Deal opium and don’t do what the U.S. government tells you to do? Instantaneous death from above!
The Obama Administration has also widened the scope of authorized drone attacks in Afghanistan. An August report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee disclosed that the Joint Integrated Prioritized Target List—the Pentagon’s roster of approved terrorist targets, containing three hundred and sixty-seven names—was recently expanded to include some fifty Afghan drug lords who are suspected of giving money to help finance the Taliban. These new targets are a step removed from Al Qaeda. According to the Senate report, “There is no evidence that any significant amount of the drug proceeds goes to Al Qaeda.â€
Deal opium and follow orders to our satisfaction? Knock yourself out!
The inclusion of Afghan narcotics traffickers on the U.S. target list could prove awkward, some observers say, given that President Hamid Karzai’s running mate, Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, and the President’s brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, are strongly suspected of involvement in narcotics. Andrew Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations at Boston University, who has written extensively on military matters, said, “Are they going to target Karzai’s brother?â€
Will this massive hypocrisy and brutality generate more than a question or two on the Sunday D.C. talk shows? Nope.
If the U.S. political class will swallow this, is there anything they won’t eat? Would they make trouble if the federal government set up concentration camps on the National Mall? I’m guessing no.
AND: From George Tenet’s book At the Center of the Storm:
The Agency had…been rocked by false allegations in 1996 that some of its members had been complicit in selling crack cocaine to children in California. The allegations were ludicrous, but even attempting to refute them gave legs to a lurid tale.
I like to believe he dictated that while signing off on the next delivery of cash to Ahmed Wali Karzai.