it's dark, I know you can't see at all
but try and take some notice
at least try and focus
-- jump little children
Andrew Stuttaford in The Corner:
'The guys have been out there, building relationships with local people that brings in crucial intelligence and keeps us safe. If the same guys start kicking down doors and reporting on ordinary people who are just trying to earn a living in difficult circumstances, then they are not going to see us as friends anymore,' one soldier, recently returned from Afghanistan, told The Observer.”
Various drug-control types in the US and UN and UK want to use troops in Afghanistan to destroy poppy fields and thoroughly alienate the locals. Way to go, you heroic desk-warriors! You're going to get real warriors killed.
As Stuttaford points out, it'd make a lot more sense to buy up the crops and dispose of them however you like. The farmers don't care what the ultimate destination is. If money's a problem, you could probably cut a chunk out of the DEA's budget to take care of it.
Idiots.
Comments (1)
DATE: 12/06/2004 11:10:56 AM
Both of these options were explored very shortly after the Taliban were overturned, and neither would produce a satisfactory result.
The latter option would merely have the effect of driving up the price (and the violence) from the druglords until the authorities were priced out of the market. Which reveals that it isn't true that these growers don't care who they sell to: if one comes with money, and the other comes with money and a gun, guess who gets to buy?
Posted by Paul | March 1, 2009 3:25 PM
Posted on March 1, 2009 15:25