Friday, September 21, 2007
Jena, Louisiana
If you’ve somehow missed the coverage of the ‘Jena Six’ you can catch up with it here. I’ve been meaning to write about it but I’ve been having a hard time wrapping my mind around the whole folly. Last night, during a long talk with a respected friend, she asked me a point blank question: “Do you think Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the NAACP and the protesters will have any effect?”
This got me thinking. Normally I disassociate myself with anything Jackson or Sharpton have their media grubbing hands in but then I tried to imagine myself in this very small town of 3,000 that’s 85% white.
Before I answer her question I want to point out a few reasons why this school administration and probably some local officials should be run out of town on a rail. Stories going back to the previous school year tell of whites and blacks self segregating during school functions.
Prior to this incident, a black student actually asked permission from the principal if it was okay for him to sit under a tree with some of his white friends. (Traditionally the white kids sit under the tree.)
After the nooses were placed on the tree one of the parents of the offenders stated that his son thought it was a prank and naive to the fact of what it meant and he was sorry.
Then this quote from one of the Jena residents:
“We are not a racial town. We get along with each other, we get along fine. This is something that got out of proportion. It really has.”
This is a town in denial.
I realize it’s easy to see things through 20/20 hindsight but I don’t think this problem could have been more clearer had a cross been burned in the principals office. This is an issue that school and local officials should have been addressing months ago if not longer.
It almost pains me to say that I think the march will indeed change things. I say pains, because it never should have come to this and the change will be purely superficial. The actions of all parties are completely inexcusable and if history has taught us nothing else, it’s that violence rarely solves the underlying problems. Should one of the six black kids get 15 years? No, but the fact of the matter is that they beat another teen after he was unconscious and put him in the hospital. I don’t care what color he is, that’s just wrong and he should be punished.
What saddens me even more is that if I’m honest with myself and had see little to no disciplinary action taken against the kids who hung the nooses I probably would have done the close to the same thing.
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Wednesday, September 05, 2007
VA to develop new PTSD evaluation method
Battle fatigue, shell shock, combat neurosis - it’s been called many things over the years. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is likely as ancient as war itself. The United States has long recognized the sacrifices of its military personnel by compensating veterans for disabilities suffered as a result of their service, such as loss of limbs, chronic disorders, and, more recently, mental conditions including PTSD.
In the past few years, PTSD in the military has risen to public prominence as surveys indicate relatively high rates among soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and media accounts feature wrenching stories of service members’ struggles to cope with their mental battle scars. At the same time, veterans of previous conflicts have been filing disability claims for PTSD in greater numbers. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recorded an almost 80 percent jump in claims between 1999 and 2004. These trends have sparked questions about when and how PTSD can happen as well as whether VAs current tools and methods for assessing veterans for PTSD disability and determining the level of compensation they merit are reliable and up to date.
Full Story: Military Times
When I first saw this story I immediately thought that the government was looking for yet another way to bilk veterans out of disability payments and thus help lower the overall cost of VA benefits.
After re-reading the article a couple of times with my sleep addled brain and relating it to some of my own VA experiences, I’ve come to the conclusion that this might be one of the best ideas to come down the pike in awhile.
Under current standards, a soldier diagnosed with PTSD would almost immediately qualify for a certain percentage of VA benefits regardless of the severity. By implementing some sort of scaled evaluation method the VA would finally have the tools to distribute care and monies on a true needs basis.
Being a very slightly disabled veteran I’ve come into all sorts of patients suffering from various sorts of mental unrest. About a year ago I took an impromptus survey of some men sitting in the clinic with me to see who had what and how much compensation they were receiving. The results were shocking. There was a young twenty year old that was very able bodied and held a decent job that was receiving 100% disability while another man, a Korean War vet, that was riddled with nightmares and couldn’t hold a job and he was receiving 40% disability. Basically, there are no true standards to date to evaluate anything but physical illness and even then the results can be highly inconsistent.
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Sunday, September 02, 2007
No longer a senator, but still an ass
This ongoing story about ex-Senator Larry Craig hasn’t really been of much interest. It should be, but it has become all too common for some staunch anti-gay politico, clergy, pick-your-official… to continuously rail against gays in public while pursuing them in private.
