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Marines ignore Afghan opium so as not to upset the locals
rawstory.com — The Marines of Bravo Company's 1st Platoon sleep beside a grove of poppies. Troops in the 2nd Platoon playfully swat at the heavy opium bulbs while walking through the fields. Afghan laborers scraping the plant's gooey resin smile and wave.
Notyavgkat- 47 diggs
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- imacommi, on 05/08/2008, -1/+7They should be allowed to grow whatever they want. Marines are not drug police, they shouldn't be involved in the eratication of this cash crop, and neither should the government until they come up with a plan to help the farmers grow a different crop that will be equally as profitable. This crop can be used for lots of legitimate purposes as well as illigitimate purposes, but the question we really need to be asking is: Why on earth do we want to go policing everybody else and causing strife because we have a totally backward drug policy
- carterartist, on 05/08/2008, -3/+2I think you missed a part of the article, the part where the poppies are sold and the money helps support the terrorists... that's the problem.
- imacommi, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4You do realize that under the taliban regime there was virtually no poppy grown in Afghanistan, right? Because I'm sure you also know that they opposed the opium trade and wouldn't allow others to grow poppy, right?
- PeppermintPig, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Much of the Taliban is/was against the growth, but there are always those people who seek a profit, and some of them are tied to terrorism.
The fear of drug funded terrorism is somewhat overblown, but that's besides the point. End the drug war and you'll destroy the high incentives and profits from growing these crops.
Resistance to the drug eradication is palpable, and the US really has no reason to be there doing this. - obliviousfool, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2The Taliban have supposedly come around to the beauty of drug profits, but they aren't the driving force in the decision. One of the reasons we invaded Afghanistan was to restore poppy production. That, and the pipeline thing. In this world, it is okay to have massive amounts of drug profits as long as you launder them through Wall Street!
- PeppermintPig, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Much of the Taliban is/was against the growth, but there are always those people who seek a profit, and some of them are tied to terrorism.
- kelt65, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6you mean the CIA?
- imacommi, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4You do realize that under the taliban regime there was virtually no poppy grown in Afghanistan, right? Because I'm sure you also know that they opposed the opium trade and wouldn't allow others to grow poppy, right?
- carterartist, on 05/08/2008, -3/+2I think you missed a part of the article, the part where the poppies are sold and the money helps support the terrorists... that's the problem.
- Surferess, on 05/08/2008, -0/+7Honestly, our own "War on Drugs" isn't going so well here in America. Ignoring this is probably a really good idea.
- AlwaysAwake, on 05/08/2008, -0/+8Their ultimate bosses are in the drug business. It moves on military and Federal Gov.t contracted aircraft landing in US airbases to avoid detection. The network at the US airbases complete the transfer to distributors.
- lazerus9, on 05/08/2008, -0/+6Pipelines and Poppies! These are things that make Afghanistan important!
- debunkthelies, on 05/08/2008, -1/+5The problem is not the crops it's who buys the crop. If the drug companies were the buyers there would be no problem, heroin is not the only byproduct of opium there is also codeine that is used in many pain medications and cough preparations. Once again it's all about politics.
- greenm1981, on 05/08/2008, -1/+2I agree. If the UN could work with Big-Pharma in a direct purchasing type agreement it could take the Taliban out of the loop and decimate their revenue source. Afghans don't enjoy growing poppies, but they are stuck in a system of path dependency. They are required to grow it because it brings in income and the Taliban force them to.
- obliviousfool, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1That was done before. Turkey and India switched over to growing poppies for medicine with international help ages ago. Now those are businesses, and I'd wager that the market is fairly saturated for that use. I'm sure the Indian and Turkish farmers like the prices they've been getting for their legal poppies!
- Whoopteedoo, on 05/08/2008, -0/+5Imagine that, the government using our military to guard its illegal drug operation. Can't get better than the US Marines for that job, can ya? The Taliban had nearly eradicated the opium poppy when they ran the country, but with our help, the "locals" can now make buckets of money growing it for us. The US government has always been involved in the importation and sales of illegal drugs into this country, to line the pockets of the elite, and to fund projects that would never be approved by the Congress or the American people.
Same *****, different country.
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