Afghanistan ‘cements’ status as top heroin source.
By on Aug 4th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Afghanistan ‘cements’ status as top heroin source.
Afghanistan “will produce another record poppy harvest this year that cements its status as the world’s near-sole supplier of the heroin source, yet a furious debate over how to reverse the trend is stalling proposals to cut the crop, U.S. officials say.”
View Most Popular
Advertisement
What We're About
What We're Fighting For
What We're Fighting Against
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Bachmann
Beck
Boehner
Business
Civil Rights
Congress
Corporate Ethics
Dobbs
Economy
Education
Election
Energy
Environment
Ethics
Fox News
Gingrich
Global Warming
Health Care
Hoffman
Immigration
International Relations
Iraq
Justice
LGBT
Lieberman
Limbaugh
Media
Military
O'Reilly
Obama
Palin
Pelosi
Politics
Race
Radical Right
Religion
Sports
Steele
Stimulus
Tea Parties
Tea Party
Terrorism
Veterans
Women's Rights
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Reports
In-depth studies on select topics
Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.
ArchivesBlog Roll
Hecka of a job bushie. Way to keep your eye on the ball, putz
August 4th, 2007 at 5:33 pmGrowing heroin over there, so we don’t have to grow it here.
August 4th, 2007 at 5:34 pmWoo-Hoo! They’re Number One! They’re Number One!
August 4th, 2007 at 5:35 pmThe Taliban had reduced the opium crop to precisely nil.
When we attacked Afghanistan, America bombed from the air while the CIA paid, armed and equipped the dispirited warlord drug barons – especially those grouped in the Northern Alliance – to do the ground occupation. We bombed the Taliban and their allies into submission, while the warlords moved in to claim the spoils. Then we made them ministers.
President Karzai is a good man. He has never had an opponent killed, which may not sound like much but is highly unusual in this region and possibly unique in an Afghan leader. But nobody really believes he is running the country. He asked America to stop its recent bombing campaign in the south because it was leading to an increase in support for the Taliban. The United States simply ignored him. Above all, he has no control at all over the warlords among his ministers and governors, each of whom runs his own kingdom and whose primary concern is self-enrichment through heroin.
August 4th, 2007 at 5:35 pmPHOTOPLAY FLASHBACK to 2003:
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/11/con03322.html
by yours truly
August 4th, 2007 at 5:37 pmBritain is protecting the biggest heroin crop of all time
Heres a Fantastic read
How can this have happened, and on this scale? The answer is simple. The four largest players in the heroin business are all senior members of the Afghan government – the government that our soldiers are fighting and dying to protect.
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=469983&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=
August 4th, 2007 at 5:38 pmBush wants an increase in Opium production, because otherwise the poppy crop in Afghanistan would be eradicated.
August 4th, 2007 at 5:43 pmWeed Fields of Afghanistan found by HAPPY US Troops
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5db_1179037389
August 4th, 2007 at 5:43 pmA Modest Proposal:
Sell the poppies to China. There they can process it into opium that can be smoked. They have experience in this.
China then exports the opium to the United States via free trade. American businesses flood the market with advertising and cheap, cheap opium. The underground drug trafficking in the United States cannot compete with the subsidized opium, and they begin to disappear.
Opium smoking becomes super cool in the U.S. Brands such as Opie appeal to the younger crowd. Appeals to Hispanics include the Amapola brand.
Afghanistan finds its new “oil.” George H. W. “Poppy” Bush sits on the Board of International Poppy Growers.
There is no end to what can be done with the right capitalistic vision.
August 4th, 2007 at 5:45 pmOur “War on Drugs” is producing cheaper smack but we control one of the world’s major sources of crude oil and gas prioces are still at near-records highs.
Considering the Bush administration’s track record of incompetence, maybe we should declare a “War on Oil” and have our government take over the drug business.
August 4th, 2007 at 5:49 pmI saw a documentary a while back on this issue, which is actually rather difficult. When farmers are simply shut down from growing poppies, they have nothing else to turn to, and end up joining the Taliban or al Qaeda. So eradicating it completely comes back to bite us.
