>> Yeah--you got it--Poppies...and now that the Warlords are back in >> charge the cash crop is back.
>Remember that it was the US which encouraged the Taliban to crack down >on the >cultivation of Afghanistan poppies. A gift of several million US >dollars convinced the Taliban to ban the farming of poppies, depriving >the Afghani >farmers of their livlihood, while not impacting the world >drug trade (the Taliban >wisely retained stock-piles of processed crop, >ready for price-fixing.) >Oil might have something to do with the US's interest in being >Afghanistan's puppeteer, but it is unlikely that opium does as well. Well, to be honest I don't know about the whole oil/drugs conspiracy thing. But I continue to point out (to those that will listen) that the circumstantial evidence is very good, and superficially it "appears" as if this is what's going on, and this appearence alone is of big concern. As for the drugs/Afghanistan thing, I don't necessarily think it would be the Federal government per se. If there's any truth to it, this would be where the CIA is wielding its guns-of-fun. In other words, the US government is by no means some large, monolithic entity...it has all sorts of compartments and factions. For instance, when that series of San Fransisco Examiner articles came out about the CIA targeting inner city areas for drug distribution, there were stories of the DEA arriving at a big bust, only to find the place cleaned out, apparently tipped off. And all signs pointed to the CIA. And indeed I often wonder what, for instance, NSA dudes think when they sniff out the CIA doing some dastardly deed (or vice-versa). Do they say "Shit--look at those CIA scumbags", or do they shut their mouths? (Or do they have special ultra discrete snoops who give periodic reports to the NSA chief, who merely nods his head sagely and silently...)
