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Title: DEA head: A thousand dead children means we're winning war on drugs
Source:
salon
URL Source: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/15/dea_children
Published: Jun 24, 2011
Author: Alex Pareene
Post Date: 2011-06-24 15:10:18 by abraxas
Keywords: None
Views: 189
Comments: 13
DEA head: A thousand dead children means we're winning war on drugs Michele Leonhart, our top drug cop, has a funny definition of victory By Alex Pareene Producing and distributing illegal drugs is a profitable business, because there will always be a lot of demand and because illegality allows you to charge a great deal of money. That illegality also means that the people who produce and distribute the drugs are generally not responsible corporate citizens. So thanks to our expensive, terribly ineffective and endless war on drugs, lots of people are dying. The Washington Post recently reported that the victims of Mexican drug cartel violence increasingly include children, who are being specifically targeted in order to terrorize people and intimidate potential business rivals: The children’s rights group estimates that 994 people younger than 18 were killed in drug-related violence between late 2006 and late 2010, based on media accounts, which are incomplete because newspapers are often too intimidated to report drug-related crimes. [...] Government figures include all homicides of people younger than 17, capturing victims whose murders might not have been related to drugs or organized crime. In 2009, the last year for which there is data, 1,180 children were killed, half in shootings. This article is actually almost a week old, but I did not notice, until it was highlighted by Jonathan Blanks, this astounding quote from America's top drug warrior: U.S. and Mexican officials say the grotesque violence is a symptom the cartels have been wounded by police and soldiers. “It may seem contradictory, but the unfortunate level of violence is a sign of success in the fight against drugs,” said Michele Leonhart, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. The cartels “are like caged animals, attacking one another,” she added. It seems "contradictory" because that is absolutely appalling spin. For one thing, these "caged animals" are actually attacking civilians and children. And they are doing so because the drug war has made their chosen industry both profitable and dangerous enough to make murder and brutality effective means of winning competitive advantages. If this is a sign of success, maybe we should reconsider waging this war. Leonhart, a DEA lifer, is actually a Bush appointee, reappointed by President Obama. She is, obviously, an inflexible zealot when it comes to drug prohibition. This is easily the worst and most offensive thing she's said that I've read, but she does have a history of asinine remarks. This is the sort of quote -- dead children are a sign that we're winning! -- that should lead to a resignation. But it probably won't.
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#1. To: abraxas (#0)
Crazy bitch, bump.
Somewhere in Kenya, a village is still missing its idiot.
Hey now.....I'll give you a pass on the bitch but I'm not crazy.....lol. : )
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11
I've always loved intelligent bitches - they're the most fun of all.
Somewhere in Kenya, a village is still missing its idiot.
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Stupid bitches are no fun at all.....very annoying. : )
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11
To be avoided at all cost.
Somewhere in Kenya, a village is still missing its idiot.
All this means is we need more gun control. Aim, squeeze, and hit your target! ;)
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
That's a fact. ;)
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
Illegal drugs? I'm on the frontline of the drug war and 99% of the drug overdoses I admit, AND the ones who arrive DOA, AND the ones I admit again and again gorked out beyond belief are on LEGAL drugs. Oxycontin vicodin methadone opana xanax percocet duragesic. They love to mix and match, and the drug companies just keep making them. In 30 years of doctoring, I have never seen a marijuana overdose, just paraquat toxicity. Of course, heroin is becoming the new drug of choice in the local high schools, we must be getting loads of it as a side effect of the Afgan war.
Isn't that why we got into that war?
"So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause." -Padme, Star Wars III, Sith
The Taliban had almost eliminated Opium Poppy cultivation in Pipelinestan before the U.S. invasion. Since then it has grown to record levels. They had a "bumper crop" the year after the U.S. invasion and now U.S. Soldiers are protecting the Poppy fields. As Michael Rivero paraphrased: deleted
The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." ~ Ben Franklin "For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.” ~ Patrick Henry
"Drugs" is now the new DEA codeword for children.
Democrats don't mind war as long as they can have big government. Republicans don't mind big government as long as they can have war.
#2. To: Lod (#1)
Crazy bitch, bump.
#3. To: abraxas (#2)
#4. To: abraxas, *LEAP*, *libertarians*, *Jack-Booted Thugs* (#0)
#5. To: Lod (#3)
intelligent bitches - they're the most fun of all.
#6. To: abraxas (#5)
#7. To: abraxas (#0)
In 2009, the last year for which there is data, 1,180 children were killed, half in shootings.
#8. To: abraxas (#5)
Stupid bitches are no fun at all
#9. To: abraxas (#0)
(Edited)
#10. To: octavia, abraxas (#9)
Of course, heroin is becoming the new drug of choice in the local high schools, we must be getting loads of it as a side effect of the Afgan war.
#11. To: octavia (#9)
Of course, heroin is becoming the new drug of choice in the local high schools, we must be getting loads of it as a side effect of the Afgan war.
In Afghan fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses row on row
#12. To: abraxas (#2)
#13. To: abraxas (#0)
DEA head: A thousand dead children means we're winning war on drugs
Your vote is steering the country
If you believe in small government, then you shouldn't be in the White House.
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