A Nobel prize winner for medicine has proposed a program that would legalize growing the poppies, then help Afghans set up factories to produce low cost morphine and codeine to sell in Africa. They could continue drawing income from poppies, and Africa would get desperately needed medicine at an affordable price.
Guess how the drug companies have reacted to his idea.
August 4th, 2007 at 5:53 pmBush needs to focus less on Iraq and more on Afghanistan. He should focus more resources and troops to Afghanistan which is the real war on terror, unlike Iraq which had nothing to do with 9-11 or bin Laden. Bush should also reopen the CIA unit meant to find bin Laden. It never should have been closed down. Bush took his eye off bin Laden at Tora Bora when he outsourced the job to find him to Afghan warlords. He should have sent in reinforcements and let our troops find and kill bin Laden. Because of Bush’s incompetence, al Qaeda is back to its original strength since before 9-11 according to the latest NIE report. That is unacceptable.
August 4th, 2007 at 5:57 pmLaszlo Panaflex – great Idea
another would be to give the stuff free to junkies via the national Health
( would cost £1 a day ). that way they dont have to steal £400 a day or rob, kill, steal from old grannies etc etc etc
The street dealers would be out of business overnight (and some Dodgy goverment agencies like diplomats carrying 25 kilos in at a time)
seeing as shop lifting , is only one tenth the actual theft from the economy the other 9 tenths is white collar crime
August 4th, 2007 at 5:59 pmAs I remember it, when Osama b. Laden was in power, he had cut the local production. Perhaps if we used diplomacy and helped the people address their problems…..
Kind of reminds me of a cartoon (Bloom County, I think) where a bum comes up and pitches the idea that if he isn’t helped, he’ll turn to drugs and take up X thousand dollars. So wouldn’t it be cheaper to give him a few dollars now.
August 4th, 2007 at 6:07 pmGood job Bush/Cheney!!! Incompetence at it’s finest.
August 4th, 2007 at 6:11 pmAnother thread the trolls won’t touch…
August 4th, 2007 at 6:33 pmJeesh, Bush should hire Osama and the Taliban as Drug Czars and also he should get Mitt Romney and Hezbollah as head of Health and Human Services.
-GSD
August 4th, 2007 at 6:37 pmHow can this have happened, and on this scale? The answer is simple. The four largest players in the heroin business are all senior members of the Afghan government – the government that our soldiers are fighting and dying to protect.
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/ pages/ live/ articles/ news/ news.html?in_article_id=469983&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=
Comment by Tobey Tall
This sounds just like when in Vietnam, I knew Air America pilots who flew Opum out of Laos for the generals there, so they would continue to fight for us.
Also, we had a lot of hooked GI’s there in the 69-71 time frame. Hope that doesn’t start happening to our troops!
August 4th, 2007 at 6:40 pmLet’s see, 6 years after 9/11, no Osama, more heroin, still fighting in Afghanistan, Russia and China are becoming economic powerhouses, Pakistan and Lebanon, have melted into semi-failed states, Iraq is now Harvard to Al Qa*da, the French are selling missiles to Libya, Iran is thumbing their nose at the US, Trent Lott is running away from Washington DC because terrorist attacks are imminent and the US infrastructure that was built by our parents and grandparents is collapsing and the stock market is primed for a total collapse too.
Mission accomplished.
-GSD
August 4th, 2007 at 6:41 pmComment by Administrator1
My CIA name in 1963 was “Poppy” because it was so unusual to be a father. [sarcasm]
August 4th, 2007 at 6:48 pmAnother stunning victory for the Chimpy administration.
August 4th, 2007 at 6:48 pmMmmm…. can’t beat good smack.
August 4th, 2007 at 6:56 pmHere’s a theme song for the trolls.
August 4th, 2007 at 7:39 pmBUSH ABOLISHED BOTH 4TH AND 5TH AMENDMENTS?! I’m serious… someone posted this on a social networking site. It looks awfully true. Read this….
http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=3329
August 4th, 2007 at 8:09 pmYou’ve probably all seen this by now.
