cannabisnews.com: Drug War's Latest Victims Drug War's Latest Victims Posted by FoM on May 03, 2001 at 06:33:28 PT By Joseph Farah Source: WorldNetDaily If you believe Secretary of State Colin Powell, the blame for the Peruvian air force shootdown of a plane carrying a Baptist missionary family lies with Robert Downey Jr. and other drug users in the United States. I respectfully disagree. The blame, I'm afraid, lies with the U.S. government's fruitless, wasteful and destructive war on drugs. In congressional testimony last week, Powell pointed the finger of blame at wealthy American drug users as the cause of the cocaine scourge ravaging Colombia and other Latin American countries. It is that demand, he explained, that makes the costly war on drugs necessary. "The real problem in the region is not caused by the region, it is caused by what happens on the streets of New York, the streets of all our other major cities," Powell told a House of Representatives budget subcommittee. "And it is not just a poor kid's problem, a poor kid taking pot on the street corner, it's corporate lawyers, it's actors who over and over and over again continue to use drugs in an unlawful way," he said. Powell, speaking to the lawmakers about U.S. plans to fund counter-narcotics efforts in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, said the multibillion-dollar program would never be completely effective unless the demand, as demonstrated by his examples, was eliminated. I say, since the multibillion-dollar program has shown no signs of curtailing supply, it's time to kill it. It was the U.S. Congress that created this monster -- the very one that killed Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity -- and it is the U.S. Congress that has the power to destroy it now, before more damage is done and more money is wasted and more abuses occur. The private Cessna the Bowerses were flying in was strafed and forced to crash land in the Amazon after a CIA-operated surveillance plane mistook the missionaries for drug smugglers. Mrs. Bowers' husband and son survived the machine-gunning and the crash-landing. The U.S. government plans to send officials to Peru for talks on "what went wrong." I'll tell you what went wrong. The U.S. has trained a trigger-happy, drug-police air force because it has billions of dollars to throw around in programs that show no signs of effectiveness. I don't have much sympathy for privileged and wealthy people like Robert Downey or Darryl Strawberry who repeatedly allow themselves to fall prey to drug abuse. But it wasn't they who launched the deadly drug war that infringes not only on the lives and liberties of South Americans, but on the lives and liberties of North Americans, too. The downing of the missionary plane was hardly an isolated incident. Since 1992, the U.S. government has aided the Peruvian military in shooting down or damaging more than 100 airplanes. The U.S. government now wastes $731 million a year of your tax dollars providing military and other aid to South American countries for anti-drug operations. And this was not some rogue Peruvian operation. It was a U.S. Air Force jet -- operated by CIA employees -- that spotted the missionaries' plane and called it to the attention of the Peruvian military. Even in light of this recent tragedy, many U.S. politicians are failing to see the light. Last week, Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee, R-R.I., chairman of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee, boasted about the "shoot-first, ask-questions-later policy" responsible for the deaths of the American missionaries. Chafee said giving Peruvian military officials the power to blast unarmed, civilian planes out of the sky is "a very successful policy." The terror of the drug warriors is hardly limited to the skies above the jungles in Latin America. The terror is just as fierce right here in United States. Our rights are being trampled. Innocent lives are being snuffed out. And property is being unjustly seized by government. Enough is enough. The government is merely empowering the drug lords with its phony "war." America is losing its civil liberties in the name of law and order. It's time to call off the dogs, get the federal troops out of our communities and send them packing -- disarmed -- back to Washington where they belong. Once again, I declare the drug war over. Joseph Farah is editor and chief executive officer of WorldNetDaily.com and writes a daily column. Source: WorldNetDaily (US Web)Author: Joseph FarahPublished: Thursday, May 3, 2001Copyright: 2001 WorldNetDaily.com Inc.Contact: letters worldnetdaily.comWebsite: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/Related Articles:America's Shadow Drug Warhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9553.shtmlTreachery Over The Andeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9484.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by lookinside on May 05, 2001 at 12:12:14 PT: WAY TO GO! FoM!...i believe your website and your untiring(it seemsanyway) pursuit of TRUTH in our cause, has done as much asanyone to educate the online public...without the WWW, we would rarely hear our side of theissues...sites like this one force the mainstream media toat least make a stab at the truth... thank you, frank l. cowsert jr. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on May 03, 2001 at 21:14:00 PT Hi military officer guy Thank You. I hope I'm not missing too many really good articles but I try to back off a little when there really isn't any breaking news and then we're off again. Sometimes I think how will we get any news that can top the last news ( Like Peru ) and time and time again it happens. That's the neat part about doing news. You never know where it will take you. That keeps it challenging.I am very happy that all of you are part of Cannabis News. I wanted to make a place where people could debate articles or praise them and then we learn. I do not know much about the drug war but I know a lot more now then I did not too long ago. The news is like a book. We'll only know the end when it happens. I hope this makes sense because I really am tired tonight but I thought I'd give it a try and post how I feel about everyone here. I am a person who posts news and learns from those who comment and it's better then anything I ever learned in school. FreedomToExhale [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by military officer guy on May 03, 2001 at 20:24:57 PT amen... a great team FoM...we can win this war... [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on May 03, 2001 at 12:23:38 PT kapt I don't think it is a concidence any more. The amount of times articles are read is very high. Because of all the knowledgeable people that comment here this is becoming a great place to learn. Articles and comments equal learning in my book. We're a pretty good team I'd say! [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on May 03, 2001 at 11:45:08 PT: In an aside... Isn't it just amazinghow so many of the sentiments that get expressed here, first are winding up in nationally and internationally read forums? If not word-for-word, then almost line-by-line?Coincidence, perhaps? :) [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by J.R. Bob Dobbs on May 03, 2001 at 10:24:14 PT Demand your FREEDOM >>It is that demand, he explained, that makes the costly war on drugs necessary. Did demand for alcohol rise or fall during alcohol prohibition? How about after it ended? And since there's still a demand for alcohol, according to this argument there ought still to be rival liquor gangs engaged in bloody turf wars. Right? Since demand creates the problem? If any kind of demand is the problem, it's the demands the government asks of us. They demand a higher military budget, and our abstinence from certain substances. When's the last time you heard someone force the government to do their wishes? It's always the other way around, it seems... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by freedom fighter on May 03, 2001 at 09:19:20 PT In the name of Freedom Enough is enough!I salute you Joesph Farah!\/ [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: