Day: November 13, 2013

A Bumper Crop For The Taking

We have our beautiful War on Drugs……and we have our War in Afghanistan and this is where the two “wars” intersect……..the poppy fields of Afghanistan where opium is produced by the ton….and after 13 years of fighting we, the US, still has not been able to stop the flow out of the Afghan fields…..and this year Afghans have something to celebrate……

(AP) – After more than a decade of international efforts to combat the narcotics trade in Afghanistan—depriving the Taliban of funds in the process—the country is now producing more opium than ever before, a UN reports funds. The harvest this year resulted in a staggering 6,000 tons of opium, 49% higher than last year and more than the combined output of the rest of the world. Even Afghan provinces with some past successes in combating poppy cultivation saw those trends reversed, according to this year’s UN Office on Drugs and Crime report.

The withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan next year is likely to make matters even worse, warns the UNODC regional representative in Kabul. He warned that as international assistance falls off, the Afghan government will become increasingly reliant on illicit sources of income. Those who benefit from the drug trade include farmers, insurgents, and many within the government, often working together, he says. The vast majority of Afghanistan’s poppy cultivation takes place in the south, southwest, and east—areas where the Taliban insurgency is thriving.

War is Hell!  And apparently if you are a poppy farmer…….. very lucrative….

I do not understand why our wealthy Pharma does just not buy the crop…after all they produce Morphine and other pain killers…..at least it would not all hit the street as Heroin…..about time that the capitalist companies start acting like they have the interest of society in their hearts…..I know….I do dream at times….but I still think it is a valid idea…..

Back to the War on Drugs….what does it cost per year?  Billions?  Why not buy up the crop and then destroy it….it would stop the flow of opium to the market and save the economic base of the farmers…….but NO…we had rather pay for a massive bureaucracy that does nothing to stop drugs and feeds only itself…..great plan!

We Shall Never Forget!

That was the promnise we made to our brave allies in Vietnam, the Nung and Montagnard, and the first chance we got we cut out and left them to face the NVA led government….which by the way did not do them any favors….they were hunted down and either killed or imprisoned because they had helped the US fight for their country……..and we said then that it was a tragedy and that we would do everything possible to never leave a friend behind to face such De-humanization…….you pledge our support.

Fast forward to Afghanistan….2001 we invaded and kicked the crap out of the Taleban and AQ….we employed many Afghans to act as laborers and most notable as interpreters……..well we are slowly but slowly winding down our little fray into Afghanistan and should be out of the fighting by 2014, at least that is the promise….say that happens will we honor our pledge to those who worked on our behalf……?

(Newser) – An increasing number of Afghan interpreters who worked with US troops for years during the war are being denied US visas, because the government doesn’t think their lives are in serious danger. Think again, the interpreters tell the Washington Post. “There are tons of [Taliban members] in my village, and they all know that I worked with the Americans,” says one, who received a letter from the US government saying he had failed to prove there was a “serious threat” against his life. “If I can’t go to the States, my life is over,” he says. “I swear to God, one day the Taliban will catch me.”

Another interpreter, who worked at a US military prison screening visitors, even had US officers writing letters on his behalf, explaining that his job was particularly dangerous, because he often came face-to-face with the families of detained militants. But the State Department didn’t agree. A third survived three IED attacks and was called “a spy and a traitor” while accompanying a US unit for five years, and says his family has received threatening phone calls. But still, that’s not a “serious threat,” says the government. “What’s a serious ongoing threat for them? Do they need someone to bring in my decapitated head?” asks one interpreter. “The Taliban posted a letter on our house saying next time I come inside my house, they will kill my whole family. That’s still not good enough?”

Ah, as usual….the US will NOT honor our pledge of protection….the Afghans who worked with the US troops can look forward to being hunted down and most likely executed or they will be tortured and imprisoned…..yet another lie to people who braved all sorts of hardships to work with the troops in their mission…..

This is something the US excels in….promises and lies….what do you call a person who turns his back on a friend in need?

A New Leader To Chase

Inkwell Institute

All Afghanistan all day…….

Remember the Pakistani Taleban leader that will killed 4 or 5 times?  Yep, it seems for a couple of years this dude was reported killed on several occasions…..just last month our drones were actually successful in killing this “terrorist”….we know he is dead (this time) because the Taleban has admitted that he was killed……

That should be a boost to the war on the Pakistan Taleban, right?

Wrong again!

(Newser) – The Pakistani Taliban needed a new leader after its last chief was killed in a drone strike, and it has chosen the hardline commander who targeted Malala Yousafzai. Mullah Fazlullah’s men tried to assassinate the education activist last year, and he will be the “new ameer,” a Taliban spokesperson tells Reuters today. The spokesperson also declared there will be “no more” peace talks with the government, as the new leader “is already against negotiations.” (Pakistan had expressed concerns that would be the case.)

Fazlullah’s nickname is “Mullah Radio” because of his passionate and fiercely Islamist radio broadcasts, offered up on an underground radio station he set up in 2004, and even his fellow Taliban members consider him hardline. He particularly fights against girls’ education. His appointment by the leadership council was unanimous, the AP reports.

New leader and an a/hole at that…..this is the dude that lead the attack on the teenage girl in Pakistan that wanted all girls to be educated…….this guy sounds 100 times more ruthless than the prick he is replacing……that does not bode well for anyone…..especially the enemies of the Taleban………

I am sure there is a drone with his name waiting for a task to preform…….how many times can they kill this guy?