cannabisnews.com: What About bin Laden's Drug Empire?





What About bin Laden's Drug Empire?
Posted by FoM on October 17, 2001 at 07:43:05 PT
House Editorial
Source: Washington Times
Afghanistan produces about three-quarters of the world's opium. There is a fairly good argument that we should have been at war with the Taliban long before Sept. 11, as they are both encouraging the production of opium and profiting from it by direct taxation of the crop. Apparently, conservatives and liberals alike have much to learn about the dangers of farm subsidies. We have known for years how many of our adversaries promote the drug trade and profit from it. 
Cuba, China, the FARC terrorists in Colombia and Afghanistan's Taliban regime all encourage the drug trade as a weapon against the West.So, in the war against terrorism, President Bush has correctly targeted the terrorists' money, as well as their safe havens. By cutting off the money supply and the terrorists' ability to move money, we can limit and eventually strangle their ability to finance their war against us. Still, if we are to succeed, we obviously need to cut off their ability to profit from the drug trade as well.   The State Department has said repeatedly that it lacks sufficient evidence to say that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network is financed by drug profits. But the very clear fact of the Taliban's direct profits from drugs makes the connection between bin Laden and the drug trade a short leap indeed.    Now, there are many things that the United States can deal with in the war against terrorism, and one of the most obvious — but least easy to stop — is the drug trade. Whatever comes to rule Afghanistan after the Taliban, it must be a regime that neither tolerates nor profits from the drug trade. It is a relatively simple thing for our armed forces to destroy the larger opium fields with plant-killing agents. But that will not stop Afghan cultivation of opium. It will only sidetrack it. What comes after the Taliban is the issue.    Interestingly, Secretary of State Colin Powell told Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that following our military campaign in Afghanistan, the successor regime to the Taliban regime may be allowed to include some Taliban members. This astonishing statement is as bad an idea as we've heard in many a day. Aside from being willing to sacrifice themselves to protect bin Laden, the Taliban have insisted on placing themselves among the most lawless and hostile regimes on the planet. We cannot trust them to not grow opium or cultivate terrorism. There is simply no place in the world community for such a regime.   In other words, America must take a stand against such ill-gotten gains, and now is a very good time to start in Afghanistan.Source: Washington Times (DC)Published: October 17, 2001Copyright: 2001 News World CommunicationsWebsite: http://www.washtimes.com/Contact: letters washingtontimes.com Related Articles:U.S. Expected to Target Afghanistan's Opiumhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11103.shtmlWar of The Poppies http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11089.shtmlOpium Den - U.S. News & World Reporthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11043.shtml 
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Comment #6 posted by freedom fighter on October 17, 2001 at 12:18:49 PT
So many players
Do'nt forget the CIA... They play big part of moving the drugs as well.. Not that many would want to admit that fact. Just facts, Mama!ff
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on October 17, 2001 at 11:37:48 PT
I took this from the article below
The Northern Alliance, the USA's ally of convenience, doesn't appear to be that different from the Taliban when it comes to skimming money from drug networks. Although the alliance controls only a small percentage of the land used to grow opium in Afghanistan, U.N. officials say they believe that drug money is key to the alliance's funding.U.S. Expected to Target Afghanistan's Opium
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11103.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on October 17, 2001 at 11:31:22 PT
Journalists don't read the news! This is proof!
They haven't noticed the recent news reports that our anti-Taliban allies the Northern Alliance are also funded by the opium trade?There's no excuse whatosever for an editorial that is this ignorant of current events.People think journalists read the news. I think we have proof on this site here now that they do NOT!
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on October 17, 2001 at 11:06:20 PT
freedom fighter 
I told my sister about a year ago that I thought no matter what goes on politically our government will make sure the drug war is involved somehow. It is happening now. 
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Comment #2 posted by freedom fighter on October 17, 2001 at 10:58:35 PT
It's bit odd
when there are NO poppy fields there. If by using "plant-killing agents" on any field, what make you think anybody can grow anything? Anyway, since we started bombing the Afghans, the price of herion has not gone up an 1/8 of a inch.No mention of future oilpipe lines. America want regime that will control the pipelines. Talk about ill-gotten gains! War on terrorism/drugs is like a dog chasing his own tail. America is shooting our own feet in process while our government is a bloated parasite ready to blow up in our faces. Ten years from now, at the rate they are spending on this folly, elderly people would not be able to support themselves.This is going be a very lonnng war!ff
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Comment #1 posted by jack on October 17, 2001 at 08:19:36 PT
MONEY
I seem to remember reading an article last week about how the taliban gets most of it's money not from heroin but from honey production in the area,...seems honey in that part of the world is a very important relgious foodstuff and is exported at great profit to countries that can't produce it,.ie saudi arabia.I guess the next war will be the war on honey bee's.
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