A tale of two headlines: hard to eradicate Afghan opium economy and need for more drones in Afghanistan

headline one...

Opium economy will take 20 years and £1bn to remove

Europe and other major heroin markets should brace themselves for health consequences of harvest, warns UN

headline two...

Pentagon seeks money for unmanned drones

Pentagon's Increased Reliance on Unmanned Drones Evident in Budget

When a missile fired from a U.S. Predator killed a top al-Qaida leader last week it underscored the warfighting power of unmanned aircraft, which are being considered for even greater use in Afghanistan and would consume at least $3.4 billion in the Pentagon's 2009 proposed budget.

well, gosh and go-l-l-l-leee, sports fans... anybody remember this post i put up on 20 january with an excerpt from a story in the nyt back in june 2001...?

The unexpected success of the Taliban in Afghanistan in eradicating three-quarters of the world's crop of opium poppies in one season is leading experts to ask where production is likely to spring up next.

The director of the United Nations Drug Control Program, Pino Arlacchi, said there was no chance that opium from other sources would compensate this year for the loss of Afghan crops, and the prices of opium and heroin will rise substantially, with opium already worth five to seven times its usual price. His program helped convince the Taliban that opium is a disgrace to Islam.

lemme see if i get this straight... the taliban had ERADICATED THREE-QUARTERS OF THE WORLD'S CROP OF OPIUM POPPIES IN LATE 2001 IN AFGHANISTAN PRIOR TO THE U.S. INVASION... in 2006, largely under u.s. control, afghanistan is BACK TO BEING THE WORLD'S NUMBER ONE PRODUCER...

ya don't think the money from the opium economy that will take 20 years and £1bn to remove could be used to finance those drones, do ya...? nah... i'm just a conspiracy theorist who hasn't had his morning coffee...

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