U.S. says 105 militants dead in recent Afghan action

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. says 105 militants dead in recent Afghan action
Reuters

Aug 22, 2005 — KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. and Afghan government forces have killed more than 100 militants over the past few weeks in aggressive operations aimed at ensuring security for an election next month, the U.S. military said on Monday.

U.S. forces have in recent months been suffering their worst casualty rate in Afghanistan since arriving in late 2001 to force the Taliban from power.

"ANA and coalition forces continue to aggressively establish enduring security," U.S. spokeswoman Lieutenant Cindy Moore told a briefing in Kabul, referring to the U.S.-trained Afghan National Army.

About 65 militants have been killed in 25 clashes in Zabul province in the south over the past week, while about 40 were killed in fighting in Kunar province in the east over the last several weeks, she said.
(snip/...)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1057615

[Spinzonner]

1. Deja Vietnam

Body counts

Pronouncements of SUccess

Can't leave

[Why Syzygy]

2. militants?

Don't they mean drug runners?

Make it Legal. And bring them HOME. We are at war with poppy plants.

[moddemny]

3. "We are at war with poppy plants"

It's a little bit more complicated than just poppy plants.

[lostnfound]

4. The Taliban eradicated poppy plants. Our war brought them back.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/28/afghanistan.drugs.reut/
"The area planted with poppies, used to make heroin and morphine, was 152,000 acres in 2003, compared with 76,900 acres in 2002 and 4,210 acres in 2001, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said in a statement."

***********************

Suspicious minds might wonder if it was planned that way. Last week's Sibel Edmonds interview on antiwar.com says that high-level U.S. government officials (State Department and some neocons) are involved in drug and weapon smuggling -- including smuggling that is the primary source of funding for terrorist groups -- and when asked where? she said "look at all the places we are building bases".

*************************
Of course, some more recent articles claim that the new Afghan government is trying to wipe out the poppies. Is this propaganda or is it real? "80% from one province" doesn't tell us acreage. With satellite photos, the US surely knows the answer, and surely knows how to stop it, if it wanted to.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0516/p07s01-wosc.html

But as of March of this year, the White House is still reporting that poppy production is growing, now >200,000 hectares. Mission accomplished.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7090585/

[Why Syzygy]

5. exactly

trace the money and nukes. a'duh!

Been doing a lot of reading. This is it. Oil, yah. Some. These guys are the creepiest of the creepy.

I'll leave it to the more astute on DU if so desired to document.

EDIT: Look at Iran/Contra! Arms and drugs! That was never resolved you know. A bunch of pardons all around. Trade goes on.

[beetbox]

9. Washington's Hidden Agenda: Restore the Drug Trade

Washington's Hidden Agenda: Restore the Drug Trade

The Spoils of War:

Afghanistan's Multibillion Dollar Heroin Trade

"Karzai has been a Central Intelligence Agency covert operator since the 1980s. He collaborated with the CIA in funneling U.S. aid to the Taliban as of 1994 when the Americans had secretly and through the Pakistanis supported the Taliban's assumption of power." (quoted in Karen Talbot, U.S. Energy Giant Unocal Appoints Interim Government in Kabul, Global Outlook, No. 1, Spring 2002. p. 70. See also  BBC Monitoring Service, 15 December 2001)

<snip>

History of the Golden Crescent Drug trade

As revealed in the Iran-Contra and Bank of Commerce and Credit  International (BCCI) scandals, CIA covert operations in support of the Afghan Mujahideen had been funded through the laundering of drug money.  "Dirty money" was recycled --through a number of banking institutions (in the Middle East) as well as through anonymous CIA shell companies--, into  "covert money," used to finance various insurgent groups during the Soviet-Afghan war, and its aftermath:

Narcotics: Second to Oil and the Arms Trade

The revenues generated from the CIA sponsored Afghan drug trade are sizeable. The Afghan trade in opiates constitutes a large share of the worldwide annual turnover of narcotics, which was estimated by the United Nations to be of the order of $400-500 billion. (Douglas Keh, Drug Money in a Changing World, Technical document No. 4, 1998, Vienna UNDCP, p. 4. See also United Nations Drug Control Program, Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 1999, E/INCB/1999/1 United Nations, Vienna 1999, p. 49-51, and Richard Lapper, UN Fears Growth of Heroin Trade, Financial Times, 24 February 2000). At the time these UN figures were first brought out (1994), the (estimated) global trade in drugs was of the same order of magnitude as the global trade in oil.

The IMF estimated global money laundering to be between 590 billion and 1.5 trillion dollars a year, representing 2-5 percent of global GDP. (Asian Banker, 15 August 2003). A large share of global money laundering as estimated by the IMF is linked to the trade in narcotics.

More at:http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO404A.html

[fbahrami]

16. or patriots?

http://www.uexpress.com/printable/print.html?uc_full_date=20050802&uc_comic=ru

[pocket]

6. we know they are militants

because they were shot and killed by the good guys

[bribri16]

7. Who else thought this war was over? n/t Didn't Bush declare victory?

[Stockholm]

8. This story needs some follow up questions:

How many new "militants" were created in these "clashes"?

How many civilians were killed during these "clashes"?

Were any of the dead "militants" identified as belonging to Al-qaeda?

Does any one remember OBL?

Are these "militants" worse than "insurgents", what is the difference?

[Divernan]

10. "ABOUT 65", "ABOUT 40" - speculation/guesstimates/bogus

What's with this term "about" tacked on to numbers? I know the qulaity of our military recruits has been watered down by recruiters, but have they assigned the ones who never finished high school to do the counting? The quote is from a Lieutenant. One presumes she should be able to count.
Now, let's see, why can't they provide exact numbers? Could it be, oh, I don't know, that they are LYING THROUGH THEIR TEETH? Where's the independent confirmation? Or could it be that the military can't provide photos of the claimed dead "militants" because the dead include, oh I don't know, WOMEN, CHILDREN, ELDERLY - whose homes were mistakenly or deliberately targeted.

[Tempest]

11. As in the past, we'll find out later it was a wedding party

Women and children were killed and labeled as insurgents and terrorists.

[PurityOfEssence]

12. "We don't do body counts."

Just what the hell are we doing there now? Rural pacification? Pre-emptive retaliation? Hunting Bin Laden and his band of merry men? Protecting our little ex-Unocal puppet?

[tom_paine]

13. Translation: 5 Taliban and 100 innocent women and children

How sad it is to be a member of an Enslaved Nation like Imperial Amerika or Afghanistan.

Especially for those of us who can still remember what it was like to be truly free.

[imperialismispasse]

14. We're in a war in Afghanistan?

Geez you wouldn't know it from the news.

[geckosfeet]

15. Q: How long will it take to destroy the terrorists?

A #1: We will stay the course.

A #2: Democracy is on the march.

A #3: We have broken the back of the terrorist network.