US general wants West to buy Afghan drug crop to curb Taleban

[rec_report]

Just Say No: US general wants West to buy Afghan drug crop to curb Taleban 24 May 2007 Western nations should club together to buy Afghanistan’s drug crop and provide incentives to farmers to grow wheat instead, thereby starving the Taleban of funds, a US general said. General William Hobbins, who is advising on the Nato-led assault on Taleban strongholds in Afghanistan, said cash from heroin-producing poppies were paying for smuggled arms.
:eyes:
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More news here

[gatorboy]

1. This would be a good idea.

Considering the vast amount of cash we waste on Iraq. The amount we'd use to pay off farmers probably wouldn't make a dent on the budget.

Unfortunately, the Taliban would probably strong arm farmers into staying with the poppy crop.

[whistle]

2. That should use up about half of the $100 billion in supplemental funds

...which Congress just gave to Bush as a blank check and thus become the newest recruiting tool for the Pentagon :wtf:

[rec_report]

3. Also, there is this nugget:

Opium: Iraq's deadly new export --Amid the (US-engendered) anarchy, farmers begin to grow opium poppies, raising fears (and Bush's hopes) that the country could become a major heroin supplier. 23 May 2007 Farmers in southern Iraq have started to grow opium poppies in their fields for the first time, sparking fears that Iraq might become a serious drugs producer along the lines of Afghanistan. Rice farmers along the Euphrates, to the west of the city of Diwaniya, south of Baghdad, have stopped cultivating rice, for which the area is famous, and are instead planting poppies, Iraqi sources familiar with the area have told The Independent. (Iraq - Afghanistan. Who is the common factor? Bush, funding his war on (of) terror and his oil smuggling operations.)

Polar Bear

[Dora]

4. Didn't Clinton send cows?

I remember reading about efforts to change Afghanistan's agricultural emphasis from the opium poppy to dairy cattle instead. This was back in 2000-2001.

It failed, IIRC.

[ButterflyBlood]

5. not a bad idea actually

Certainly a better use of funds than all the money being wasted on Iraq now.

[Dhalgren]

6. I might be willing to go in on some quality Afghan. Where's the pick-up?

[UNCLE_Rico]

7. How does this make ANY sense?

WHAT, are these farmers going to accept LESS money for their (whether they're growing wheat or poppy)crop just because the US is giving it to them? I don't think so. So they'll have the SAME MONEY. And what, exactly, is to stop them from handing it over to the Taliban once they have it? What, the Tali aren't going to accept the farmers dirty US dollars direct from our government?

To me, this sounds like a handy front for raising some black ops dollars by turning around and massively profiting by distributing the poppies they just bought from the farmers (for WAY LESS than what they'd be worth) on the streets of Europe, Asia, and the USA.

I call BULLSHIT!

(and/or Shenanigans)