The former Senator chose to step down on the dawn of the Labor Day weekend in obvious hopes the short attention span of Americans would be taken elsewhere. In his final speech, Craig said that he was stepping down, voiced his regrets for pleading guilty and then vowed to fight hard to have the guilty plea expunged from his record. In my minuscule understanding of sex offenders laws, it is only Craig’s guilty plea to a lesser charge that keeps him from becoming a registered sex offender.
There is one point in the entire story that doesn’t fit Craig’s repeated denials of wrong doing. According to the police report and every report I could find, including Craig’s statements. After the less than honorable senator made his alleged advance toward a police officer, the officer showed his bade to Larry under the stall at which point Craig’s response was a simple, yet damning “No!”.
Not quite the expected response of someone who is innocent, especially somewhere as innocuous as a men’s room. Who knows, maybe that carry on bag was packed with cocaine and that prompted his response or maybe he thought all those parking tickets had caught up with him. Sorry Larry. Would like to say you’ll be missed, but much like North Korea’s nuclear program… you won’t.
Posted by deadscot on 02 Sep, 2007 at 16:21(2) Comments • Permalink
Friday, August 31, 2007
New Texas pledge including “under God” upheld in court
It’s a little ironic that we have some state’s citizens fighting to remove under God from their pledge while Texas barrels ahead and adds the somewhat controversial words into a place where it had been absent. The Texas pledge, a daily recitation for our students, had served just fine for dozens of years without the addition until last year when Governor Perry, in a token offering to the fundamentalist base, decided it needed a little tweaking.
Old pledge: “Honor the Texas Flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible.” In effect since 1933
New pledge: “Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.”
In the Texas District Court’s decision it cited some all to familiar rhetoric.
Recitation of the Texas Pledge, as with the national Pledge of Allegiance, is voluntary, and U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade ruled there was no ‘religious compulsion’ inherent in the order.
“The United State Supreme Court has repeatedly held patriotic acknowledgments of the Almighty such as these are completely consistent with the U.S. Constitution,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said. “Texans can rest assured that we will continue vigorously defending their children’s ability to recite the state Pledge of Allegiance each morning.”
and in summation…
In a one sentence ruling, Kinkeade said David and Shannon Croft failed to prove that the addition of the two words will cause them irreparable harm.
All that to say this. Since when did we decide that it was a good idea to implement programs into our public schools based on how little damage they may or may not cause? Shouldn’t the goal of the Texas Education Agency and the government be to institute programs based on how much value they add to the overall curriculum? *sigh*
Posted by deadscot on 31 Aug, 2007 at 16:32First Amendment Watch • (2) Comments • Permalink
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Katrina ravaged New Orleans has parallels with Iraq
As the President left a still devastated New Orleans behind I couldn’t help but see the similarities between the wake of Katrina and the war torn regions of Iraq. I haven’t seen New Orleans first hand and haven’t been to Iraq in a very long time so I’m at the behest of varying news sources to paint a picture.
What got me to thinking along these lines was the murder rate in New Orleans which has jumped over 40% since pre-Katrina days. Iraqis experienced a similar phenomena in the months following the invasion. Of course, one would naturally assume t would be a little simpler to fix such a problem in our backyard but maybe that’s just me.
The next thing that hit me was the way the natives of New Orleans spoke about the problem. Blame was laid far and wide and very little responsibility was voiced by anyone concerning their current plight on this two-year anniversary. Anyone that’s watched more than 10 minutes of coverage of the Iraq war should see the similarities here.
The biggest of the issues was the cost of rebuilding. So far we’ve spend over $450 billion on our five-year ‘war’ with Iraq and there’s pretty much no end in sight. I’m not saying we’re not doing good things over there, what I am saying is that we’re not doing $450 billion in good things. Not even close.
New Orleans is not much different. In the past two years $127 billion in federal money along with millions in donations have been dumped into the area and again, there seems to be no apparent end in sight. According to government statistics approximately 300,000 people were affected by Katrina so we’re basically at $450,000 per person at this point. I have to wonder if it wouldn’t have been been better to just give them the money and let them chose to rebuild or relocate.
Looking back though history, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fires displaced around 410,000 people. Damage was placed at $4.7 billion in today’s dollars and rebuilding was completed in 1915 at an estimated cost of $6.5 billion in today’s dollars. Wow.
