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US and Britain accused of creating heroin trail

Josey1Josey1 Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
edited October 2001 in General Discussion
Today | By Month Archived Articles: 10/7/2001 Crew Walks Off Orlando-to-Dulles Flight (10/7/2001) Submitted by: Kevin There are 2 comments on this storyPost Your Comments | Read Comments The sky marshals pulled a male passenger off the plane because his name on the flight manifest might have matched a name on the FBI list of suspected terrorist accomplices and/or leads.After interviewing the subject at OIA, the marshals determined that he was not the suspect, and allowed him back on the plane to continue to Washington.However, two flight crewmembers on board refused to fly with him, even after he was cleared.KABA NOTE: Fear reigns when people know they can't defend themselves adequately.
School Changes Drill Team Rifle Policy (10/7/2001) Submitted by: Kevin There are no comments on this storyPost Your Comments | Read Comments Members No Longer Able To Carry 'Dummy' Rifles Home On Bus -- "At 6:15 in the morning, I don't know if it's a real rifle or a dummy rifle," bus driver Jim Clark said. "I'm not putting it on a busload of kids."
America or Amerika? (10/7/2001) Submitted by: KABA NewslinksDirector Website URL: http://GunControlVictories.com There are 2 comments on this storyPost Your Comments | Read Comments "Don't allow yourself to be sucked into the war hysteria. The only war occurring now is a war on your freedom. The State will forge that hysteria into a mighty sword and plunge it into your vitals.Arm yourself while you still can. ... If you live in a Sovietized state, demand the right to be armed by organizing marches, massive petition drives, calls to local talk radio, etc. Be loud and be angry.Or simply move, before you're forbidden to." --Jeff Elkins
Travelers at D/FW happy to see Guard (10/7/2001) Submitted by: serinde There are 6 comments on this storyPost Your Comments | Read Comments Dallas/FortWorth AIRPORT -- As National Guard troops took their posts at airports nationwide, passengers said they welcomed the added security.The troops wore soft-brimmed caps instead of helmets and were instructed to be extremely cautious with their rifles, to avoid startling the public. Most of the soldiers armed with rifles carried them slung over their shoulders, with the muzzles pointed down. They were also instructed to help passengers with bags and directions.
Terrorism precautions sound effective, but... (10/7/2001) Submitted by: serinde There are 4 comments on this storyPost Your Comments | Read Comments "In the wake of deadly attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, state and federal agencies have issued guidelines on how to prepare for terrorism."--Purchasing guns or ammo for self-defense are not included.
PG Officers Shoot, Kill Knife-Wielding Man (10/7/2001) Submitted by: Anonymous There is 1 comment on this storyPost Your Comments | Read Comments "The man ... refused to surrender after officers tried to subdue him with pepper spray, lunging at them several times with the knife."KABA NOTE: Bottom Line: Pepper spray does not always work. Get armed defense training, and get a gun.
Guns and gas masks hot sellers in Valley (10/7/2001) Submitted by: Doug Charette There are no comments on this storyPost Your Comments | Read Comments "They're not really worried about bumping into an actual terrorist," Mayfield said. "It's simply fear of how our government is going to handle it. They are people who already wanted it and they just moved it up ahead of other purchases to get it now before they have to jump through more hoops."
Gov. Bush signs bill protecting gun makers from civil suits (FL) (10/7/2001) Submitted by: Kevin There are 2 comments on this storyPost Your Comments | Read Comments "The plaintiffs don't bring these lawsuits to win, they file the lawsuits to drain the industry and force them into bankruptcy if they won't cave in and give (local governments) self-imposed gun control."
