The biggest problem with the U.S. response to terror is that it has nothing to do with terror. With the debacle commonly known as the “War on terror” moving well past the six month mark, the U.S. government, as represented by the Justice Department and the Pentagon, still have absolutely no idea what happened on September 11, 2001, how it was executed and precisely who’s responsible.
To date, the government has an extremely weak case of conspiracy against John Walker, a stupid young man whose group was mixed up with anti-terrorist propaganda, and an even weaker case against Zacharias Moussaoui, a French expatriate that was in jail for a full month before September 11, 2001. All that, and we might have a top lieutenant of bin Laden.
Because the government is clueless, they declare victory against terrorism by removing hapless, two bit, fundamentalist governments like the Taliban. They secure soldier loyalty by deploying only units from New York bases. They take the opportunity to exploit a vulnerable public psyche to settle old scores with minimal internal resistance.
The business of the U.S. government is business, regardless of the legality or ethics of any stated operation. The business of the Taliban was creating an Islamic utopia, regardless of how offensive that Utopia may appear to Western eyes.
The invasion of Afghanistan was on the drawing board long before 9/11. A closer date for the decision to invade Afghanistan was July of 2000.
July 2000 was the month that the Taliban decided that the harvesting of opium poppies and the manufacture of heroin was a very unIslamic activity. They took the position that the remaining harvest would be sold off and never produced again. Despite the propaganda that showed the Taliban as hypocritical drug lords, the production of heroin fell 94% between 1999 and 2000. What was once 75% of the world heroin and 90% of the European supply at the value of $40 billion turned into vapor in a matter of months.
The shutdown of the heroin market caused massive turmoil as the street price of the drug went from $88 a kg to $1,500 per kg in a very short period of time. When prices skyrocket like that, markets rapidly shrink into nothingness. Of course the Taliban would ride the market for what it’s worth. Anybody would. They could make a little money while the fundamentalist vision was taking hold. As an added bonus, they would be screwing over Western financial interests that manage the drug trade.
The U.S., European and Asian governments have a huge interest in making sure that recreational drugs are cheap and plentiful. No economy can employ all of its people. No medium can distract all of its people. No propaganda can focus all of its people. If the attention of the mind is not fleeting through entertainment or focused on the minutia of employment or emotionally wrapped up in a government sanctioned political crusade, drugs are the last option for passive population suppression. Drugs have the benefit of measurable biological effects that strictly cerebral forms of control do not.
With the threat of a rapid $40 billion collapse, a bailout is absolutely necessary. Or so U.S. history shows such actions to be necessary. Between July 2000 and September 2001, nothing more than ineffective media specials on how horrible the Taliban was could be done. Airpower is the historical response to political problems with countries like Libya, Sudan and Afghanistan. Airpower cannot solve a breakdown in a major segment of the global narcotics trade. Afghanistan had already been bombed by Clinton in 1998 and most people either did not care or entertained the realistic possibility that terrorists groups could be in Afghanistan regardless of what the Taliban think about it.
The Taliban did not make themselves conducive targets for international justice. Their vision for an Islamic theocracy did not extend beyond Afghan borders. Their military aggression did not expand beyond Afghan tribes. On the odd chance that they ever gained the unity and finances to fight anyone but themselves, which country would provide the cause to rally an invasion force? Iran? China? Pakistan put them in power and paid the bills. To make matters worse for Western narcotic interests, it’s not as easy to convince the public that a war for drugs is remotely justifiable like the Persian Gulf War for Oil.
On the morning of 9/11/2001, the prayers of the heroin industry were answered in massive fire and destruction. There’s no doubt that the government is seeking justice for this tragedy. There’s no doubt that the government is trying to find the perpetrators. But unfortunately, there’s also no doubt that the government still has no idea what the hell happened. In light of the Enron debacle, they should also be no doubt that persons in government and the narcotics industry saw a great opportunity to simultaneously demonstrate military might and resuscitate the global production of heroin.
At $1 billion per month, the restoration of the heroin industry was a stunning success. Spending only $6 billion to restore a $40 billion per year business is a demonstration of shrewd operational execution. By choosing an overwhelming majority of soldiers from New York, insubordination in Afghanistan is nonexistent. They question neither the mission nor their superiors because they are all traumatized in one way or another by their proximity to the terrorist attacks. The Persian Gulf war created a great deal of dissent because soldiers could see through the official line of protecting the sovereignty of Kuwait to the real issue of protecting oil profits through the containment of Iraq.
Invading Afghanistan is not about liberating women, educating children, letting men play soccer and, sure as hell, it isn’t about any grandiose response to the terrorism underworld. There are thousands of places where terrorist groups can hide but there are only a few places that can produce heroin with the efficiency of vertical integration. There’s only one place with vertical integration and the industrial capacity to supply 75% of the world’s heroin habit.
That place is Afghanistan. The mission is to rebuild the heroin industry.
