Cannabis News Media Awareness Project
  Rethink Colombian Drug War
Posted by FoM on April 19, 2002 at 10:02:08 PT
Editorial 
Source: Detroit News  

justice Colombian President Andres Pastrana met President George W. Bush this week to press him about letting Colombia redirect American anti-drug aid to fight leftist guerrilla groups in his country. Such a request would have been regarded as preposterous a year ago. Yet Pastrana received a sympathetic hearing not just from Bush -- but from most of Washington as well.

Bush and Congress, however, ought to reject Pastrana's request. They should rethink the billions of dollars in anti-drug aid they annually pump into Colombia.

This aid has already failed to contain the flow of drugs into the United States. And now it is threatening to embroil America in a messy internal conflict that will distract from its real priority: the war against terrorism.

Washington has never been shy about giving Colombia money to combat drugs: It contributed about a billion dollars toward anti-drug efforts in the 1990s, even when it was clear that such efforts were not succeeding in stemming the influx of Colombian drugs into America. All through that decade, Colombian cocaine managed to maintain its dominance on U.S. streets.

Instead of admitting defeat and rethinking its strategy, Congress in 2000 redoubled its crackdown efforts on Colombian drugs: It approved a $1.2 billion annual anti-drug aid package called Plan Colombia -- one of whose purposes is to train and arm the Colombian army to fight narco-insurgents. The only restriction on the money is that it could not be used against domestic, Marxist guerrilla groups that control about 40 percent of the country and with whom the Colombian government had been engaged in peace talks.

But these peace talks broke down a few months ago. Now Pastrana is telling Washington that without the authority to redirect American aid to fight these guerrilla groups, the war on drugs will never be won. Still, even with the additional money, the war would not be won -- as long as there is a demand for the drugs in North America.

The South American guerrilla groups perpetrate daily kidnappings and killings of ordinary civilians. And they are in cahoots with drug traffickers whose profits fund their operations.

Even though the Pentagon is a big backer of Pastrana's request, allowing the Colombian government to use American aid to fight domestic rebels -- even if they can rightly be called terrorists -- is bad policy. It would risk getting the United States directly involved in a dispute in which it has no vital interest. More important, such mission creep would divert resources from America's fight against real terrorist threats against itself and its allies.

To win the war on terrorism, Bush needs focus. Drug aid is not just failing to stop drugs from entering the United States, it is also becoming a terrible distraction. Now more than ever before, Washington should be rethinking such aid.

Source: Detroit News (MI)
Published: April 19, 2002
Copyright: 2002 The Detroit News
Website: http://detnews.com/
Contact: letters@detnews.com

Related Articles & Web Sites:

Colombia Mobilization
http://www.colombiamobilization.org/

Colombia Drug War News
http://freedomtoexhale.com/colombia.htm

Bush Praises Colombian President for Standing Tall
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12565.shtml

Congress Supports Bush Colombia Plan
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12564.shtml


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Comment #2 posted by Dan B on April 21, 2002 at 17:32:45 PT
That was Great, p4me.
I appreciate all that you wrote. Thanks for being encouraging, and thanks for the humor.

Dan B

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Comment #1 posted by p4me on April 19, 2002 at 11:02:07 PT
stuff
This is a link to a MP3 download by Richard Cowan. It is him reading to with melodramatic music in the background. It starts out by saying its 4:20. Its 4:20. I cannot really tell if he reading words from his past broadcast or actually drafted old 4:20 Marijuana Headline News commentarty into this MP3. He is reading news stories with Tom and Rollie being mentioned at the start and he ends with his "and what have you done for freedom today?"

http://www.vasilisa.com/420Tribute.mp3

Yesterday I put up that the police had seized a portaloo from the DE2 in Bournemouth. Their short word comes from portaloo and is loo and not roo as a typed yesterday. Today they have a picture of Colin sitting on a toilet fully clothed and with a cordless drill with a bit. They paste in like a cartoon caption him saying: "I will defend my shit down to the last squeeze." Yesterday was a good laugh for the DEfenders.

There is an old joke about a woman (for FoM's benefit) that found a magic lamp and when she rubbed it a genie came out and made her this offer: "For freeing me I will grant you your choice of unbelievable wealth, unsurpassed beauty, or make you the wisest and most knowledgable woman in history. She was not long in deciding that she should choose the wisdom and knowledge for the benefit of mankind. So, the genie gladly granted the wish and disappeared. The first thing she said with her vast new understanding was, "I should have taken the wealth."

I remember asking for the article with the title "It's the money stupid." I still have not seen those words here at cannabis news even in the body of text much less the title. One time there was some text that came very close but the words were not exact. That article is still coming our way. It has to come sometime.

Here I am in magicland in the country of Freedom being attacked by DEAth squads with their harsh treatment of foreigners. Fortunately I am not the foreigner here and even though they impose their will on many there are many of us that defend the high places and the Valley of Reason. With all their evil and money and power they have yet to set foot in the Valley of Reason. The Valley of Reason will never be taken and the people of Freedom still control the high ground. The enemy has poisoned the water but the new rains always come and in the Valley of Reason we are quite safe. If the invaders threaten you, you are welcome here in the Valley of Reason. We will once again take back all our lands in our country we call Freedom.

VAAI

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