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Oct
3
2007US ANTI-DRUGS MAVEN RECITES WHITE HOUSE SCRIPT IN PAKISTAN
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DEA Chief Spins Fairy Tale of Pakistan’s “Success”
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Heroin whitewash: Bushites cannot – or will not - confront the industry’s big traffickers
Hats off to the White House: even in the midst of an unprecedented boom, in southwest Asia, in the refining and trafficking of heroin, Washington’s counter-narcotics officials are still capable of generating side-splitting laughter from both the industry’s perpetrators and their pursuers in international law enforcement.
On a visit to Islamabad last week, the head of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, Karen Tandy, pronounced Pakistan a success story in the war on drugs – going so far as to claim that the country is nearly free of opium poppies.
This revelation will come as a considerable surprise to the enterprising refiners of Pakistan’s tribal agencies, bordering Afghanistan. Poppy growers in the neighbouring Afghan province of Nangahar, for example, are still marketing the opium gum extracted from their crops in the bazaars on the Pakistan border.
While buyer-refiners are in no short supply in Nangahar, the best prices are often offered by middlemen collecting stock for the larger, semi-permanent refineries concealed within Pakistan’s semi-autonomous (read lawless) tribal agencies. Poppies flourish locally, contrary to Tandy's assertions, but Pakistan's big drug Khans are as eager as their Afghan counterparts to acquire as much high-quality stock as possible.
As well, Ms. Tandy’s script departs from reality on the rather significant background issue of trafficking lanes, which criss-cross Pakistani territory wherever road, rail and airline routes reach out for rich foreign markets.
The DEA chief managed to point a non-specific finger or two at some leading Afghan villains, notably the Taliban. "These traffickers provide a lifeline for the insurgents,” she said, referring to the funds generated for the Taliban’s war effort. But here, too, Washington’s version of reality overlooks key facts.
First, the Taliban continue to enjoy sanctuary and support from elements of the Pakistan military’s inter-services intelligence branch, the ISI – a situation Ms. Tandy’s boss in the White House has proven incapable of correcting.
Second, General Musharraf has named the former head of the ISI, Gen. Kiani, to be his successor as army chief. In other words, he’s promoting the official who has maintained the Taliban/al Qaeda status quo in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
Third, “these traffickers” include senior officials and cronies of the US-backed Karzai regime – about whom Ms. Tandy remained silent during her visit to Kabul last week, even while Karzai’s vice-president, Ahmed Zia Massoud, spoke openly of his boss’s need to weed out these criminals.
As skyreporter suggested last week, let’s all have a look at the DEA’s website, and its list of most-wanted international drug fugitives.
Lots of Columbian faces, but no Afghans.
Question: when will Ms. Tandy’s superiors scribble a few scraps of reality into their Afghan narrative? Or would that happen only if and when there’s a sudden change of course in the direction of genuine results…
Well, technically she's correct. There are no poppies in Afghanistan or Pakistan right now. Harvest is over! All that is left is the extracted gum and the heroin. There won't be any more poppies until next growing season.
It was a Houstonian who taught me about that way of speaking, a few years back. Hmmmm. So, millions of Americans will now make the assumption that my country is really doing something about the heroin production and trafficking and, if pinned, Karen Tandy can get a baffled look on her face and say, "But I was talking about the Poppies".
Karen Tandy - another Texas bush puppet. Here's a link that I found.
http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/08/03/canCongres...
"Question: when will Ms. Tandy’s superiors scribble a few scraps of reality into their Afghan narrative?"
Has democracy EVER been a reality?
Arthur;
Thanks for bringing real news to the West about Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan is a looming issue in the political situation in Canada right now.
I've been reading about the "Poppies for Medicine" idea and wonder if you could comment on the possible effects of this. It seems that it might be a better solution than crop-dusting as proposed by the Americans.
I like to try to follow the money to find answers when they are not otherwise readily apparent. I suspect the reason that the American administration might be in opposition to the "Poppies for Medicine" idea would be caused by undue pressure from heavy contributions by American pharmaceutical firms to keep the legitimate sources of opiates in their hands. Also is the third world unable to have the pain relieving opiates they need because of a constraint on supply? And is this constraint on supply caused by American pharmaceutical firms?
Canadians need to have more information about these ideas so that we can make better decisions about our political leadership with the impending vote on the Speech from the Throne and an upcoming decision on the role of our Canadian military in Afghanistan.
Two other issues concern me - why can Karzai make speeches to Canadian audiences with a speech written by Canadian bureaucrats and yet there is no hue and cry about this being politically motivated? and Why is there no mention of the dismissal of Malalai Joyal from the Afghan parliament in media sources.
Deb: How many Arthur Kents do you know?
The media is big business in Canda and the government over the years has allowed a few "Magnets" to control the freedom of the press.
You can expect little in the way of independant reporting from mainstream canadian press. The canadian press has no pride or honor. Just look how Clyde from Alberta ran his press conferences for years and the news media took it.
Not enough. Look at how successful harper has been at stiffiling comment from his causcus and getting away with it. The Canadian press has been bought out.
There are a few reporters at the CBC, but they are having a hard time as well getting the depth of the true word out.
The fact is we have a guided democracy in Canada and we deserve it because we have taken it for granted.