By Noam Chomsky

A substitute for the Evil Empire that is disappearing has been the threat of Latin American drug traffickers. In early September 1989, a government campaign in the media was launched by the President. That month the Associated Press wires transmitted more news about drugs 26acerca Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa combined. When watching television, every news had a great section on how drugs were destroying our society, becoming the biggest threat to our existence, and so on.

The effect on public opinion was immediate. When Bush won the election of 88, people said that the budget deficit was the biggest problem facing the country. Only 3% mentioned drugs. After the media campaign, concerns about the budget was much lower and drugs had risen to 40-45%, which is highly unusual for an open question (in which no answers are suggested).

Now, when some client state complains that the U.S. government. is not delivering enough money, do not tell, "we need to stop the Russians," but "we need to stop drug trafficking." As the Soviet threat, this enemy provides a good excuse for military presence wherever there is rebel activity or other disturbances. Thus, international "war on drugs" provides a cover for intervention. Here [in the U.S..] Has little to do with drugs but it helps to distract the population, increasing repression in the cities, and build a base to attack civil liberties. This does not mean that the "substance abuse" is not a serious problem. At the moment it was launched the war on drugs, deaths from snuff were estimated at about 300,000 a year, and another 100,000 from alcohol. But these are not the drugs to which the Bush administration noted. Pursued illegal drugs, which have caused far fewer deaths, little more than 3500 year-according to official data. One reason to pursue these drugs is that their use has been declining in recent years and the Bush administration could safely predict that the war on drugs "would succeed," reducing the use of them.

The administration also pointed to marijuana, which has not caused any known deaths among its 60 million users. In fact, this attack has exacerbated the problem of drugs, many marijuana users have gone from this relatively harmless drug to more dangerous as cocaine, which are easier to conceal.

Just as the war on drugs was announced with great fanfare on September 89, the Chamber of Commerce (U.S. Trade Representative) held a hearing in Washington to consider the application of the tobacco industry to impose sanctions on Thailand as revenge for their efforts to restrict imports of snuff from the U.S. and its advertising. And actions by the U.S. government and have gotten to this lethal addictive narcotic force consumers from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, with the human costs described above.

The medical director of the U.S. (U.S. Surgeon General), Everett Koop, testified before the USTR panel that "when we are demanding that other governments to stop the flow of cocaine, is the height of hypocrisy for the United States on export snuff . "He added," within a few years, our nation will review the implementation of free trade policy and find it scandalous. Thai witnesses also protested, predicting a result of U.S. sanctions would reverse the decline in smoking achieved by his government's campaign against the use of snuff. Responding to the allegation of U.S. tobacco companies that their product is the best in the world, a Thai witness said: "Certainly we in the Golden Triangle we have some of the best products, but never ask that govern the principle of free trade. In fact, suppress. "Critics recalled the Opium War 150 years ago, when the British government forced China to open its doors to opium from British India, piously arguing the virtues of free trade while the force imposed on an addiction large scale in China.
Here we have the biggest drug story of the day. Imagine the great headlines: "The United States government is the main drug dealer in the world." Surely sell newspapers. But the story went virtually unreported, and no clue to their obvious conclusions.

Another aspect of the drug problem, which also received little attention, is the vanguard role of the U.S. government in stimulating drug trafficking since the Second World War. This happened in part when the U.S. began their task of undermining post-war anti-fascist resistance, and the labor movement became an important goal.

In France, the threat posed by the influence and political power of the union movement was emphasized by his steps to prevent the flow of arms to the French forces seeking to reconquer its former colony of Vietnam, with U.S. assistance. Then the CIA was given the task to weaken and divide the French labor movement, with the help of important American labor leaders, who were very proud of their role.

The task required strikebreakers and thugs. There was an obvious supplier: the Mafia. Of course they are not in charge of work just for the fun of doing. They wanted compensation for their efforts. And he gave them: they were allowed to re-establish the network of heroin that had been suppressed by the fascist governments-the famous "French connection" that dominated the drug trade until the early sixties.
By then, the center of drug trafficking had moved to Indochina, particularly Laos and Thailand. The movement was again a product of a CIA operation, the "secret war" waged in those countries during the Vietnam War by a CIA mercenary army. They also demanded pay for their contributions.

Then, when the CIA shifted its activities to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the drug network grew there.
The covert war against Nicaragua also provided an injection of the drug force in the region, as flights illegal CIA weapons for the U.S. mercenary forces. offered an easy way to transport drugs back, sometimes using the bases of the U.S. Air Force, as reported by the traffickers.

The close correlation between the drug racket and international terrorism (sometimes called "counterinsurgency", "low intensity conflict" or some other euphemism) is not surprising. Clandestine operations need plenty of money, which should be undetectable. And also need criminal operatives. What follows is logical.

Title
The War on (Certain) drugs (from the book "What Uncle Sam Really Wants")
Source: ZNet