Article

2007-12-08 Afghanistan

US backs down over Afghan poppy fields destruction

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Posted by Steve White 2007-12-08 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11125 views ] Top
File under: Taliban

#1 What's wrong with using Roundup(TM)? It's my understanding that it is fully biodegradable after a few months, and that it is some kind of superfertilizer and makes the plant outgrow its skin or something like that. any CEs out there who know this stuff?

Here is the MSDS for Roundup, which is probably the glyphosate agent they are talking about.

So I guess they'd prefer that their people die of lead poisoning and other sufferings vs. having some biodegradable stuff floated over their poppy fields and getting on with life w/o the Taliban. Smart. I suppose all the fertilizers and what not are way better than Roundup.

Posted by gorb 2007-12-08 01:06|| 2007-12-08 01:06|| Front Page Top

#2 Oh, and by the way, might as well have the farmers do the eradicating or put them in jail while Coalition troops take care of business. That way you'd know better which fields were mined.

Posted by gorb 2007-12-08 01:08|| 2007-12-08 01:08|| Front Page Top

#3 I love the smell of napalm in the morning

That entire country is a giant factory for jihadists and opium, the sale of which further enables jihadists. Karzai's government is being given the opportunity to address these issues but Western patience with this situation should have limits.

Posted by Grumenk Philalzabod0723 2007-12-08 02:56|| 2007-12-08 02:56|| Front Page Top

#4 Too bad the dead vote democratic.

Posted by Whomong Guelph4611 2007-12-08 07:36|| 2007-12-08 07:36|| Front Page Top

#5 It makes more sense to let them grow the poppies, we buy 'em, and take 'em away and destroy 'em. Pay the farmers directly, cut out the warlord middlemen, and still stop the junk from reaching the marketplace. Nice and tidy. Oh, I forgot, some politicians here and abroad wouldn't get their cut. Oh, well...

Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek 2007-12-08 09:35|| 2007-12-08 09:35|| Front Page Top

#6 And the Taliban would swoop down on them and demand protection money. I don't think it would work. Better to destroy the poppies and let them decide where best to put their efforts. Easy money makes it easier for them to give a tithe to the Taliban and forget about it.

Posted by gorb 2007-12-08 16:30|| 2007-12-08 16:30|| Front Page Top

#7 A truly sneaky thing to do would be to pay some Afghan poppy farmers extra money to grow GM plants. Not just food crops, but GM plants that produce expensive medicines.

This way, the farmers could make money a second time by selling those crops, which cannot be grown legally in much of the world, to big pharma companies.

These plants can be literally worth 10 times the value of the equivalent amount of opium poppies.

The deal would not only make them wealthy, but would make their country wealthy, while giving big pharma the raw materials for ultra valuable drugs.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-12-08 19:13|| 2007-12-08 19:13|| Front Page Top

#8 Round-up is good. My tree-hugger girlfriend adores it, and uses it whenever she clears another patch of lawn to make a new garden bed for native plants. The idea about GM plants is clever, too -- a clear win-win. :-)

Posted by trailing wife 2007-12-08 20:42|| 2007-12-08 20:42|| Front Page Top

#9 I remember the idea of a GM poppy being sneaked into the system. something that would die and kill its neighbors before fruition would be nice.

Posted by gorb 2007-12-08 20:46|| 2007-12-08 20:46|| Front Page Top

#10 Rodeo works as well as RoundUp, and is compatible with wetlands and wildlife

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2007-12-08 21:04|| 2007-12-08 21:04|| Front Page Top

#11 All the discussion is about spraying. A lot could be accomplished by dumping slow release cakes of herbicide into irrigation canals. Could be done very covertly, and no political ramifications...

Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek 2007-12-08 21:30|| 2007-12-08 21:30|| Front Page Top

#12 A lot could be accomplished by dumping slow release cakes of herbicide into irrigation canals. Could be done very covertly, and no political ramifications...

I beg to respectfully disagree. You either do it openly or eliminate that option. These people may be tribal, but that doesn't mean they're stoopid. How long before they put two and two together with 'the Americans' (we wouldn't put that op on an ally) putting shit in the water? We'd be accused of poisoning wells ( a la VN and the Tranzis' worst ~~dreams~~ nightmares) and lose BIG on PR. Be upfront or not at all

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2007-12-08 22:09|| 2007-12-08 22:09|| Front Page Top

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