US & Britain accused of creating heroin trail (10/7/2001) Submitted by: Anonymous What caught my eye about half into this story: "Confiscated weapons are being returned to Farmers in an effort to enlist them in a struggle against any US led attack", proving the Taliban endorsed "gun-control", except for their own fighters... US and Britain accused of creating heroin trailWar on terrorism: Drugs TradeBy Raymond Whitaker in Islamabad06 October 2001Internal linksAlmost all routes lead back to AfghanistanPakistan's hapless army of three million drug addicts has found that the price of oblivion has halved since the world was thrown into crisis on 11 September. Some of the purest heroin in the world, produced just over the border in Afghanistan, can be had in the streets of Peshawar, Quetta and other cities for as little as 20p a gram.The sudden torrent of heroin, opium and hashish is being described as the Afghan regime's ultimate weapon. Afghanistan is already responsible for three-quarters of the world's heroin exports, and the Taliban have threatened that if they are attacked, they will lift a ban on opium poppy production in the areas they control.But as Tony Blair may have discovered during his visit here yesterday, few issues in this region are simple, least of all the drugs trade. When they banned poppy growing, the Taliban were accused of cynically attempting to manipulate the drugs market by squeezing supplies. Now, it is claimed, the Afghan regime is flooding the market. The price of a kilogram of opium in Pakistan soared from $44 (?30) to $400 after the ban and before 11 September. Immediately afterwards, it surged further to $746 before slumping dramatically.Asked to explain the sudden fall in the street price of heroin, a narcotics official said it could indicate sales by terrorists needing to finance their operations because their bank accounts had been frozen across the world. But at the same time, he added, it was the probable result of a market decision by thousands of smaller players seeking to sell stocks while they could."Drugs are a currency in Afghanistan and border areas of Pakistan," he said. "Farmers, traders and ordinary people keep drugs in their homes rather than money in the bank. Today we are in a war situation, so what do people do? They go to the market and sell their assets to realise cash, just as people in the West sell shares."Britain has just released a detailed indictment of Osama bin Laden, his al-Qa'ida network and their Taliban protectors, which accuses them of jointly exploiting the drugs trade. American officials agree, and have leaked a sensational though thinly substantiated claim that Mr bin Laden's group tried to develop a "super-powerful" brand of heroin that would enslave Western addicts yet further. They admit, however, that proof that either the Taliban or al-Qa'ida actually control the trade is hard to find.When the Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan in 1996, the drugs industry was already well established. The movement imposed taxes on poppy cultivation, just like the ones that existed for other crops, and charged fees for narcotics production, which brought in $15m to $27m annually, according to a United Nations report. Just over a year ago it finally fulfilled its promises to stamp out poppy growing, reducing production from 3,100 tons in 2000 to virtually nothing in the first half of this year, again according to the United Nations.But the criminal gangs in charge of refining and distribution remain powerful, and the Taliban did nothing to stop the production and export of heroin from existing stockpiles. The threat to allow poppies to grow again could be a sign of the movement's weakness rather than its strength, observers say. It may be seeking to regain lost support from farmers angered by the ban. One source said confiscated weapons had been returned to farmers in an effort to enlist them in a struggle against any US-led attack.Before the present intelligence offensive, attempts to link Mr bin Laden directly to drugs had been vague. Congressional staff in Washington who had seen the files said he did not actually traffic in drugs, but made money from the trade by hiring out his fighters to guard refineries and escort convoys on their way out through Iran. The Taliban rake off money from drugs in similar ways. A report to the House of Commons accuses them of protecting stockpiles - but the narcotics official scoffed at the idea of "mullahs selling heroin".There is also the uncomfortable fact that almost half the heroin flowing out of Afghanistan is thought to come from areas controlled by the Northern Alliance, the West's putative partner in the campaign to oust the Taliban. Any expansion of the alliance's territory could see an increase in the drugs supply.In his meeting last night with Mr Blair, Pakistan's military President, General Pervez Musharraf, would have been entitled to point out to his visitor that the drugs trade had its origins in the war against the Soviet occupiers of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The Afghan mujahedin, with the full knowledge of the intelligence agencies of America, Britain and other allies, refined and exported heroin - previously unknown in this part of the world - to finance their struggle. Evidence even exists that the CIA encouraged the spread of hard drugs to demoralise Russian troops. Search this site: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia_china/story.jsp?story=98021
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