The Seeds Of Stupidity

Here is a link to the Ravi Khanna piece mentioned in the video. Here is what Gretchen Peters has to say:

She says the U.S. must disrupt the Taliban's heroin money trail.

"While the insurgents earn some money from collecting taxes from the farmers, the bulk of the earnings come from protecting the trade, protecting the convoys and protecting the refineries and taxing the refineries and yet we are not going after that element of it," Peters said. "Even the US military resisted that until very recently."

Yeah. All that has been tried in the USA for over 90 years. None of it has worked. Why? There are estimates out there that for every 1% increase in the interdiction budget drug profits rise 3%. So how much would we have to spend to drive the criminals and terrorists out of the narcotics business? NOTHING. Well obviously we can't afford it.

And you can get more of Ms Peters at YouTube and Pajamas TV.

And if that is not enough she has written a book: Seeds of Terror: How Heroin Is Bankrolling the Taliban and al Qaeda.

In the Pajama's TV video Ms Peters suggests that going after the Taliban labs, convoys, and money shuffling network can stop the Taliban from profiting from the opium trade. However, she fails to notice that those very same types of efforts have been going on in the USA for some 90+ years with no noticeable effect on the trade. Why something that has not worked in the friendly USA will work in unfriendly Afghanistan goes unexplained. When the Boston Globe comes out in favor the same policy Boston Globe - End Heroin Prohibition for defeating the Taliban as I do it just may be possible I'm on to something.

Other articles discussing this:
Defeating The War On Terror
From Drug War To Real War
The War Lords of Afghanistan
Shoot the Europeans First
The Source of the Problem is not in Afghanistan
Supply side economics

Now if a guy like me can figure it out, and even the Boston Globe gets it, what exactly is wrong with Ms Peters? And especially what is wrong with the Obama administration? I mean besides every thing else.

Cross Posted at Power and Control

posted by Simon on 06.07.09 at 07:08 AM





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Comments

The Afghanis grow poppies because it's a profitable cash crop, if you've got to go to work in the fields why not do it for the best price?

Economic pressure well as due to pressure from the Taliban makes the situation so.

Where does the US get's it's medical opiates?

Decriminalize heroin and remove a lot of the profit, but why not encourage a major pharma company to buy Afghani poppies for medical use? As long as the agent is not fronting for the Taliban, the moeny goes to the growers, maybe even encourage growers to sell to the Pharma company instead of the Taliban.

Extending the drug war into a counterinsurgency campaign is pure stupidity, and will do more harm than good. Other than a soundbite opportunity for some politician, it's a gesture and nothing more.

Rob   ·  June 7, 2009 11:46 AM

How did the Chinese end their opium wars? Was it with the communits?

curious   ·  June 7, 2009 12:00 PM

Didn't the Chinese just line up everyone who was addicted to opium and shoot them? That took care of the problem - but we aren't likely to do that.

beth   ·  June 9, 2009 04:24 AM

Didn't the Chinese just line up everyone who was addicted to opium and shoot them? That took care of the problem - but we aren't likely to do that.

beth   ·  June 9, 2009 04:27 AM

There is a lot of misinformation about the opium trade in China. The Brits got the Chinese to ban the use of opium as a menace. Then they smuggled it in to China at huge profits. Well eventually the Chinese went to war against the smugglers. And the British Navy came in on the side of the smugglers.

"If the trade is ever legalized, it will cease to be profitable from that time. The more difficulties that attend it, the better for you and us." -- Directors of Jardine-Matheson

From:

http://www.ctrl.org/boodleboys/boddlesboys2.html

M. Simon   ·  June 9, 2009 04:31 AM

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