Political prisoner, activist, journalist, hymn-writer, emerging thinktanker, aspiring novelist, "tribal elder", 2019 parliamentary candidate for North West Durham, Shadow Leader of the Opposition, "Speedboat", "The Cockroach", eagerly awaiting the second (or possibly third) attempt to murder me.
Monday, 13 September 2010
Smack, Dope, Write Your Own Title To This One
Soldiers smuggling heroin out of Afghanistan.
Read that one over again. And again. And again. And again.
There's a long history of (a small number of) soldiers being involved in organised crime. Drug smuggling is far from uncommon which is hardly surprising given that soldiers have a propensity to be stationed around the world and thus can access the stuff at source.
We have Military Police for a reason, after all. I'm surprised you're surprised. Everyone knows this.
It's the context. Stamping out the heroin trade has been among the numerous reasons, all of them bogus, that have at some point been given for the war in Afghanistan.
Why isn't this a huge story?
ReplyDeleteThe story is that it is not a story. We no longer find these things remarkable.
ReplyDeleteIt's not.
ReplyDeleteThere's a long history of (a small number of) soldiers being involved in organised crime. Drug smuggling is far from uncommon which is hardly surprising given that soldiers have a propensity to be stationed around the world and thus can access the stuff at source.
We have Military Police for a reason, after all. I'm surprised you're surprised. Everyone knows this.
It's the context. Stamping out the heroin trade has been among the numerous reasons, all of them bogus, that have at some point been given for the war in Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteSimilar things happened during the Vietnam War and the Soviet War in Afghanistan. We all know how those adventures turned out.
ReplyDelete