The problem as I see it is that we’ve developed a mentality that the more money we throw at a problem the better the outcome. Actually the converse has been true. I would wager that this has been an ineffective means of governing since the earlier 1950’s and post WWII. One of the main ingredients needed to make social and military rebuilding projects work is a large dose of personal responsibility, hard-work and determination. Traits that are becoming more scarce throughout the world as we continue to feed the problem.
Posted by deadscot on 30 Aug, 2007 at 11:06News • Random Turds • (0) Comments • Permalink
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Just how many terrorists are there?
During my hiatus from this site I watched and read just about everything not having to do with current events and the Iraq war. It was very refreshing to get lost in old novels, The History Channel and even some technical rags. The week before my first post I began reading my favorite blogs and news sites in an effort to slowly immerse myself into muddy waters that make up our media today.
After I recovered from the whole Paris Hilton ordeal, my mind turned toward politics and more specifically, the war in Iraq. After doing some rudimentary number crunching I came to one of two conclusions. Either I can’t add like I used to, or we have no clue what is really going on in Iraq. I’m leaning toward the latter.
What precisely concerns me are the number of enemy deaths in this conflict and leads me to the question of Just how many terrorists are there?
According to DOD numbers and the low spectrum of Iraqi deaths and prisoners, here’s what I come up with. These numbers become even more striking as the US accuses the Taliban of reporting their own losses as civilian casualties caused by the US.
70,927 Iraqis KIA (These do not include Iraqi security forces fighting with us.)
24,500 Iraqis imprisoned by US led forces.
3,900 Afghan Taliban fighters this year.
That’s roughly 100,000 ‘enemies’ either killed or captured. We have over 150,000 troops in country and it appears there is no shortage of terrorists in sight which begs to question, has there been an undercurrent of over 100,000 terrorists just hanging out in the middle east? Are we creating them faster than we can kill them? Are we going for a win through attrition? Or maybe I just can’t add. *sigh*
Posted by deadscot on 29 Aug, 2007 at 21:17Military • Random Turds • (0) Comments • Permalink
Where has all the ammo gone?
The Washington Post The U.S. military’s soaring demand for small-arms ammunition, fueled by two wars abroad, has left domestic police agencies less able to quickly replenish their supplies, leading some to conserve rounds by cutting back on weapons training, police officials said.
To varying degrees, officials in Montgomery, Loudoun and Anne Arundel counties said, they have begun rationing or making other adjustments to accommodate delivery schedules that have changed markedly since the military campaigns began in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Before the war, lag time from order to delivery was three to four months; now it’s six months to a year,” said James Gutshall, property supervisor for the Loudoun Sheriff’s Office. “I purchased as much as I could this year because I was worried it would be a problem.”
Montgomery police began limiting the amount of ammunition available to officers on the practice range a little more than year ago, said Lucille Baur, a county police spokeswoman. The number of cases a group of officers can use in a training session has been cut from 10 to three.
I’ve been hearing rumors about this for quite some time and after careful consideration, I’m going to call bullshit.
Let’s look at few of the facts. Following the true ammunition shortages of WWII, the military took a bold step in establishing its own ammunition manufacturing plants. It is on rare occasions and special circumstances that allow the military to purchase ammunition from civilian companies.
Obviously there are certain sub-products that both markets compete for such as lead, brass, gunpowder, etc… but if any of these were in shortage one would expect to see a shortage in readily available ammunition to the civilian population. This is not the case. As an avid shooter and recipient of dozens of ammunitions catalogs, any such shortage hasn’t begun to touch the civilian sector.
My hunch is that police departments are having a difficult time procuring specialized military ammunition and the stories have been overblown. If a department is having trouble obtaining common ammunition for training purposes I would suggest they first look at replacing their procurement officer.
The other possibility is that the civilian companies have been contracted to augment military stockpiles at a much higher cost than the police can pay. If anything, this is more of an economic issue than a true ammo shortage as we’ve been mis-lead to believe.
Posted by deadscot on 29 Aug, 2007 at 00:41
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Sunday, August 26, 2007
Army comes down hard on Ft. Hood personnel following death.
