US Suspends Anti-Drug Radar Support in Honduras
Source: Associated Press
US Suspends Anti-Drug Radar Support in Honduras
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras September 7, 2012 (AP)
The U.S. State Department has suspended sharing of radar intelligence with Honduras after the Central American nation's Air Force shot down two suspected drug planes in violation of U.S. agreements, the department confirmed Friday.
The decision came after two separate incidents in July, when civilian aircraft were shot down off the coast of northern Honduras, said William Ostick, Western Hemispheric Affairs Office spokesman. The U.S. bilateral agreement with Honduras for information sharing exclusively prohibits shooting down civilian aircraft.
"We don't have information about the occupants or the cargo," Ostick said.
The State Department and Drug Enforcement Administration agents ran a joint operation with Honduran forces until mid-July going after planes carrying cocaine into the country. It wasn't clear Friday if the planes were shot down during the joint operation.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-suspends-anti-drug-radar-support-honduras-17184229
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)From the article:
Also in 2001, a U.S. Baptist missionary woman and her infant daughter were killed in the Peruvian Amazon after the plane they were travelling on was shot down. A surveillance plane operated by the CIA initially identified the plane as a possible drug flight, and a Peruvian interceptor then shot it down over the protests of the CIA personnel on the surveillance plane.
Washington immediately suspended its surveillance flights in both Peru and Colombia pending investigations and reforms that could prevent accidents.
Poor communications and a language barrier between the Peruvian military and U.S. personnel on the CIA-run tracker jet, as well as Peru's inadequate air traffic control system, played a role, a U.S. Senate committee concluded.
----------
Actually, blowing any civilian plane out of the sky is pretty bad.
Peace Patriot
(24,010 posts)Might be a dispute between the Honduran military and its fascist network/backers and Bushwhack elements in the DEA about who gets the okay and who doesn't.
Really, after ten years of the Bush Junta running the "war on drugs," we can be sure that the corruption is profound and I don't think Obama has the power to uncorrupt it. The "players" are too big.
It appears that he might be thinking that legalization is the solution. The new president of Colombia, Manuel Santos--who is viciously opposed by the Bush Cartel 'made man,' Alvaro Uribe, who ran the country like a criminal mob during the Bush Junta (and who is angling to return to power)--recently declared his support for legalization of illicit drugs. Santos likely had some kind of okay from Washington to "run" that one up "the flagpole." It was quite clear that Obama/Panetta removed Uribe from power and vetted and approved Santos. Behind Santos' call for legalization, I think, is Big Pharma, which may be ready for legalization and intends to monopolize this trillion+ dollar trade.
This is a VERY complicated situation for Obama, in my opinion--fraught with danger, a snakepit. And a Big Pharma legalization plan would be just the kind of solution he would look for. Big Pharma and Big Ag profit, big time, and a HUGE federal expense goes away.
$7 BILLION to Colombia alone, just for military aid alone. The total is certainly trillions, when you add up "war on drugs" money to all countries, and things like the prison system, the court system, DOJ costs, U.S. military bases in Honduras, Colombia and other places, etc. Factor in the LOSS of tax money, and the "war on drugs" is likely the biggest disaster our government has ever undertaken, in dollar figures. Of course, it has other benefits as a backup war profiteer boondoggle and as the means of clearing FIVE MILLION peasants from their farmlands in Colombia, and murdering trade unionists, as prep for U.S. "free trade for the rich." There are a lot of things to weigh. But I don't imagine that the carnage in human life is high on the list of considerations in Washington.