Language

Independent at it again

Submitted November 19, 2004 - 10:48 am by Simon Binks
Al, thought I'd draw your attention to today’s Independent, it would seem the new front, in the war on drugs, is now official;

 Afghanistan: a nation abandoned to drugs

And more

Where every farmer grows opium because they would be ‘fools’ to grow anything else

Both articles, focus on the fact that farmers have little choice but to farm poppy’s as no other crop holds sufficient value, and the Afghan government’s reluctance to tackle the problems at the highest levels due to corruption.

The paper states “most experts in Afghanistan believe it is a more significant factor in the continuing violence and instability than the Taliban insurgency."

Before going on to say that the UN wants to bring in US and British forces to “destroy farmers crops on a mass scale before they can be harvested."

The paper cites yesterdays UN office of drugs and crime (nothing like a name for broadcasting intent) which “reveals that the engine of economic growth is opium production”.

The paper informs a no doubt alarmed Afghanistan, of the US promise to “spend $780million next year on a war against drugs” apparently “some money would be will be spent on alternative livelihoods for farmers, but most will probably go on measures such as spraying poppy fields, currently being discussed in Washington, and transporting drugs barons to US courts to stand trial.”

It’s little consolation that perhaps the Independent almost gets the point when it quotes an aid worker, “Nobody wants to live in a narco-state but if we saw a similar commitment to dealing with people at the top as with the powerless opium farmer, a lot of people would have more faith in a war on drugs.”

Nice to see the failings so oft reported by Nacronews continue to fall on deaf and stupid ears.

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