Most all by now have heard of the story of the NCO that went missing during a field exercise at Ft. Hood only to be later found dead of dehydration and hyperthermia. Story Here
It’s sad enough that soldier died in a rather routine training accident, what’s just as disgusting to me is the knee-jerk reaction the Army appears to be taking against those associated with there training event. This past week the Army released a 1,900 page document surmising the accident and summarily brought career ending charges against seven NCO’s (Non-commissioned officers) associated with the training. While I don’t have access to the Army’s publication, I still feel a certain need to vent about the ongoing travesty of events.
Over the years, tens of thousands of troops, including myself, have been through the Warrior Course or something of a similar nature without peril. This is because of two factors, the soldier’s ability to accomplish the task and certain safeguards being in place before the exercise began. From what I can ascertain, both of these conditions were met during this training exercise. The soldier was a competent NCO, he was provided with a map of the area, two redundant compasses, a large quantity of water and means to communicate in an emergency. (Used to be a radio and flares but in this case it was an apparent cell phone.)
These courses are designed to be difficult for a reason. They are to simulate real world combat situations. It wouldn’t have made much sense to have a Humvee following around behind him while he tried to navigate himself out of the wilderness. What I’m saying is that a certain degree of realism and risk must exist in training in order for it to be effective.
Occasionally when training in difficult environments something goes wrong and unfortunately someone dies. This is evident in the hundreds of training deaths that occur throughout all services over the year. When something goes wrong you look back to see what could have been done better and if procedures were followed. What you don’t do is chuck an entire program and it’s leadership over bad press.
The loss of the this soldier is a sad occasion, the loss of an entire training program and it’s senior NCO’s is a travesty that will undoubtedly have a negative exponential impact for years to come possibly resulting in more poorly trained troops and definitely in lower morale.
One can’t help but wonder as we’ve lowered training standards over the years what impact that has on a soldier’s chance of surviving in combat. I’m sure the 200 + Ft. Hood troops that have perished in Iraq would love to have loved to see that question answered.
Source The Army Times
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Monday, January 15, 2007
The weather outside is frightful
Yes, I know I’ve been gone for quite some time. Life has been somewhat of a roller coaster as of late. I started a new job as a Technical Fraud Analyst right before the Christmas season. Bas time to start a new job but things seemed to work out a first. Aside from the adjustment of waking before 9:00 am everyday and driving across town, things were just the standard newbie growing pains, that is until Christmas Eve when I developed a nasty respiratory infection which still lingers with me. To top it off, I managed to get my one and only teammate sick and he has been out going on two weeks now making work life a little frantic.
I miss blogging and the relaxation it brings to vent a bit. As things settle down at work I plan to get back into a more realistic schedule. I also don’t do well in the winter months when the sun goes down before 6:00 pm. I’m one of those people whose attitude is at its best during daylight hours. When it’s dark, I just want to sleep. Yet another reason why I live in Texas.
Speaking of Texas, and the topic at hand, we’re predicted to receive up to 2 inches of snow tomorrow morning along with sleeting rain. This is a city that sees snow on average of every 25 years and the public works department nor the drivers are equipped to take on a storm that would seem at most trivial to northerners. I’m kind of looking forward to seeing snow and probably even more looking forward to how people deal with it.
Upside, if it snows I won’t be able to work tomorrow. Down side, I’m on a fixed duration project so any work on the case management tools and databases will have to be made up in the coming days. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be a grown up. The joy of a snow day just doesn’t ring a nicely as it once did.
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Tuesday, December 12, 2006
The dumbest thing I’ve heard this week…so far
It never ceases to amaze me how narrow-minded, simplistic and not to mention racist, people can still be these days. Here in San Antonio we’re having a congressional run-off election today between Ciro Rodriguez and Henry Bonilla. The campaign, like most as of late, has gotten pretty scandalous with attack ads and accusations of wrongdoings. That’s not surprising, however, analysts are predicting that which ever candidate appears to be more Hispanic will be the one to carry the day. Since when did being more, if that’s even possible, of any ethnicity become a criteria for government office? Is this the 1950’s in reverse?
That little interlude leads up to the dumbest comment I’ve heard this week. Mind you, it’s only Tuesday so there are still plenty of opportunities for the idiots among us. I was speaking with a young lady (30-ish) regarding the presidential elections and she informed me that she initially thought Obama would make a good candidate. That is, until she discovered that Barack’s middle name is Hussein. I inquired of her the middle names of any of the past five sitting presidents to which she had no idea, but apparently in 2008 it’s going to be an issue.
