PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert #246 Wednesday December 12, 2001 Write a Letter - Make a Difference! Columnist Misses The Point Of Drug/Terror Connection While drug policy reform advocates have been trying to explain how the drug war benefits terrorists, some confused pundits have taken the bizarre looking-glass view that the war on drugs is a crucial aspect to the success of the war on terror. This week syndicated columnist Robert Novak devoted one of his pieces to this premise. He ignored the fact that inflated black market prices created by drug prohibition are crucial for the funding of terrorists. Without the drug war, terrorists would lose an important funding mechanism. (See Jacob Sullum's comments on this and other reasons the war on drugs is good for terrorists at URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n2001/a12.html) Please write a letter to the Chicago Sun-Times or the Washington Post to explain why Robert Novak has it backwards - the war on drugs helps terrorism, it doesn't hurt it. PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list () will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one very effective way of gauging our impact and effectiveness. Contact Info: Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL) Contact: Extra Credit Source: Washington Post Contact: This column also appeared in the Washington Post on Dec. 10 under a different title. Please send a letter to the WP as well. Source: Washington Post ARTICLE Newshawk: Sledhead Pubdate: Mon, 10 Dec 2001 Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL) Copyright: 2001 The Sun-Times Co. Contact: Website: http://www.suntimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81 Author: Robert Novak Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism) AMERICA'S 2 WARS MUST BE LINKED America's war on terrorism ought to be linked inextricably to the war on drugs. It is not. That unfortunate failure, making it more difficult to defeat either scourge, is reflected in two anomalies. *President Bush, omnipresent and eloquent in exhorting his fellow citizens to combat terror, since Sept. 11 has mentioned narcotics hardly at all. Not once in his daily rhetoric over those three months has the president used the phrase "narco-terrorism." *The Drug Enforcement Administration, widely considered to have the best U.S. intelligence operations, has no seat at the inter-agency table in fighting terrorism. It never did, and the attacks of Sept. 11 did not change anything. These facts of life are the background to last Tuesday's unprecedented narco-terrorism symposium convened by the DEA's aggressive new administrator, former Rep. Asa Hutchinson, and held at DEA headquarters in Arlington, Va. Criticism was restrained and indirect, but the consensus was clear that drug-fighting must be part of the anti-terror strategy. The DEA always has appreciated the nexus between terror and narcotics, but the State Department and the CIA have not. Accordingly, the U.S. government for years turned a blind eye to the fact that Colombia's FARC guerrillas from the start have been financed by illegal narcotics. The Taliban, which supported Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist network, have been financed by the opium trade to Europe. While U.S. policymakers still talk at length about state-sponsored terrorism, support now is more likely to come from the poppy seed than from a government sanctuary. Raphael Perl, narco-terrorism expert for the Congressional Research Service, told last week's symposium that "income from the drug trade has become increasingly important to terrorist organizations." He added: "State sponsors are increasingly difficult to find. What world leader in his right mind will risk global sanctions by openly sponsoring al-Qaida or funding it?" Steven Casteel, DEA chief of intelligence, agreed: "State-sponsored terrorism is diminishing. These organizations are looking for funding, and drugs bring one thing: quick return on their investment." Narcotics provide more than a way to finance terrorism, in the DEA's view. Al-Qaida expands ABC--atomic, biological and chemical--to ABCD, with drugs added, according to Casteel. "Drugs are a weapon of mass destruction that can be used against Western societies and help bring them down," he said. On Sept. 7, DEA agents seized 53 kilos of Afghan heroin distributed by Colombians. "I would argue," said Casteel, "that we've been under attack in this country for a long time, and it didn't start on Sept. 11." Considering DEA's experience, it would seem natural that its representatives would immediately be put on the high command of the new war against terrorism. They were not, and still are not. Larry Johnson, a former CIA official who was a high-ranking State Department counterterrorism expert during the first Bush administration, told the symposium: "I can say, hands down, that the best intelligence we have on the ground overseas is DEA, and yet, after all of the time that I've been involved with counterterrorism, not once have I seen a DEA body sitting at the table, at the [Counter- terrorism and Security Group] meetings which go on at the White House, where you're talking about combatting terrorism." Nor are they there today. No wonder the president never uses the words narco-terrorism. What is lost by this silence is the leverage of the presidential bully pulpit to fight drugs. Last week's DEA symposium was called "Target America: Traffickers, Terrorists and Your Kids." The "kids" part was discussed by Stephen Pasierb of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. He presented polling data showing a rare conjunction between generations: a mutual inclination by parents and children to believe that illegal drugs finance terrorism. That opportunity can be exploited by the government's massive megaphone, especially the presidential bully pulpit. "The understanding of this link [between narcotics and terrorism] is essential," said Pasierb, "and that's what our leaders can do. Leadership in this nation can help our people understand." The wonder is that the blase attitude toward narcotics in high places that marked the Clinton administration has not totally disappeared under Bush. SAMPLE LETTER Dear Editor, I was baffled by Robert Novak's column on the alleged need to tie the drug war to the war on terror ("America's 2 Wars Must Be Linked," Dec. 10). The drug war helps to finance terrorists - they would not be drawn to drug sales as a funding source if prohibition had not made drugs so profitable. While Novak calls drug "weapons of mass destruction" and lists several official U.S. enemies that have profited from the illegal drug trade, it is crucial to remember that some official allies (including the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan) are no strangers to drug trafficking. Are our friends also using weapons of mass destruction against us? In reality, if we want to hurt terrorists, we would end the war on drugs. Such a move would stop the flow of black market narco-dollars to terrorists and slash the power of drug gangs here in America. If we do as Novak suggests and link the war on drugs to the war on terror, the only result will be prolonging both indefinitely. Stephen Young contact info IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. TARGET ANALYSIS Washington Post Circulation 1.15 MILLION - Advertising Value Of A 150 Word Published Letter - $2,587 The Washington Post is an influential newspaper that has 71 published letters in the MAP archive. A sampling recently published letters shows the average length tends to be about 160 words, with some as short as 90 words and others as long as 280 words. The published letters can be viewed here: http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/ltedex.pl?SOURCE=Washington+Post+(DC) ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts Letter Writers Resources: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm Prepared by Stephen Young - http://www.maximizingharm.com Focus Alert Specialist

Focus Alert Archive