U.S. Turns a Bline Eye to Opium in Afghan Town
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/world/asia/21marja.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&src=ig
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American Marines in an opium poppy field in Marja, Afghanistan, last month. The military decided not to destroy the fields.
KABUL, Afghanistan — The effort to win over Afghans on former Taliban turf in Marja has put American and NATO commanders in the unusual position of arguing against opium eradication, pitting them against some Afghan officials who are pushing to destroy the harvest.
From Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal on down, the military’s position is clear: “U.S. forces no longer eradicate,” as one NATO official put it. Opium is the main livelihood of 60 to 70 percent of the farmers in Marja, which was seized from Taliban rebels in a major offensive last month. American Marines occupying the area are under orders to leave the farmers’ fields alone.
“Marja is a special case right now,” said Cmdr. Jeffrey Eggers, a member of the general’s Strategic Advisory Group, his top advisory body. “We don’t trample the livelihood of those we’re trying to win over.”
United Nations drug officials agree with the Americans, though they acknowledge the conundrum. Pictures of NATO and other allied soldiers “walking next to the opium fields won’t go well with domestic audiences, but the approach of postponing eradicating in this particular case is a sensible one,” said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, who is in charge of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime here.
more at link...
Gotta love the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. That's exactly what it is. NATO provides the security, the IMF launders the money and the UN provides the passports for international drug running, sex slave and child trafficking.
The US military are just pawns, used as a world police force provided by our government under the guise of spreading democracy, being played in a global game of Risk by a super-rich corporate/aristocracy elite known as the NWO. They officially took over America through the creation of the Federal Reserve and the installation of their first puppet, Woodrow Wilson. We've been in war and debt ever since.
That's why most founding fathers spoke out against foreign entanglements. Even Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex in his farewell address. Kennedy, they shot him and if Obama can't get us into Iran, they'll shoot too (or at least graze him). That's why its so important to break out of the left/right paradigm; its controlled opposition mediated by the media...get it? Its fake, just like Al-CIA-duh. Think Avatar, except they don't turn blue, they grow beards and learn Arabic.
"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, (I conjure you to believe me fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government."
George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
KABUL, Afghanistan — The effort to win over Afghans on former Taliban turf in Marja has put American and NATO commanders in the unusual position of arguing against opium eradication, pitting them against some Afghan officials who are pushing to destroy the harvest.
From Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal on down, the military’s position is clear: “U.S. forces no longer eradicate,” as one NATO official put it. Opium is the main livelihood of 60 to 70 percent of the farmers in Marja, which was seized from Taliban rebels in a major offensive last month. American Marines occupying the area are under orders to leave the farmers’ fields alone.
“Marja is a special case right now,” said Cmdr. Jeffrey Eggers, a member of the general’s Strategic Advisory Group, his top advisory body. “We don’t trample the livelihood of those we’re trying to win over.”
United Nations drug officials agree with the Americans, though they acknowledge the conundrum. Pictures of NATO and other allied soldiers “walking next to the opium fields won’t go well with domestic audiences, but the approach of postponing eradicating in this particular case is a sensible one,” said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, who is in charge of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime here.
more at link...
Gotta love the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. That's exactly what it is. NATO provides the security, the IMF launders the money and the UN provides the passports for international drug running, sex slave and child trafficking.
The US military are just pawns, used as a world police force provided by our government under the guise of spreading democracy, being played in a global game of Risk by a super-rich corporate/aristocracy elite known as the NWO. They officially took over America through the creation of the Federal Reserve and the installation of their first puppet, Woodrow Wilson. We've been in war and debt ever since.
That's why most founding fathers spoke out against foreign entanglements. Even Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex in his farewell address. Kennedy, they shot him and if Obama can't get us into Iran, they'll shoot too (or at least graze him). That's why its so important to break out of the left/right paradigm; its controlled opposition mediated by the media...get it? Its fake, just like Al-CIA-duh. Think Avatar, except they don't turn blue, they grow beards and learn Arabic.
"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, (I conjure you to believe me fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government."
George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
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