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| Assault on Drug Crop is Delayed |
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Posted by FoM on August 26, 2001 at 09:08:09 PT By Ken Guggenheim, Associated Press Source: Associated Press 
The State Department will delay plans to expand its fleet of drug spraying planes in Colombia after the planes' bankrupt manufacturer shut down its assembly lines this month. Ayres Corp. of Albany, Ga., had won the contract without having to compete for it, despite a rival's claim Ayres' shaky finances made it undependable.The delay is a setback to the $1.3 billion, U.S.-funded plan to step up drug eradication in Colombia. Since the mid-1990s, State Department contractors have worked with Colombian police in fumigating coca and opium crops, the raw materials for cocaine and heroin. Ayres halted production Aug. 3, just five days before it was due to deliver the first of nine single-engine, propeller-driven T-65 planes. Those planes, along with three twin-engine OV-10 planes the State Department is refurbishing, would have increased the 11-plane fleet to 23 planes by February. The additional planes are "extremely important because we're trying to go after an exploding amount of coca production and opium production," said Barry McCaffrey, the former White House drug policy director. "You want to have a mass of spray aircraft that you can move around the country and attack these criminal operations all in one fell swoop and then move somewhere else," he said. The State Department declined to provide specifics on the shutdown's effect. "We will not be able to increase our support of the Colombian National Police's aerial eradication program as quickly as we had originally envisioned," the department said. Congress provided $20 million for the Ayres planes and the refurbished OV-10s. Fred Ayres, the president of the plane company, said Ayres' share of that was about $15 million. Ayres' main creditor, GATX Capital Corp. of San Francisco, has taken over the company's assets and hopes to find a buyer soon, GATX spokesman Glenn Hickerson said. If it does, the first planes could be completed by year's end, he said. It was not clear if the State Department would wait for the sale. The department said it is exploring its legal options and examining ways to get planes soon. McCaffrey The Drug War: Bankruptcy halts acquisition of planes to spray Colombian fields. Source: Associated Press Related Articles & Web Site: Colombia Drug War News Spraying in Colombia: Is it Safe? Roundup Works -- But Too Well? CannabisNews Articles - Glyphosate Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #2 posted by dddd on August 27, 2001 at 01:28:55 PT |
| ...WHAT!!!!....?? So..to put all this in laymans terms;The company who was awarded this >The additional planes are "extremely important because we're trying to go after an exploding amount of coca production and opium production," said Barry McCaffrey, the former White House drug policy director. .."somewhere else"???? GREAT SCOTT!!!......GOOD LORD!!!.....GREAT CEASARS GHOST!!! This is once again,,like some sci-fi novel,,or 'Tales From the Beyond'!!as if crop Beyond the Unreal,,,,,,,,making the strange seem normal????
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| Comment #1 posted by E. Johnson on August 26, 2001 at 13:21:09 PT |
| The Drug War has many fronts. one of the fronts i language and thought. The Drug War is a war against logic and critical thinking. Take McCaffrey's statement, "The additional planes are "extremely important because we're trying to go after an exploding amount of coca production and opium production," said Barry McCaffrey, the former White House drug policy director." McCaffrey is claiming that cocaine prpoduction is "exploding". Yet cocaine use in America has been falling. If demand is what drives supply, then how could supply be exploding if demand is dwindling? If we have statistical proof that cocaine demand is dwindling, then where could the motivation to expand supply be coming from? First they brag about the dwindling demand, and they try to scare us with threats of exploding supply. Get your damned story straight, McCaffrey. But McCaffrey is the sworn enemy of logic and critical thinking. After all, those are the dirty tricks used by the legalizers!!! So he tries to fight them whenever and wherever he can. [ Post Comment ] |
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