cannabisnews.com: COLUMN: War on People 





COLUMN: War on People 
Posted by FoM on May 04, 2000 at 06:58:36 PT
By Rob Tinghitela, The Daily U. Washington
Source: U-WIRE
We say in a democracy that good ideas will drive out bad ones, so if the good ones aren't there, we're left with the bad ones. - Gen. Barry McCaffrey. Sunday marked the 25-year anniversary of the fall of Saigon in Vietnam. What lessons have we learned from that war? We came away with the Powell doctrine that states that American troops should never again enter battle without decisive force and clear objectives. In other words, no more Vietnams. 
Are we headed for any Vietnams in the foreseeable future? According to the group Vets for More Effective Drug Strategies, yes we are. We are going to give Colombia $1.6 billion for 60 helicopters costing $400 million and hundreds of instructors to teach the Colombia army effective military strategies, among other things. The United States is banned by law from cooperating with units of the Colombian army that have violated human-rights laws; so to get around that, the Colombian army will just disband some of units violating human rights and create new ones from scratch. The helicopters that are headed for Colombia are destined to create an arms race with the narco-terrorists. According to former commander of Latin America Gen. Fred F. Woerner, "What you can absolutely count on is that with the Blackhawks or the beefed-up Hueys, the bad guys are going to acquire surface-to-air missiles. Helicopters will be shot down. The question is, will we replace them?" Vets for More Effective Drug Strategies makes the point that there is a lack of military analysis of the Colombian civil war, a war that has been raging on for over 40 years with no signs of ending. Entering the Colombian civil war would once again involve U.S. military personnel in a civil war against a well-armed, well-financed and motivated indigenous army that blends easily with the surrounding population. The Andes jungle plateau is several times larger than South Vietnam which we were, for 10 years, unable to control effectively with 500,000 armed Americans, hundreds of helicopters and total air superiority. Included in Vets for More Effective Drug Strategies are military personnel from every branch of the armed forces and from every U.S. war since World War II. Included in the group are two colonels, one commander and 73 other retired or former veterans. One of them is Lt. Cmdr. Sylvester Salcedo (USNR, Ret.), who returned a medal to President Clinton to protest the Colombian escalation, noted "The United States is embarking on a very dangerous course that will trap us in a foreign entanglement due to fundamental miscalculations being made by advocates of the drug war." Salcedo served as an intelligence officer for the Navy on drug enforcement operations. Drug czar Barry McCaffrey, of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a retired general, has said that we should be committed for at least five years to a military effort in Colombia. The current funding only provides enough for two years. When the money runs out and we realize how much worse it has gotten, are we going to commit even more resources to a war that cannot be won, or are we just going to abandon Colombia? The current plan provides no exit strategy or guidelines on what would be considered a success. What can you do? You can protest the injustices of the War on Drugs by marching on Saturday, May 6, in the Millennium Marijuana March taking place in over 60 cities around the world. The march will start at noon and go from Volunteer park to city hall where there will be various speakers. For more info, go to www.seattlehempfest.com/mmm or call (206) 781-5734. (U-WIRE) Seattle:Web Posted: May 3, 2000(C) 2000 The Daily via U-WIRE Copyright © 2000 At Home Corporation. Latest Dana Beal MMM Cities, Contacts, Directions:http://www.cannabinoid.com/wwwboard/politics/messages/25/25050.shtmlPublic Archives for MMM Rally Reports. All Cities:http://www.cannabinoid.com/wwwboard/politics/messages/25/25047.shtmlMillion Marijuana March News 1999 From CannabisNews:http://google.com/search?q=site:cannabisnews.com+mmm http://alltheweb.com/cgi-bin/search?type=all&query=cannabisnews+mmmMMM. Millennium Marijuana March Message Board.http://www.worldcamp.org/wwwboard/wwwboard.shtml MMM 1999 Rally Reports for Cities Worldwide:http://homepages.go.com/~marthag1/million.htm http://homepages.go.com/~marthag1/dexmmm.htm http://home4.c2i.net/freddiefreak/index/more_activism/MMMWorld99/
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Comment #3 posted by freedom fighter on May 05, 2000 at 00:48:39 PT
the author
has respect for every city in this country.
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Comment #2 posted by dddd on May 04, 2000 at 22:57:11 PT
Will this be stopped?
No way.This whole thing is so complicated by so many factors,that I think it's a done deal. I'll put my money in with Kaps,that we already have a major covert presence in Colombia,Special Ops,,etc. No matter what the outcry from the public may be,this sick and devious plan will not be stopped.It will be downplayed,and increasingly justified in your local paper,and network news will be dominated by supposed "victories",to come. Actual negative news from this bizarre thing,will be very rare amongst the mainstream media. I dont want to discourage everyone or anyone from speaking out against this ridiculous outrage,but I think that the powers that be,are not going to let anyone,or anything get in the way of this ghastly item.....dddd 
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on May 04, 2000 at 08:27:21 PT:
Read you loud and clear, General
But you aren't asking the really important questions. 'The helicopters that are headed for Colombia are destined to create an arms race with the narco-terrorists. According to former commander of Latin America Gen. Fred F. Woerner, "What you can absolutely count on is that with the Blackhawks or the beefed-up Hueys, the bad guys are going to acquire surface-to-air missiles. Helicopters will be shot down. The question is, will we replace them?"No, the big question is, will Amercan troops be 'advising' in the air as well as on the ground? We have already lost an NSA spook plane (masquerading as an Army intel flight; NSA always uses the Army to hide behind it's covert ops) over the Andes under highly suspicious circumstances. It may have been piloted by an Army officer, but the intel was going back to Ft. Meade, count on it. A plane full of 'advisors', dead. Will they have company? US Army special Forces, almost certainly some SEAL units, maybe a few CAC's from the Air Force; I'd bet good money that our Special Ops boys are down there already, leading patrols. And getting shot at. By narcos armed with new stuff from Manchuria, or IZHMASH in the CIS. Because the narcos can afford the best; and there are lots of nations willing to provide it. China, for one. Russia, which is really strapped for cash, is another.We've had all the warnings. Will we listen? Will we make our DrugWar addled pols listen?I'll say it again and again: There's not one square inch of Colombian soil worth a single US soldier's life.
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