Senate endorses expanded wiretap powers
August 4th, 2007 at 8:19 pmproposals to cut the crop…
what, is it a choice of talcum or corn starch or what?
August 4th, 2007 at 8:20 pm…
You’ve probably all seen this by now.
Senate endorses expanded wiretap powers
Comment by Keith H. — August 4, 2007 @ 8:19 pm
Yep. Any Dems, and all Repubs, who voted for this need to be gone next election.
August 4th, 2007 at 8:21 pmthe solution is simple: buy it all up…
August 4th, 2007 at 8:22 pmdestroy what’s not needed medicinally…
just pay for it… it’s the least we can do…
…
Yep. Any Dems, and all Repubs, who voted for this need to be gone next election.
Comment by Zooey
Feinstein and Webb got an earful from me today. Not that they care….after all neither of them are up for re-election. But we won’t forget.
August 4th, 2007 at 8:33 pmAnother record poppy crop in Afghanistan? They must really like bagels over there.
August 4th, 2007 at 8:38 pmActually, when I was but a lad, doctors would prescribe Coke syrup (which at the time included cocaine in its ingredients) as a headache, earache and sore throat medicine. They knew at the time that aspirin could cause internal bleeding in small children while cocaine did not. The current crop of non-prescription pain relievers share the same defect. I often wonder what will happen when the right discovers that aspirin was originally derived from the bark of yews.
August 4th, 2007 at 8:49 pmThe guy I referred to above (#11) is winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Dr. John Polanyi. Here’s piece he wrote last year:
There’s a way to end Afghanistan’s and the world’s pain
And some more info on the proposal.
August 4th, 2007 at 9:01 pmPres Bush: Growing heroin over there, so we don’t have to grow it over here.
Once again, heckuva job! Another mission accomplished!!
August 4th, 2007 at 9:04 pmre#30 Correction
Asprin(Salicylic acid) comes from the bark of the Willow tree.
The cancer drug Taxol comes from the bark of the Yew tree.
August 4th, 2007 at 9:19 pmComment by Laszlo Panaflex — August 4, 2007 @ 9:01 pm
Great link. The problem is, the people profiting from the illegal drug trade do not want a plentiful supply of inexpensive pain killers. For that matter, neither does PHARMA.
August 4th, 2007 at 9:21 pmThere is a component of opium called noscapine. Noscapine is easy to extract, and for years has been used in cough syrups. It is non narcotic, and not addictive. It has also been proven to be highly effective against prostate and other cancers.
Can’t have that getting around. People might try to use it.
I’m sure that RFKjr is happy, keeps his supply readily available. Why couldn’t he just be a drunk like Uncle Ted?
August 4th, 2007 at 9:28 pmAfghanistan has always been a hot spot for opium. What else is new, libs? Bush liberated that country. History will look favorably upon him.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:05 pmThis is old news. My daughter was stationed in Afghan and she said you could get drugs cheap real cheap. Yes cigarettes are more expensive then cocaine. I wondered why so many soldiers told me they wanted to go to Afghan and not Iraq. Looks like the drug business will be bigger then the oil business. Cheney should start investing in drugs and leave the oil.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:13 pmThe farmers in Afghanistan need alternative crops. They used to grow sugar beets. Their only beet processing plant, in Baghlan, was destroyed in the wars. So you’d think the US and the UN would be busy building new beet processing plants. That is if they really want to do something about the problem. Sadly, that doesn’t appear to be the case. But at least the Baglan plant was rebuilt and put online by late 2006 as best I can find. No thanks to US, this was a project by Germans and Afghanis. This one plant can only process a small percentage of national sugar need. What are we doing with all that reconstruction money? Does any of it ever actually help real people?
August 4th, 2007 at 10:13 pmComment by Dr. Dog — August 4, 2007 @ 10:05 pm
Bush didn’t liberate shit in Afghanistan. He shook things up a bit, failed to catch bin Laden, and is now ignoring the whole situation — allowing the Taliban to make a comeback.
