Back to the Axis of Evil

Opium futures rose yesterday on news that Afghanistan, the worlds 3rd poorest country, has reported a sharp, though not record setting, increase of 64% in heroin exports for 2004. Ironically, the year that the United States and NATO had been in complete control of the country and, as President Bush will not let us forget, the famous year that a new Democracy was born. The country’s opium crop is now supplying about 87% of the world’s demand, up from 73% in 2003. Of course, a war doesn’t help the drug industry. To the US and NATO’s reassurance, Afghanistan failed to set a new record in terms of opium production. Well actually, it was disease and bad weather to blame for the non-record setting production. So much for our special forces locking down the drug crops.

As reported by The Nation, the mujahadeen warlords who the US once trusted to capture Osama Bin Laden are now working with Hamid Karzai’s support. They are the Afghan Military Forces supposed to maintain law and order instead they maintain full pockets and smuggle drugs. Once they have reaped their opium and marijuana, they report that these fields have been burned to the country enforcing this mandate, England.

I believe this can be one daunting task that our diplomats and the British should be concerned. What of the ancient and failing war on drugs. Christian Parenti’s report names names. It names locations. Yet the US installed government is running the whole show, with men offered government posts for being murderers, thieves, rapists, and anti-American spokesmen. What of these terrorist factions we are supposed to be fighting against? These are the terrorists that have the potential to poison and desecrate our future generations with the mafia they already have in place.

I was waiting to read about the IMF or the World Bank having had something to do with the situation in Afghanistan but alas, this is a country the United States bungled all on its own. It was one to thing to have the noble cause of democratizing a nation. However, where is the nobility of democratizing a nation yet allowing economic and social corruption not just to persist but also to grow?

Instead, our diplomats choose to ignore the threat of their coveted war on drugs, terror, and human rights violations and turn to the other point on the Axis of Evil. Political arms of terrorist groups are now gathering nuclear intelligence that is negative towards the state they are terrorizing. The United States is taking terrorist groups for their word on arms intelligence. Depending on our terrorist enemies to deliver us with intelligence? Is this not a form of enabling terrorists that this nation and this administration pride itself on fighting a war on? These terrorists are coincidentally in opposition to a political party in Iran. The Arabic word for Contras escapes me, though the irony that the Contras used to be in Nicaragua and we used to sell the arms Iran does not.

Iran-gate should be solved in due time though. With only a drop of the experience the ousted agents possessed, Porter Goss’ new crop of partisan intelligence officers surely will “not identify with, support or champion opposition to the administration or its policies.” Once these recruits complete orientation, I am sure they will be hard at work making a case for war based on questionable findings made by the National Council of Resistance to Iran.

Unlike Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice is sure to be easier to convince to appear before the UN with another shaky case for war and cartoon visual aides for the world to laugh at.

Have the Representatives we hired on The Hill learned any valuable lessons from the last four years? Or, will they give Bush what so many of his voters asked for?

Four more years!

Further Reading:
(WaPo's article about CoPo's Intel, David Albright's take on Iran, Christian Parenti's report)