The Opium Bush

There is no better place than Afghanistan to see that the “War on Terror” is completely bogus, and this is easily observed through its marriage to the total fakery of the “War on Drugs.” The dictum “know them by their fruits” is useful in evaluating the works of George “Opium” Bush and the effectiveness of Bush’s “War on Terror.” Under the Afghan regime change instituted at the barrels of guns and the canisters of cluster bombs by George W. Bush, the opium production and trade in Afghanistan has never been better. On September 2, 2006, the executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said in Kabul that Afghanistan's opium harvest this year has reached the highest levels ever recorded, showing an increase of almost 50 percent from last year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/world/asia/03afghan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Afghanistan Notes September 2006

Really, if Bush had any pretention of actually fighting a “War on Terror” he would have sent his 200,000 troops to Afghanistan -- not Iraq. Knocking out the Taliban from the capital was not the victory he thought it was, not any more than knocking over the statue of Sadaam Hussein in Baghdad was “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq. If Bush had any real intent to establish democracy in the region, he would have not moved against Iraq until Afghanistan was secured.

What would a secured Afghanistan have looked like? Well, first of all there would not be regions controlled by war criminals as de facto governors. Afghanistan would not be a narco-state where opium farming is the number one cash crop that is supported by both the war criminals Bush supports and Taliban alike. Financial assistance for real development would have been provided in a manner that supports local economies to make them inter-dependent with one another rather than dependent upon the gangster enterprises of the war criminals masquerading as regional leaders.

The core problem of course is that the bulk of the aid that has been set aside has not even gone to the people of Afghanistan but instead to security firms and US “reconstruction” business. In other words, Bush’s US business friends are getting rich off US “aid” to Afghanistan and Bush’s war criminal proxies in Afghanistan are getting rich off the opium that Bush has allowed to continue to be produced at ever increasing rates of production since the US invasion.

Most of the USA media, and virtually all the quotable Sunday Morning Talking Heads of the two-party dictatorship, have avoided the real dope on the Afghanistan phenomenon in preference to the drama of the Iraq theater. However, the consummate shame of Afghanistan stands out more clearly than Iraq if for no other reason than the fact that Bush actually had a real chance to achieve his stated goals in Afghanistan while he never could have achieved them in Iraq no matter how much he tried. Unfortunately, the fruit of Bush’s actions in Afghanistan speak louder than his stated desires as well as exposing their falseness, and that fruit is clearly the fruit of the Opium Bush.

POST SCRIPT: Just to be clear, I am not "anti-opium" or taking a position in favor of the "war on drugs." I'm against the phony "war on drugs" largely for the same reason I'm against the bogus "war on terror", because both are simply means of exploiting the ignorance of the public into supporting the neo-fascist dictators of the USA two-party dictatorship run by the plutocratic corporate class. While misuse of opium and its derivatives can be devastating, like the prohibition of alcohol in the USA, the prohibition of opium causes far more problems for society and turns a relatively contained problem into a conflagration of problems. What I am pointing out is that Opium Bush has been capitalizing on the illegal opium trade every bit as much as the illegal drug traffickers are doing.
Also, by pointing out that Opium Bush had the opportunity to actually accomplish his stated goals for Afghanistan but blew it, doesn't mean I agreed with those goals or the methods used - I didn't and don't. For the real story and nformation on Afghanistan see John Pilger's book FREEDOM NEXT TIME.
Here's a great review of the Afghanistan section from fellow blogger Steve Lendman, a kindred spirit: AFGHANISTAN - THE OTHER LOST WAR