Bush World: SNAFU.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:14 pmBush didn’t liberate shit in Afghanistan.
Comment by Zooey
Girls are now going to school in Afghanistan.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:17 pmGirls are now going to school in Afghanistan.
Comment by Dr. Dog — August 4, 2007 @ 10:17 pm
For the time being, maybe.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:19 pmHistory will look favorably upon him.
Comment by Dr. Dog — August 4, 2007 @ 10:05 pm
______________
“George Bush was the best thing to ever happen to us.”
Source: Osama bin Laden, History of the Progress of the Al Qaeda Movement (Islamabad: AQ Press, 2015), page 5.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:22 pm“George Bush was the best thing to ever happen to us.â€
Source: Osama bin Laden, History of the Progress of the Al Qaeda Movement (Islamabad: AQ Press, 2015), page 5.
Comment by Typical Defeatest Democrat — August 4, 2007 @ 10:22 pm
Heh. Funny, that’s what the trolls say…. :-D
August 4th, 2007 at 10:23 pmMaybe they’re going to school, maybe not. If they are it’s a dangerous endeavor.
>>Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, September 23, 2006; Page A10
SHEIKHABAD, Afghanistan — In a small, sunlit parlor last week, 20 little girls seated on rush mats sketched a flower drawn on the blackboard. In a darker interior room, 15 slightly older girls memorized passages from the Koran, reciting aloud. Upstairs was a class of teenage girls, hidden from public view.
The location of the mud-walled home school is semi-secret. Its students include five girls who once attended another home school nearby that was torched three months ago. The very existence of home-based classes is a direct challenge to anti-government insurgents who have attacked dozens of schools across Afghanistan in the past year, especially those that teach girls.
Girls are taught at a home in a village in Wardak province. Taliban attacks have targeted dozens of schools in the past year, especially those teaching girls. (Photos By Pamela Constable — The Washington Post)
“We are scared. All the home schools are scared. If I even hear a dog bark, I don’t open the gate. I go up on the roof to see who is there,” said Mohammed Sulieman, 49, who operates home schools for girls in several villages in the Sheikhabad district of Wardak province.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:25 pmComment by onoclea — August 4, 2007 @ 10:25 pm
Sounds like the type of “liberation” with which Dr Dog would be comfortable.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:27 pmAt least RFKjr is happy, his supply is safe. Why can’t he just be a drunk like Unkle Teddy?
August 5th, 2007 at 12:32 amAfghanistan was tremendously better off in 1979 before WE started to massively fund the fundamentalist Islamists in order for them to become a threat to the progressive government in order to cause a reaction from the Soviet Union—drawing them into a war. The fundamentalist Islamists were our proxy army. Read William Blum. We did this in many countries.
August 5th, 2007 at 12:56 amWhy shouldn’t it have been shut down ?
It was 20-50 people sitting behind desks who served as a clearinghouse for all information when nobody else gave a shit about finding bin Laden. It’s been made kind of redundant now, evidenced by the fact you weren’t aware it was reopened.
You may as well say that 3 man thinktank on global warming from the 1990s should never have been shut down. Ain’t like they’re really needed any more now is it.
Or maybe you weren’t suggesting that this minuscule resource was needed to compliment the massive resources now dedicated to that same task, making that unit redundant.
Maybe you were suggesting it was needed based on the results it achieved. If so, please visit here:
http://www.sept11thmemorial.com/
Because there’s one thing all the agencies and all the 3rd party analysts agree on when it comes to the question of how the US failed to prevent 9/11.
The wall. The bin Laden unit. That knew the al Qaeda members who entered the US had come from a terrorist convention. And didn’t bother to tell the FBI. Because they treated your safety like a pissing contest.
Yes, bring back that. It worked out just so well the first time, didn’t it.
Look how many posts here talk about “the war on drugs”. You’d look just as retarded complaining that they stopped printing that one “Say No To Drugs” sticker from the 1990s that was a misprint and said “Say No1 to Drugs” like that was going to do something meaningful.
