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2007-05-22 Afghanistan

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Posted by gorb 2007-05-22 07:29|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 What're they spending, a billion a month in Afghanistan? The poppy crop's worth 3.1? We ever think about buying it all up? The farmers get their money and the Taliban gets screwed outta their cut. Maybe get entrepenurial and setup some pharmacuetical companies to make morphine based pain killers creating more opportunities for Afghans? And, as a valued customer that they want to keep happy, maybe the farmers start having no qualms about giving up these mooks by the bushel full?
Just a thought.

Posted by tu3031 2007-05-22 09:11|| 2007-05-22 09:11|| Front Page Top

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Posted by Anonymoose 2007-05-22 09:59|| 2007-05-22 09:59|| Front Page Top

#3 Whatever happened to napalm?

Posted by treo 2007-05-22 10:26|| 2007-05-22 10:26|| Front Page Top

#4 whatever happened to Agent Orange?

Posted by anymouse">anymouse 2007-05-22 14:08|| 2007-05-22 14:08|| Front Page Top

#5 #3 Whatever happened to napalm?

Treo, that's MY line!

Problem is, most crops are hard to grow and have poor return on investment. Poppies grow wild in Afghanistan, are easy to cultivate to increase yield, and provide a HUGE return on investment. We need to do something that will make the Afghans willing to switch to a different crop. Maybe we need them to grow switch grass or something similar, and create a biofuels industry in Afghanistan. They don't have any indigenous oil or gas, so it would be beneficial in two ways. Until you can give the Afghan farmer a similarly profitable crop, you're not going to eliminate poppies.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2007-05-22 14:13|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2007-05-22 14:13|| Front Page Top

#6 Biowarfare (Downy Mildew, Powdery Mildew, viruses, bacteria) can take care of the HUGE return on invest of opium. Fire up the sprayers.

Posted by ed 2007-05-22 14:23|| 2007-05-22 14:23|| Front Page Top

#7 Old Patriot: #5 #3 Whatever happened to napalm?

Treo, that's MY line!

I concur Treo, OP has full title, he owns it!

>:)

Posted by RD">RD 2007-05-22 20:12|| 2007-05-22 20:12|| Front Page Top

#8 I feel that if we give the farmers something more profitable to do, then the Taliban will come and take a percentage of that free money for "protection". Just kill the freaking poppies and let the cards fall where they will. Perhaps next year they'll grow something they can eat.

Posted by gorb 2007-05-22 20:59|| 2007-05-22 20:59|| Front Page Top

#9 good idea Tu, then reading gorb's comment made me wonder. Although having the Taliban get money for protection would make them the bad guy here and that might help our cause with them.

I'm all for killing the poppy crops, just don't want to kill any good relations we have with the afghans. To possibly replace the poppy crop with something else, would the stuff we use killing the poppys ruin the earth for growing anything else?

Posted by Jan 2007-05-22 22:44|| 2007-05-22 22:44|| Front Page Top

#10 It depends on what's used, Jan. The Round-Up herbicides sold in the garden center of your local big box store break down to salt and water within a few days, some others linger for years, some of the biologicals are pretty much species specific. Poppies are a perennial flower; Round-Up sprayed in the autumn will be absorbed into the roots, and the plants will not come back in the spring.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-05-22 22:57|| 2007-05-22 22:57|| Front Page Top

#11 yes understood.
With everyone talking agent orange and the like I was just wondering ;)

Posted by Jan 2007-05-22 23:04|| 2007-05-22 23:04|| Front Page Top

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