What I just saw

[Nick.Walker]

Imagine the media fallout if the US Army knowingly worked with some people that grow opium poppies in afghanistan. It simply wouldn't happen. There is no military on earth that would be stupid enough to do that.

Actually Joe, we have. We have worked with and paid off the opium grower farmers and their drug lords. The Army, Marine Corps and other NATO/Coalition forces have done so. Moreso with the intelligence services to get them on "our" side have been doing this, but our military has as well. When a Marine division in Afghanistan was put in place amidst the opium fields ready for harvest, our troops were instructed not to interfere with them during the harvest as part of the "hearts and minds" philosophy. With the Marines on one hillside and the Taliban on the other hillside, we really didn't want to be shooting at the farmers who were pretty much forced to grow the opium by the drug lords. Granted, as I said, it's mostly the intelligence services paying off one set of bad guys to help us against another set of bad guys, but the military does it too. We did a lot of it in Iraq too with buying off terrorist groups to work for us rather than against us, even though some of the supplies ended up in the wrong hands.

Not arguing with you, just saying it has happened before and is happening now.


Back on topic, yeah, the grouping for a coordinated attack does sound fishy. While I can understand an opposing military/intelligence faction approaching the local criminal element with funding and support, I don't see coordinated attacks en masse.

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