Tuesday, October 21, 2014

ISIS v. Drug Cartels

According to this report, ISIS earns $800 million annually from oil sales:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-20/islamic-state-earns-800-million-a-year-from-oil-sales.html


But according to this report, the Mexican drug cartels make $64 billion annually from drug sales in the US:


http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=342471&CategoryId=14091


So ... what are we doing about these threats?


The "war on ISIS" is costing $10 million per day ($3.65 billion annually); and we're actually bombing them.


The "war on drugs" cost federal, state, and local governments $40 billion in 2010; and no one is bombing the cartels.


Which of these two groups is the greater threat to the US and deserves the greater response? I would argue that it's the cartels, and the relative amount of money being spent seems to confirm that the US government agrees.


But the "war on drugs" is going nowhere; the flow of drugs into El Norte continues uninterrupted.


And if we can't (or don't want to) defeat the cartels, why do we think we can (or want to) defeat ISIS? They are the perfect enemy as far as defense contractors are concerned: ISIS seems to promise perpetual war for perpetual peace.


The "war on ISIS" will morph into the equivalent of the "war on drugs": plenty of Sturm und Drang, but no results - other than the transfer of lots of money from the American people to the war corporations.


And by the way, in the place where the "war on terror" and the "war on drugs" share common ground (i.e., Afghanistan), the poppy crop is at an all-time high:

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/afghan-poppy-cultivation-at-all-time-high/

When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?

No comments:

Post a Comment