This week an attempt was made on Vice President Cheney's life. Two weeks ago it was revealed that Afghanistan is now responsible for 90% of the world's opium, which is up from 50% last year. The war lords now have more control than ever before. The money from the opium trade is going to fund al qaeda groups all over the world; it's also making it into the hands of the Quds Forces, a branch of the Iranian Republican Gaurd Corp (IRGC), which is supplying Iraqi insurgents with the mostly deadly IED utilized thus far in Iraq-- the explosively formed penetrator (EFP). These EFPs can pierce the armor of humvees, and can be easily fired from road side or a shop in the middle of no where. American forces are also being fired on along the territory which borders Pakistan; this is leading to casualties as well.

Remid me again of why we diverted resources from Afghanistan to go into Iraq, one more time?

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Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.
Sigmund Freud

WMD, duh.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that. -George Carlin

and Saddam's links to al Qaida

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Free hat

and all the 9-11 hijackers that came from Iraq.

The difference is that Afganistan has people and leadership that wants to be free and will fight for their freedom (they have done that in the past on many occasions).

This is something Iraq does not have; the will nor the leadership to be truly independent.

I wonder what it will take for the Iraqi people to realize this fight is about their children's freedom.

This is aside from all the political right/wrong reasons why we went there. You would think a nation would want to be stable and independent right?

They make no effort to do so even with all the tax payers' money we have given them. I realize in the end this is a religious battle but think of the kids who are struggling through this.

Can you imagine us just staying under British control forever as a Colony and not even have a desire to be independent?

Jake

I disagree. Iraq, as a nation, does have the will and the leadership; the current puppet government may not, but it is there. Don't forget that this is a very old civilization.

I believe that they DO realize that this is about their children and they DO want to be stable. There is powerful external elements that want to see Iraq presented by the West destabilize and fail. They are aiding less powerful, but relevant, internal elements who are struggling to create Iraq in their image. This is a tear down/rebuild operation that can't start until every vestige of Americana is removed.

This is a religious battle only insofar as religion is a political organization. The religious appearance is largely pretext designed to obfuscate and rally support.

Apples and oranges...the Middle East has already unyoked themselves from British/mainland colonialism; much of the hostility we see today is exacerbated by ill drawn lines of demarcation from that era.

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Free hat

this ties in nicely to the philadelphia murders thread. the drug war has not only devastated our urban neighborhoods but has dstabilized many a foreign country. We are forcing Afghanistan to keep opium illegal, it's only cash crop, and as a result, war lords pay no taxes and have more money than the government. If it were legal, it coudl be taxed and there woudl be legal employment. there is no future in legal afghanistan as long as america forces it to ban the production of opium.

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"You down wit OPM?"
Fumo: "Yeah, you know me!"

I actually came across a few articles on this. It's a shame! I can't imagine why the US would put its forces in harms way by allowing such a dumb policy to stay in effect. Opium-rich warlords have, essentially, a blank check with which to fund terrorism at home and abroad.

I mean, this policy is more than a little counter-intuitive.

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Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.
Sigmund Freud

Ya think maybe the US could encourage the warlords to grow FOOD instead of sanctioning opium production? They grow drugs because they get a better price for it than they can for for food crops. The US farmers would rather they buy grain from our farmers so road blocks are put up. Check out this story. It is worth going to the NPR web site to listen

Nation
New Plan Calls for Buying Aid Foods Outside U.S.

by Dan Charles
All Things Considered, March 7, 2007 · The Bush administration wants to start buying some of the more than $1 billion in food commodities for its Food for Peace program in foreign countries, closer to where it's needed. The proposal threatens an alliance between agri-business and humanitarian organizations.

Its like when warlords in this Country grew tobacco, because it was more profitable than food. There still pushing that drug today.

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"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people".