Posted by deadscot on 12 Dec, 2006 at 20:26Politics • Random Turds • (0) Comments • Permalink
Monday, December 11, 2006
President seeks advice
These days I can’t hardly read a news story or even listen to a Presidential address without hearing that the President is seeking advice and is open to suggestions regarding the situation in Iraq. This is a good thing.
What I find disturbing is that the same President could have been so isolated, ignorant, incompetent or some combination thereof to have had a complete and total disconnect with the American people. It wasn’t so much that he was completely disconnected as it was it utter disregard and disgust at opposing viewpoints. To me this is very disturbing.
I suppose one thing this past election shows is that the system of checks and balances still works to some degree in this country, but at the same time it shows the level of chaos one political entity can get us into before it can be reconciled and often, as appears to be the case in Iraq, how irreconcilable the damage can be.
When one political agenda is allowed to persist without challenge, the extremes within that agenda tend to permeate the larger picture to the point where bad policy and bad decisions become self-affirming.
How does one prevent this? By taking part in elections, being educated on political issues, showing some sort of emotional detachment regarding ‘pet’ issues, and continuing to stay involved election year or not. It shouldn’t always take the entire upheaval of congress to get the views of Americans across, because when this occurs we as a nation are the losers. Forward progress comes to a standstill as a new political regime retreats to a known good point and then proceeds in the new direction.
Much like a great ship, it is much easier to correct direction in minutes than hours.
Posted by deadscot on 11 Dec, 2006 at 17:22Politics • (0) Comments • Permalink
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Christmas comes early in Missouri
Just when I thought the argument surrounding the well wishes of the Christmas season couldn’t get any more convoluted, along comes the Governor of Missouri with this memo:
From: Governor Matt Blunt
To: Department Directors
Date: December 4, 2006
Re: “Merry Christmas”Last year there was a great deal of public discussion regarding the Christmas season. Specifically, we heard from those who believe that the Christmas break should be called by a non-religious name such as “Winter Holiday.” They also argued that traditional Christmas greetings such as “Merry Christmas” should not be used.
Missouri state government employees should not have to worry about this matter. To ensure that there is no confusion regarding our state policy I am directing that each of you inform all members of your department that they should feel at ease using traditional holiday phrases, including “Merry Christmas” and they should have no fear of official reprisal. I also ask that you inform your staff that the objections of those who are offended by these phrases be given due consideration, but that no state employee will be reprimanded or in any way disciplined for saying “Merry Christmas.”
This holiday season should not give state employees reason to feel as though they must check their religious views at the door of a government building. Instead, it is my hope that each state employee enjoys the holiday season with full confidence that their government exists to preserve their liberty rather than constrict it.
Posted by deadscot on 07 Dec, 2006 at 23:26
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Monday, December 04, 2006
Addressing the symptoms
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday wrestled with voluntary integration plans in public schools, asking whether programs in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle are acceptable moves toward student diversity or other names for illegal racial quotas.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, who could hold the decisive vote, joined his conservative colleagues in expressing deep skepticism about the programs.
The Seattle district seems to be telling its high school students who are subject to the plan that “everybody can get a meal,” but that only certain people can get “dessert,” Kennedy said. He was referring to the fact that some students did not get assigned to the schools they preferred based on their race. Full Story
Once again, the US Government is addressing a symptom and not the root cause. Even though the ‘race card’ is being played to the hilt in this instance the underlying truth is that it’s an economic and educational standards issue.
Kennedy’s inquiry of:
Still, Kennedy wanted to know that even assuming the school board’s good faith, can it assign students “based on the color of an individual child’s skin?”
Comes across to me as absurd as Ginsburg’s comment:
“What’s constitutionally required one day is constitutionally prohibited the next day? That’s very odd,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said.
Neither side of the aisle wants to address the proverbial pink elephant in the center of the room.
Click to read MORE...Posted by deadscot on 04 Dec, 2006 at 20:04
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Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Nativity scene draws unwarranted attention
Christmas is approaching faster than a Walmart shopper after two cups of java. Every year Christmas sales and advertising seems to begin a few days earlier until, at some point, the season will span roughly the same duration as a Major League Baseball season. Churches, not being ones to miss out on the marketing evangelical opportunities are also getting on the bandwagon with extra services, activities and the mandatory nativity display.
