Comments for Marines ignore Afghan opium so as not to upset locals »
Posted By TechnologyExpert 1 year, 7 months ago in NewsThe 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.
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libsRfunnyComment removed: Hard Banned7 Replies
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walden31 year, 7 months ago
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Interesting dynamic. Legalize it all. Remove the power of the black market, but then of course we'd be killing a tens of billion $ industry. No more black funds to fund black ops, less $ spent on prisons, less $ spent on DOD, less $ spent on law enforcement.
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wtagg1 year, 7 months ago
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Ironically, this is the true conservative approach to the problem. The current approach has been attempted for almost 90 years with little or no return for the effort.
Let's see, what business would pursue such a program for 90 years with no return on investment or progress in solving the problem? Is our current approach part of the problem?
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walden31 year, 7 months ago
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There's been lots of returns to the: big daddy government, prison industry, the cops, the judges, those that make stuff to spy on us, the lawyers, the CIA and so on.
I'm more conservative than most Republican poseurs on this website.
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RickyDawkins1 year, 7 months ago
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walden31 year, 7 months ago
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walden31 year, 7 months ago
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Wolfie20071 year, 7 months ago
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Teech1 year, 7 months ago
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Walden: Regarding your comments on this issue, I strongly agree with you on all points.
I personally, however, prefer the word "decriminalize" as opposed to "legalize" even though the intent may be the same. We don't have to legalize something to simply not waste billions trying to enforce the unenforceable.
What's in a word? Sometimes a lot.
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walden31 year, 7 months ago
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It's too hard to put in one sentence. As for me I'm pro-freedom, pro death penalty, pro nuclear power, pro choice, anti-interventionist, small military, fiscally conservative, no longer police force of the world, anti imperial, pro government spending on new technologies and start up businesses, definitely pro business, pro second amendment, pro gay marriage, anything between consenting adults is fine by me, pro legalizing prostitution, I believe in the power of government, I love the flag, America and apple pie.
Forgot to mentions pro civil liberties and pro privacy against government intrusion into our private lives.
That's my idea of conservative.
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wtagg1 year, 7 months ago
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Those in power want to stay in power. My rep, Steve Latourette, was elected to the House in '94 with the class of Contract for America republicans. He supported term limits and pledged to not seek re-election in 2004. Needless to say, a broken promise. He has had his own Bill Clinton moment and he's still our rep. In many respects, the possibilities and potential that the '94 congress had have been gobbled up by governmental greed. It isn't an exclusive one party or another problem. It is a problem of the government. Governmental growth empowers the members of the government. Smaller government is not in their best interest in their desire for maintaining or growing power.
There is nothing conservative about the majority of today's republicans. I was excited about McCain in the late 90's. Today, I am appalled by what he has become.
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bubba21 year, 7 months ago
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Yes, legalize all drugs ... maybe with the possible exception of meth, because that stuff is so insidious and a much quicker path to death.
It is utterly insane for our OWN government to wage a war on drugs here and at the same time let Afghanistan freely produce opium.
But, I have a very cynical view of our "war on drugs". Politicians keep it going, via their self-righteous 'stand' of how evil these drugs are, when at the same time they get significant campaign contributions of laundered money from drug cartels.
Those cartels make billions and its all TAX FREE.
This situation with Afghanistan has to be on of the most blatant displays of hypocrisy by the self-serving Bush administration.
If this doesn't convince people how incompetent and crooked the Bush administration is, then I guess nothing will.
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DeadXXXManXXXTalkin1 year, 7 months ago
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well, it is of course all about money. The drug lords are especially vicious in Afghanistan. They extort money from Afghani Haliburton workers. A common practice is 'skinning' as punishment for nonpayment. A square shaped section of skin is cut from the back. And of course the more commonly known cropping of the fingers is also used.
The situation with the opium fields is difficult. A couple years ago, I remember reading about the US trying to pay off the war lords and chieftain types with incentives to stop growing poppies. ...and now?
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You really can't go into other people's countries and expect to get them behave like you want
I think the Russians were in Afghanistan 10 years before they collapsed. We're on 6, but of course Russia had some other stuff going on, but I wonder how long we can keep it up
BTW why do they 'need' to ignore the poppy fields from which illegal drugs come to America Kville?
Can't we bust them over there so we don't have to bust'em here?
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bubba21 year, 7 months ago
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"Can't we bust them over there so we don't have to bust'em here?"
For sure! If Bush can fight 'terrorism' over there so that we don't have to fight terrorism here, then the same logic should apply to the illegal drug trade.
Good one, DMT!!
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DeadXXXManXXXTalkin1 year, 7 months ago
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ty
war on terror
war on drugs
war is about killing, and I'm pretty sure you can't kill terror or drugs
That's probably why neither endeavor is working out too well
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I may add that 3 years ago the Afghani laborers got paid 6 USD a DAY by Haliburton, and then they had to pay some of that in extortion or risk beatings or skinning or finger cropping. That was 3 years ago when it was a relative's job to organize and process Afghani manual laborers at a major US base. They work in logistics now, getting the troops water and supplies, etc
I don't know what 6 bucks a day translates to over there. But it doesn't sound like a lot. I remember bringing it up when I first started posting on here and getting laughed at and disbelieved
I have this really good story but I can't tell it without feeling guilty. It's pretty hairy. Involves a foolish Paki truck driver, Afghani locals, and the wisdom of 'winning hearts and minds' on a very personal level. I know, I'm a tease
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getreal11 year, 7 months ago
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One of the biggest reason for war is lack of income. Opium although addicting, is a natural pain killer. The US should cut the drug smugglers out of the picture, let the crops get to full harvest, buy the crops, stockpile it and have a cheaper natural pain killer on hand. The locals will have their bread and butter. The drug lords are out their money and the crops go for the intended purpose of their creation. It would be a heck of a lot cheaper for the US to use that drug than the so called synthetic, version they have of it today. Our country don't have a whole lot of money, you know? Pain killer, is pain killer, when you are loaded with gun shot. Of course trading for the real thing might be too easy and save a life on the operating table, out in the field.
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unome21 year, 7 months ago
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Of course, one of the main reasons we went into Afganistan was because the Taliban was destroying the poppy fields. Opium and heroin revenue has created vast fortunes not for the growers or street peddlers but for those who can move it from country to country with no questions asked.
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markmawn21 year, 7 months ago
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Read and learn from someone who is there (a civilian).
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02222008/tran...
BILL MOYERS: To help fight the insurgents, right? What's happening to that money?
SARAH CHAYES: Well, we're paying a billion dollars a year to Pakistan, which is orchestrating the Taliban insurgency. So, it's actually US-taxpayer money that is paying for the insurgents, who are then killing, at the moment, Canadian troops. Now if I were the government of Germany or France, I'd have a hard time putting my troops in that kind of equation. I would demand from Washington, that Washington require a lot different behavior from Pakistan.
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