Senate’s Afghanistan Narcotics Report Released

Source: The Washington Independent

Senate’s Afghanistan Narcotics Report Released

By Spencer Ackerman 8/11/09 11:43 AM

Jim Risen broke the story in yesterday’s New York Times, but now you can read the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s full report about the narcotics problem in Afghanistan here. (PDF, sigh.) In a statement accompanying the release, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the committee’s chairman, comments:

“Just this weekend, General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. top military commander in Afghanistan, said in an interview that the Taliban are gaining strength and that the war is at a decisive moment,” said Senator John Kerry (D-MA.), Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. “This report takes a close look at the Administration’s new counter-narcotics strategy and I hope that it will encourage a renewed national debate on the risk and rewards associated with our increasing commitment to the war in Afghanistan.”

I don’t know what Kerry’s current thinking is about the Afghanistan war — more on that soon, I hope — but that’s quite the note of caution.

Read more: http://washingtonindependent.com/54661/senates-afghanistan-narcotics-report-released

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http://www.foreign.senate.gov/afghan.pdf

His comments at the hearings this year, including the last one with Clinton do suggest the same note of caution. He has cautioned about too heavy a footprint. Some of Kerry's comments (that others could have independently had) seem to have influenced the effort. Things like focusing on helping local leaders succeed, rather than enemy body counts. He also seems less comfortable with "collateral damage" than most others.

Even if you dispute the report, which you quickly read, why not comment?

Encouraging a renewed national debate is pretty broadbrush.

Sounds kinda like we're going from anti-terrorist war waging to anti-drug war waging. Same same except different name.

Before questioning Kerry's position, shouldn't we be evaluating the policy being followed? President Obama's policy is what has been implemented. Per Biden, HRC pushed him to be more hawkish.

I have watched Kerry's hearings on Afghanistan, and it is clear that he thinks there is already little time to get this right and get out. It is also clear that he is using hearings to get information and to get people thinking of various alternatives. He likely is one person with input, but only one of many.

I think the difference in how the Obama administration is dealing with drugs is that they switched from eradicating the plants - which hits the farmers to attacking the drug traffickers and supporting growing alternative crops. As the report says, the purpose is to deprive the Taliban and terrorists of drug revenue. It really is a pretty big change.

It's bankrupt. It's Vietnam redux '09. It's draining our soldiers' lives, our country's money, and our good name.

The way I see it this is just another marketing device. The U.S. government has been profiting off the drug trade for at least 40 years. The CIA has collaborated with international heroin traffickers as a part of its regular business.

What we need and what Kerry should be saying loud and clear is GET OUT NOW. No more debates, no more analysis, no more false justifications.

In a foreign country on the other side of the planet? Is that shit even legal--under US or international law?

So how is CIA Leon Panetta taking this news of KILLING drug dealers when last month msm reported he was so mad "his hair was on fire" when he learned of the CIA plot to kill Al Qaida terrorists, upon learning the news he immediately raced to tell the Intel committee about the Cheney/Foggo program and also ended it immediately.
So what's up with this?

Panetta was hair-on-fire mad because he just got confirmation of his OWN SELF being the target of the CIA!
Then he turns around and says,'Move on' yet he cannot "end the program" as he claims because it's too involved and still happening to others and he's now complicit in it. Gotcha!

xxx
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