The Hypocrisy in America's War on Drugs | Eastern North Carolina Now

    We are fighting a war in Afghanistan to free its citizens from the evil clutches of the Taliban, so we can turn the country over to a corrupt despotic ruler-President Karzai. The Afghan soldiers and police continue to cowardly murder our soldiers while we are spending billions of dollars to bring their country out of the 14th century. The corrupt Karzai government is protecting the opium trade while at the same time accepting money from the USA to eradicate the poppy farms. Afghanistan exports $4 billion dollars of opium each year. The Taliban is also protecting the opium trade so they could share in the wealth. In Russia there are annually 30,000 deaths that are directly related to opium from Afghanistan, and in Europe there are 7,000 deaths. Opium also makes its way to Mexico and eventually arrives in the United States.

    Before the USA invaded Afghanistan, the Taliban had almost eliminated the poppy farms, but when the US military backed President Karzai the poppy farms emerged again. Now there are 2.5 million Afghan addicts who depend on the opium trade.

    It is ironic that we are waging a war in Afghanistan to support the Karzai government and the drug trade; while we are engaged in a drug war right here at home. Like the war in Afghanistan, it is a war we are losing.

    The War on Drugs cost $1,716.77 every second. Cocaine dealers in America make an estimated profit of $35 billion dollars. Drug dealers have no yearend statements to post, so the best that the experts can come up with is estimates. The profits from illicit drugs are enormous, and they do not pay taxes on their profits. So not only does the USA lose the tax revenue on illegal drugs, it has to pay for the wreckage that the drug trade leaves behind. The cost for the treatment of drug abuse is $181 billion a year. And according to the Los Angeles Times, in 2009 drugs killed 37,485 people. That is one life lost due to drug abuse every 14 minutes.

    In 2010, Wachovia bank paid $110 million in fines for laundering $378 billion in drug money from various Mexican cartels.

    In an effort to combat the Mexican drug cartels, the United States trained a group of Mexican soldiers at the military school of America. However, after receiving their military training, they formed their own drug cartel-the Zetas. As a military unit, they started using 50 cal. machine guns and grenade launchers. In Texas, they are recruiting children as young as 11 years old, because if they are caught, they will receive light sentences due to their age.

    The Mexican drug trade is so lucrative that rival cartels fight like rabid dogs to control the market. Since 2006, 55,416 people have lost their lives either directly or indirectly from the drug trade. So far this year, 8,452 people have lost their lives. And the violence is not contained in Mexico; it is crossing into the United States allowing its evil tentacles to spread to ever increasing levels in our communities.

    The United States has been attacked, and we, the great super power, sit impotently wringing our hands and not knowing what to do. As illegal drugs, illegal aliens, and terrorists stream across our Southern border our feeble attempts to stop the invasion would be laughable if it wasn't so serious. We, the citizens of the United States, scream for action, but we are ignored by the politicians who say there is nothing they can do.

    Well pardon me, but there are lots that can be done if we shed the "hair shirt of political correctness,", and start protecting the USA. Stop worrying about offending Mexico and protect our homeland. If it takes building an iron border, then do it. If it takes putting troops on the border, then do it. The military has personnel based in 190 different countries.

    We have 53,525 service men and women stationed in Germany. What is their mission? Who are they there to protect? If Russia did attack Europe, they would be too few to make a difference. They would become instant casualties in the event of hostilities, so why not bring them home and allow them to protect their families at home.

    Hawaii is home for 42,502 service personnel. Yes, I understand that the navy bases at Pearl Harbor need to be staffed and protected, but there are thousands of army and marine service personnel that could be reassigned to protect our home land. What is the threat against Hawaii-the Japanese, hardly; they already own most of the real estate in Hawaii. Over 9,000 marines have just been redeployed from Okinawa to Hawaii, so why don't we put them where they are needed-along the Arizona and Texas border, and this time give them live ammo.

    Most importantly, bring home all of our military men and women from Afghanistan. Acknowledge that we have allowed this war to drag on far too long with no end in sight and nothing accomplished except the deaths of over 2,000 of our finest. We are still averaging at least one death a day in that God forsaken country, so bring them home, and after recuperating, if they choose to stay in the service deploy them along the border with Mexico. Let them defend their own homeland. Give them a mission that they can believe in.

    The Mexico border is no longer breeched by desperate people trying to better their lives and the lives of their families. The drug cartels and the Mexican government have orchestrated a sophisticated invasion of the United States. We can no longer stem the tide by lone border patrol agents roaming vast territories alone and unprotected. We need military units who are equipped and trained to combat the military style attacks against us. We have the arsenal and the personnel to fight this invasion, but do we have the courage and conviction to execute it?

    General MacArthur said in his fare well speech to congress," Once war is forced upon us there is no other alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. War's very object is victory, not prolonged indecision. In war there is no substitute for victory."

    Now is not the time to have prolonged wars in other countries. We have our own war right here at home, and it is a war that we must win. There is no substitute for victory.