Pubdate: Wed,  4 Sep 2002
Source: Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
Copyright: 2002 Tallahassee Democrat.
Contact:  http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/444
Author: Christopher Newton

EXHIBIT TIES DRUG SALES TO TERRORISM

ARLINGTON, Va. - Attorney General John Ashcroft and former New York City 
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani helped open a museum exhibit Tuesday intended to 
show Americans that buying illegal drugs can support terrorist attacks.

The exhibit, titled "Target America," includes Sept. 11 rubble from the 
World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It is housed at a museum in the Drug 
Enforcement Administration's headquarters.

DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said the exhibit aims to educate Americans 
about the role drug money has in terrorism.

"Before terrorism hit home on Sept. 11, few Americans realized the 
connection, and fewer still understood that drug money has been used to 
fund terrorism," Hutchinson said.

The exhibit will go on nationwide tour next year.

It includes photographs from Afghanistan that outline connections the 
al-Qaida terror network and the Taliban militia, Afghanistan's former 
rulers, have had to drug trafficking. An interactive map illustrates that 
some reputed opium sellers and distributors support the Taliban.

Another section of the exhibit is devoted to exploring the history of the 
"narcoterrorist," the Bush administration's label for drug runners who 
support groups like al-Qaida.

Since Sept. 11, the war on drugs has taken a lower emphasis to the war on 
terror. In June, FBI Director Robert Mueller told DEA agents that they 
could expect less field support from FBI agents, who have been redeployed 
to domestic security.

The museum exhibit brought criticism from some groups pressing for 
legalization of drugs.

"This is a sad exploitation of the memories of the 3,000 people killed 
Sept. 11," said Bruce Mirken, a spokesman at the Marijuana Policy Project. 
"We felt it was important to tell the true story: It is the war on drugs 
that funds terrorism by driving up drug profits and forcing the drug trade 
underground."

Federal authorities have recently amassed what they say is hard evidence of 
connections between drugs and terrorism, uncovering an illegal drug 
operation in the United States that was funneling proceeds to Middle East 
terror groups such as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

A series of DEA raids in January indicated a methamphetamine drug operation 
in the Midwest involving men of Middle Eastern descent has been shipping 
money back to terror groups, officials said.

DEA officials said the men, most of whom were indicted on drug charges 
after their January arrests, were smuggling large quantities of the 
chemical pseudoephedrine from Canada into the Midwest.

Giuliani said the links between drugs and terrorism are substantial.

"The link has been known to law enforcement for a long time, but we didn't 
see it as Americans because we thought we were immune to terrorism," 
Giuliani said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens