Sat
Sep 2 2006
07:25 pm
Good News For Heroin Dealers
By: airrn

Sounds like great news if you are addicted to heroin. I wonder how much of this money is going to Al Quaeda.

Topics:
redmondkr's picture

Notice at the bottom of the

Submitted by redmondkr on Sat, 2006/09/02 - 8:06pm.

Notice at the bottom of the article that the Taliban had almost eradicated the opium poppy crop before they were ousted shortly after 9/11.  Now that Mr. Bush has placed Afghanistan firmly on the back burner in favor of going after the man who tried to kill his daddy, the Taliban is back and financing their enterprise with this cash crop.  Score another one for the Decider in Chief.

Les Jones's picture

redmondkr:

Submitted by Les Jones on Sun, 2006/09/03 - 2:14pm.

"Notice at the bottom of the article that the Taliban had almost eradicated the opium poppy crop before they were ousted shortly after 9/11."

The Taliban had also successfully eradicated ancient Buddhist statues, women's ability to receive an education, and the performance of music.

Hey, Les, why don't we just call each other assholes and get it over with. - Somebody on the old Southknoxbubba.net (if that was you, claim your quote and win net.fame!)

Les Jones's picture

metulj:

Submitted by Les Jones on Mon, 2006/09/04 - 12:00pm.

"No Buddhists actually got worked up about this one."

Of course not. They're Buddhists.

"But that sort of behavior is OK in Saudi Arabia."

I wasn't familiar with the situation in Saudi Arabia, so I looked it up. There is some educational discrimination against women, but unlike the Taliban regime which prevented education almost entirely to the point of illiteracy, here's the situation in SA according to Amnesty International:

  Discrimination in law against women is not only limited to laws regulating the system of government and decision-making. For example, the Labour Code in Saudi Arabia contain direct and indirect discriminatory clauses against women. Gender segregation often means that women are limited to unequal facilities and opportunities

Statistics from the last few years show that women represent 55 per cent of university graduates. They own 40 per cent of private wealth, own 15,000 commercial establishments, yet can not publicly administer or be part of any dealings regarding their business. They must be represented by a male relative or a wakil shar'iy ( attorney).

With women representing 55% of SA college graduates and owning 40% of the nation's private wealth, I don't think the situation is at all comparable to Taliban Afghanistan. 

"I wonder what Jerry Falwell would do to Jello Biafra if Falwell were given half the chance... "

I wonder what all kinds of extremists of all stripes would do with unlimited power. 

Hey, Les, why don't we just call each other assholes and get it over with. - Somebody on the old Southknoxbubba.net (if that was you, claim your quote and win net.fame!)

rikki's picture

I wonder what all kinds of

Submitted by rikki on Mon, 2006/09/04 - 1:36pm.

I wonder what all kinds of extremists of all stripes would do with unlimited power.

Train their lackeys to use cheap rhetorical tricks like distraction, censorship, attacking the messenger and, when necessary, plugging their ears and humming so they never have to doubt the leader or hear better ideas?

It's all so theoretical, who can really say? 

Les Jones's picture

rikki

Submitted by Les Jones on Mon, 2006/09/04 - 3:15pm.

"Train their lackeys to use cheap rhetorical tricks like distraction"

Geez, you're being kind of hard on metulj, aren't you?

Hey, Les, why don't we just call each other assholes and get it over with. - Somebody on the old Southknoxbubba.net (if that was you, claim your quote and win net.fame!)

rikki's picture

metulj has his lackey

Submitted by rikki on Mon, 2006/09/04 - 10:30pm.

metulj has his lackey moments, but he thinks for himself and doesn't back down from a challenge. You think for yourself on many issues, Les, particularly where science and technology are involved.

I'm still waiting for a Republican to explain to me why the whole Ahmed Chalabi affair is not one of the worst, if not the worst, case of treason and perversion of the United States government in our history. I honestly don't understand how this country can ignore so much corruption and criminality.

R. Neal's picture

I wonder how many U.S.

Submitted by R. Neal on Sat, 2006/09/02 - 8:58pm.

I wonder how many U.S. taxpayer dollars went into planting those fields?

Factchecker's picture

Another reality check for

Submitted by Factchecker on Sun, 2006/09/03 - 9:20am.

Another reality check for Repugs in the Bush-is-protecting-us false security bubble.

Hey, dig those conservative t-shirts in the banner ad!  Bill and Hillary "Do Not Resuscitate."  How compassionate can they get?  Funny too!  Gotta get me one of those.

redmondkr's picture

Yes, Les, that's all the

Submitted by redmondkr on Sun, 2006/09/03 - 3:26pm.

Yes, Les, that's all the more reason to have remained focused on Afghanistan instead of opening the Pandora's box of Iraq.  The United States would probably still have the blessing - and help - of the civilized world in its enterprise had the administration not squandered it.

I believe the reason given for the eradication of the opium poppies was the same one used for the acts you mentioned;  it was contrary to their religion so it had to go.  The CIA Factbook lists opium as the country's largest cash crop as of August, 2006.  They mention that the nation has reserves of natural gas and several valuable mineral resources, but these require better that tenth century technology to exploit.

It seems that they, just as most Americans, are willing to sacrifice religious or moral principles if the opportunity for wealth is great enough to finance "The Cause".

I'm afraid Mr. Bush has only succeeded in creating recruiting posters for that cause.

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