mail: jmiller@worldnetdaily.com Source: WorldNetDaily (US Web) Related Articles & Web Site: Colombia Drug War News U.S. Anti-Drug Strategy Stalls in the Andes Treachery Over The Andes CannabisNews Articles - Joel Miller Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #10 posted by Alex Kramer on June 23, 2001 at 09:57:58 PT |
| Spray all you want. The restriction enzymes have just been identified that will splice herbicide-resistant genes into the coca plant! Could be available to farmers within the year [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #9 posted by jAHn on June 22, 2001 at 20:14:52 PT |
| ...I particularly love the way you listed the FAQ about ending this monster, the War on Drugs/People and their personal choices. I applaud Jamie for touching on just about ALL of the main arguments that We Still Stick To After All of These Years!!! I wish some mention of the dangers that People indulge in WITHOUT any drug were stated. Such as Skydiving, Mountain climbing, Water-skiing, Hot-Air ballooning...you think of it and someONE has gotten F@#cked up in some way or another. Pot is NOT DEADLY, and neither are ANY of the activities I rant about. I just need to help people understand that there's a middle ground that's waiting to be found. Between Bo Jackson tackling a 45 year old geezer ((no offense intended)) and Cypress Hill lighting up for "I want to get HIGH..." WHY? Why are things in such Dis-Array and WHO is gonna fix 'em? When? What's gonna be said? Where? [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #8 posted by Jeda on June 22, 2001 at 12:09:22 PT:
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| I had a friend who got a good lookin dog at the pound, but the dog kept jumping out of the back of the truck. Finally he just let it run off. Had another friend who tried to control his wife until she ran offtoo. Our "war" is futile but the controllers still want desperately to control the USA and any other "allies" they can through our wallets. Money apparently buys futility. Thank you for insightful and intelligent commentary from the trenches. Now if the controllers whould only control themselves. Our only option seems to be to jump out of the truck. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #7 posted by J.R. Bob Dobbs on June 22, 2001 at 11:38:11 PT |
| >>W.C. Fields had a pertinent observation about this sort of dog-back-to-his-vomit repetition: If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again," he said, "and then give up. Don't be a damn fool about it."<< He had another great line, which I'm of course going to paraphrase... When someone discovered a gigantic stash of booze in his house, late in life, they reminded him that Prohibition had been over for quite a while. "Yes," Fields said. "But it might come back!!" [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #6 posted by FoM on June 22, 2001 at 11:34:53 PT |
| Bye for now Dr. Russo, Have a safe and wonderful vacation and we'll see you when you return. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #5 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on June 22, 2001 at 11:31:10 PT:
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| I'm headed for the old aeropuerto. See you all in a month. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by dddd on June 22, 2001 at 10:58:44 PT |
| I'm gonna write Joel another letter in appreciation of his outstanding articles.......He is extra good... ...dddd [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by Sudaca on June 22, 2001 at 09:49:07 PT |
| well written, did he miss anything? maybe an angle on why the peasants to turn coca, poppy, or marihuana production in the Andes. Is it because they want to kill 160000 americans a year? does Philip morris create cigarettes to kill whatever the yearly death tally is in this country? No.. its money, money money. There is no legal crop that yields its weight in gold in the consumer market; the campesinos at one end of the chain are living at a poverty level that is frankly unimaginable byt those fat cats sitting in power, moralizing and declaring war on the scourges of the earth. These people want to live, want to thrive, want food, shelter and education for their children. Thanks to the cold war the US successfully promoted a world view in which free market economies operate to satisfy those needs. Therefore a market logic operates to satisfy the needs of these campesinos and productores. To get what they need in the world economy created by the US they must have money. The gov't won't and can't supply it, so they turn to trade. What's the crop that'll give the most for their effort? an illegal one. What do you get when you try to stop that market by force and violence? More force and violence; the market won't be denied. Scare off a bunch of people from producing, a less fearful group will take over; where do they get their sense of fearlessness? Their perceived ability to protect themselves from the terrorizers. What does that translate into these days? Armed groups, well armed groups , well armed and organized groups, led by people with about as much scruples as the drug warriors eventually. This cycle has to be cut down at the root of it or it'll keep on exploding out of control. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on June 22, 2001 at 09:35:49 PT:
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| to remind the puff-gutted Generals that war truly is Hell, not an intellectual exercise conducted in the study with brandy and cigars. The problem is, these particular Generals of this filthy little war are able to insulate themselves from the final results of their carnage by doing just that: staying in their ivory tower offices and directing what they think is another 'push-button war' - as the Gulf War was so widely misconstrued as being. I sincerely hope that when the investigation finally gets around to calling witnesses, that Mr. Bowers is called. And that CIA-suckled "Company Man" swine Goss and his buddy Gilman are in the same room. I'd really like to see these worms try to justify on national TV the deaths of innocents. Especially to Mr. Bower's face. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by Doug on June 22, 2001 at 09:00:07 PT |
| [B]ut this is a war and, unfortunately, there are casualties. This is very easy to say if you're heartless, and it's not your wife and child that just got blown away. In other circumstances, we'd label someone who made such a remark as "insane", specifically a sociopath, but in the context of the War on Drugs, this is the kind of ugly statement expected form our elected representatives. It should be obvious to anyone who as not lost their perspective that statements like this, or like the ex-police chief of L.A. saying users should be shot, show that this contry contains a lot of criminally insane people running things. I would like to live long enough to see a day when this will be over, and to see the take of history on the War on Drugs. It will certainly be seen as a dark day, perhaps one that led to the downfall of America, and a considerably worse time than the first wave of Prohibition of the 1920's. [ Post Comment ] |
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