The latter seems to have drawn PETA’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) attention as of late and gives me pause as to how PETA’s managers are managing their resources, not to mention their budget.
The pastor at Anchorage First Free Methodist Church was mystified. Why was the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals chastising him? No animals are harmed in the church’s holiday nativity display. In fact, animals aren’t used at all.
People, however, do dress the parts — Mary, Joseph, the wise men, etc. The volunteers stand shivering at a manger on the church lawn in a silent tribute to Christmas.
The Rev. Jason Armstrong was confused by an e-mail this week from PETA, which admonished him for subjecting animals “to cruel treatment and danger,” by forcing them into roles in the church’s annual manger scene.
PETA targeted the church because of their usage of the word ‘living’ in the description of the nativity scene, never realizing the people are also ‘living’. What’s more odd to me is that PETA would take such an active role in targeting nativity scenes. According to their captive animal relations manager:
“Those animals are subject to all sorts of terrible fates in some cases,” Vergerio said. “Animals have been stolen and slaughtered, they’ve been raped, they’ve escaped from the nativity scenes and have been struck by cars and killed. Just really unfathomable things have happened to them.”
In the letter to Armstrong, Vergerio shared some sad fates of previous nativity animals — like Brighty the donkey, snatched from a nativity scene in Virginia and beaten by three young men. Ernie the camel fled a crèche in Maryland but was struck and killed by a car. Two sheep and a donkey had to be euthanized after a dog mauling at a manger scene in Virginia.
I have to wonder if PETA hasn’t gone a little overboard. Just drive down Route 87 I saw multiple deer, antelope, raccoon, armadillo, rabbits and the like that could have used a PETA guardian angel before they fell victim to a carnivorous pick-up truck, wild coyote or even the odd owl. Going after nativity scenes just seems so petty when compared to the real world.
Of all the descriptions the pastor gives of the ‘Living’ Nativity Scene, I find this one to be the most disturbing:
“We have some puppet camel things we put out,” Armstrong said. “We have a cow hood thing that a person will wear that actually just looks spooky.”
The volunteers stand beneath a brightly lit electric star as Christmas music fills the frosty air. They don’t even speak.
“No one’s come by protesting or thrown bloodstained fur at us or anything,” Armstrong said. “We even use a plastic baby.”
Now, if someone wants to raise a stink, they should find out where real babies are being used. Maybe Walmart stocks them. Only 25 shopping days left and they’re going faster than the PS3.
Found Via: MSNBC
Religion • Just Plain Stupid • (3) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Afghanistan moved back to the front burner
Two prominent articles in the BBC today lead me to believe that we are about to see a fundamental policy shift in regard to Afghanistan.
First, after much cajoling from President Bush, NATO has agreed to allow NATO forces to assume a broader role Afghanistan in light of the increasing violence in it’s southern regions.
NATO leaders at a summit in Latvia have agreed to relax restrictions on how their troops are used in Afghanistan.
More than 75% of the 32,000-strong force in Afghanistan will soon be allowed to be deployed anywhere in the country, alliance officials said.Earlier, US President George W Bush berated NATO members, calling on them to accept “difficult assignments”.
The summit is to continue on Wednesday with discussion of military requests for more troops to fight insurgents. Full Story: BBC News
Not a very exciting story by itself, but it does show how how NATO is being dragged kicking and screaming away from it’s cold world mentality. However, when placed together with this story the story gains perspective:
Click to read MORE...Afghanistan’s soaring opium production threatens to wreck efforts to rebuild the country after years of war, the UN and the World Bank have warned.
Afghanistan supplies more than 90% of world opium and wiping out the illegal trade will take a generation, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said.The drug trade accounts for a third of the economy and permeates the “higher levels of government”, the report said.
It says 2006 saw opium cultivation rise by 60% and production by 50%.
Afghanistan’s drug industry has long been blamed by Western powers as fueling the Taleban-led insurgency.
Almost 4,000 people, a quarter of them civilians, have been killed this year, making it the bloodiest year since the hard-line Islamist group was forced from power in late 2001.
Afghan officials have been quoted as saying the insurgency cannot be defeated without overcoming the opium trade, and vice versa. Full Story
Posted by deadscot on 28 Nov, 2006 at 22:35
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