January 17, 2008
POPPY POWER....When they call it a "Sunni Awakening," I guess they aren't kidding: it turns out that opium poppy production is taking off all over Iraq. Details here.
—Kevin Drum 2:44 PM
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An eminently rational response to the chaotic conditions in Iraq. Plus, you don't have to send the stuff through a pipeline, and the customer pays cash.
Posted by: bobbyp on January 17, 2008 at 2:57 PM | PERMALINK
Wow, dude, you and Blue Girl are harshin' my buzz.
Posted by: bigcat on January 17, 2008 at 2:57 PM | PERMALINK
if you ever spent anytime around heroin addicts, you'd know that opium and "awakening" are two mutually exclusive concepts. trust me, i'm from baltimore :)
Sedation • Narcotics may produce drowsiness, grogginess, and mental confusion. Characteristic of heroin use is the half-conscious state called "nodding."
http://www.acde.org/common/Heroin.htm
Posted by: P.Nitty on January 17, 2008 at 3:14 PM | PERMALINK
Making the world safe for...opium production? Yeah, the GWOT is working about as well as the "War on Drugs" and with a similar outcome.
Posted by: AK Liberal on January 17, 2008 at 3:15 PM | PERMALINK
OffTopic but food for thought, Kevin. In the Ron Paul thread, we saw gay bashing, sexism, black stereotypes, anti-semitic slurs.... About what we might expect from bigoted reichtards.
One problem, all of these statements were issued by self-identified good liberals against any person that disagreed with them.
I am not a paul supporter, but I would sooner stand with them than with our good and pure liberal thought police that appeared in that thread. Thing about it, Kevin.
Posted by: jerry on January 17, 2008 at 3:25 PM | PERMALINK
The alliance between the US Army and the Sunnis now has a logical economic explanation.
Posted by: Brojo on January 17, 2008 at 3:36 PM | PERMALINK
After spreading peace and democracy all over Afghanistan, Bush is spreading them all over Iraq.
C'mon, get your soma, makes you feel real good.
We'll spread peace all over your asses and then inject it in your arms.
Posted by: Anon on January 17, 2008 at 3:37 PM | PERMALINK
Evolution loves the entrepreneur.
Posted by: Matt on January 17, 2008 at 3:43 PM | PERMALINK
Being good Muslims the Sunnis won't be asleepening with the poppies. They will sell but not use.
Posted by: Tripp on January 17, 2008 at 3:46 PM | PERMALINK
I think that'd be the "Sunni Nod-Offening."
Posted by: cazart on January 17, 2008 at 3:51 PM | PERMALINK
Thing (sic) about this, jer-bob: The invasion and on-going occupation of Iraq has been a failure on so many levels, it is becoming difficult to keep track of all of them:
- There have been between 100,000 and 1 million Iraqis killed as a result of our invasion - about the same as were killed in the Iran-Iraq war.
- A once secular nation with relatively good educational standards, Iraq's educational system is now in ruins and is controlled by feuding, religious nutjobs who want to drag Iraq back to medieval educational and legal standards.
- The healthcare system in Iraq is in tatters and diseases such as cholera, which is almost never seen in civilzed countries, is present and growing.
- Up to 60% of Iraqis are unemployed, compared to unemployment of under 10% before the war.
- Iraq is becoming a major narcotics producer (as this article indicates), when drug use there was negligible before the war.
- There are hundreds of unexploded cluster bombs and large amounts of depleted uranium scattered all over Iraq, which promise to harm, maim or kill Iraqis for years and decades to come...
Yeah, Mission Accomplished, George!!
Posted by: The Conservative Deflator on January 17, 2008 at 3:54 PM | PERMALINK
You're right about that TCD, it's what I get for thumbing it in while on a bus.
I really dislike typos and thinkos myself and truly embarrassed myself about 15 years ago when I ragged on someone about their atrocious spelling and discovered they were blind.
Posted by: jerry on January 17, 2008 at 4:19 PM | PERMALINK
"Yeah, the GWOT is working about as well as the "War on Drugs" and with a similar outcome."
Posted by: AK Liberal on January 17, 2008
Time to change drastically the first?
And, to end the latter?
Posted by: MarkH on January 17, 2008 at 4:31 PM | PERMALINK
So when is the Bush poppy legislation going to get through the Iraqi parliment...
Posted by: Zit on January 17, 2008 at 4:33 PM | PERMALINK
Now I know why god told george to go into the desert.
This is not what the taxpayers want!
Posted by: Tom Nicholson on January 17, 2008 at 4:38 PM | PERMALINK
Is Poppy Bush behind this, um, poppy bush?
Posted by: Kenji on January 17, 2008 at 5:44 PM | PERMALINK
Well, how come cocaine is getting cheaper too?
Posted by: B on January 17, 2008 at 6:07 PM | PERMALINK
If you think that's bad, recent reports which have come into my possession seem to indicate that Mt. Raineer, just south-east of Seattle, is almost entirely composed of black-tar heroin!
I'm going down to Tacoma soon and check this out for myself.
Posted by: Mooser on January 17, 2008 at 6:22 PM | PERMALINK
Wow, free-basing Mount Rainier....
think I'd rather O'D' on Blue Bell Pecan Ice-cream. The sugar high is just as potent, the coma will last almost as long, but you can still make it to work the next day with your eyebrows penciled on straight.
Posted by: Zit on January 17, 2008 at 7:19 PM | PERMALINK
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And GW
Feed your head. Feed your head. Feed your head
Posted by: Jeddi on January 17, 2008 at 7:58 PM | PERMALINK
FWIW, I've noticed that, unless it's a fairly large dose or I'm drinking at the same time, opiates tend to keep me awake. That goes both for the pharmaceutical grade stuff as well as heroin.
Posted by: phleabo on January 17, 2008 at 8:59 PM | PERMALINK
'Sedation • Narcotics may produce drowsiness, grogginess, and mental confusion. Characteristic of heroin use is the half-conscious state called "nodding."'
But those are also side effects of a good work ethic.
Posted by: otherpaul on January 18, 2008 at 1:41 AM | PERMALINK
Zit >"Wow, free-basing Mount Rainier...."
Now y`all keep your cotton pickin mouths off my mountain ya hear ?
Jeez, these new neighbors got no respect for nuttin...
"...If everybody voted, the Republicans would lose every time..." - Jim McDermot
Posted by: daCascadian on January 18, 2008 at 2:25 AM | PERMALINK
Oh well, it's not like the Iraqi people get money from oil. Only the US gets profit from that Iraq resource.
Posted by: me-again on January 18, 2008 at 4:32 AM | PERMALINK
Posted by: daCascadian on January 18, 2008 at 2:25 AM
Oh, alright. If we can't smoke Mount Rainier, then off to Colorado for a Rocky Mountain High.
On other addictive fronts:
Hi, my name is Zit, and it has been 4 days since my last spoonful of Blue Bell ice-cream.
Posted by: Zit on January 18, 2008 at 11:10 AM | PERMALINK
You can't have both a Global War on Terror and a War on Drugs at the same time. Drugs are one of the most cost-effective methods of financing military insurgencies and counterinsurgencies (e.g., the Northern Alliance, the Contras, the Hmong in the Vietnam War).
Posted by: jonp on January 18, 2008 at 11:57 AM | PERMALINK