August 5th, 2007 at 1:59 amBut… but… Clinton! Carter! FDR!!
August 5th, 2007 at 2:36 amThe TP toady cry that every negative news piece is “Bushs fault” is as lame as the troll “Clinton did it” knee jerk reaction.
The “War on Drugs” in the US has not affected demand but has affected supply. The increased market price is attractive to small farmers and been a cash machine to fund covert operations of the CIA. It is no suprise that the farmers have returned to poppy growing.
Just as Prohibition needed a constitutional amendment for its legitimacy so should the prohibition of drugs. The fact that one does not exist leads me to the conclusion that many federal laws outlawing drugs are unconstitutional. Even former SC Justice Sandra Day O’Connor argued that this was a states rights issue.
If the federal gov is illegally interfering in commerce in the US how much more illegal is that same interference in other nations?
The “commerce clause” debate is an interesting one which should be addressed more often on this site because true “liberals” should be concerned with the massive power grab of the fed gov over the last 70 yrs which is the cause of much of the disaffection of persons on the left and the right. A reversal of this trend towards a powerful federal gov would indeed be “progress” yet those same justices who are likely to bring about this reversal are seen as enemies here at TP.
August 5th, 2007 at 6:37 amBring back the Taliban! Bring back Saddam!
Liberals who’d rather have less drugs than human rights. Now there’s a laugher.
August 5th, 2007 at 11:44 amNo amount of distraction, no amount of denial, no strawman argument, will take away from the fact that the sorry state of Afghanistan is, in fact, part of Bush’s legacy.
Pres Bush promised that Afghans would know the US’ generosity, that his administration would help Afghanistan attain democracy and freedom. It wasn’t long ago that Pres Bush talked about how terrorists use failed states as a “safe haven”, and that Afghanistan was one of those failed states.
Well, today Afghanistan is still one of those failed states; where corruption, warlordism are rampant, women’s rights are nonexistent, and war lords use the drug trade to finance their operations. The generosity Pres Bush mentioned so often in his lofty speeches about Afghanistan’s “progress” didn’t materialise in actual help that would lift Afghanistan out its status as a sorry “failed state” -and potential “safe haven for terrorists”.
No amount of denial will change any of that. Heckuvajob indeed.
August 5th, 2007 at 12:36 pmAmerica cements role as world’s great exporter of:
hatred
murder
arms
weapons of mass destruction
weapons of mass deception
ego-driven madness
bullshit
cultism
religious-addiction world-destruction totalitarian cultism
brainwashed corruption
dishonor
disrespect for Mother Earth
disrespect for the inherent UNITY OF MANKIND which is LITERALLY ONE FAMILY
and other assorted lies, distortions, illusions, and forms of ego-centric stupidity, superficiality, and weakness of human spirit
Therefore, the people, as one great WHOLE humanity, must arise to dissent this madness and awaken vast great wisdom and healing for our SPECIES
August 5th, 2007 at 9:24 pmI, Al Goracle III, ♥ HEROIN!!!!
August 6th, 2007 at 1:12 amTry to imagine, just for a moment just how much- drug dealing, gun running, money laundering, political corruption, social degeneration, human trafficking, HIV spread, death, destruction, and grief is linked to 7,286 tons, or rather 95% of the worlds heroin supply.
August 6th, 2007 at 1:43 amJust try to imagine…
This is the elephant in the room/weapon of mass destruction no on is talking about!
I could be mistaken, but I’m fairly certain America is pretty much the controlling military and political authority in Afghanistan. That would make us the drug dealers!
There is an enormously vast worldwide underground economy being facilitated/perpetrated by I wonder who…
HR 3222 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2008
“For drug interdiction and counter-drug activities of the Department of Defense, for transfer to appropriations available to the Department of Defense for military personnel of the reserve components serving under the provisions of title 10 and title 32, United States Code; for operation and maintenance; for procurement; and for research, development, test and evaluation, $945,772,000.”
Your elected officials(Repubs and Demos) voted for it.
August 6th, 2007 at 2:24 pm