Three DEA agents and seven US soldiers were killed Monday when their helicopter crashed as they were returning from a firefight with suspected drug traffickers in western Afghanistan. They were among 14 US casualties suffered in helicopter crashes Monday. An additional eight US soldiers were killed Tuesday, making October the bloodiest month for the US in Afghanistan since it invaded and occupied the country eight years ago.
Afghanistan supplies more than 90% of the world's illicit opium, the raw ingredient for heroin. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported last week that Taliban insurgents earn as much as $160 million a year from taxing poppy farmers, protecting drug shipments, and operating their own drug smuggling networks. Those funds help finance Taliban operations against US and NATO forces and their allies in the Afghan armed forces.
The helicopter crashed in the predawn hours Monday after returning from a raid in which US and Afghan soldiers attacked a suspected drug trafficking compound. The US military said a dozen insurgents were killed in the raid. The Taliban claimed credit for shooting down the chopper, but US officials denied that it had gone down because of enemy fire.
The incident came as Afghan officials fiercely criticized a US military hit list of about 50 suspected drug traffickers, saying targeting them to be killed or captured "on the battlefield" undermines the Afghan justice system and could trigger a backlash against foreign troops. It was unclear if the compound attacked Sunday night belonged to a trafficker on the hit list.
Anti-Western sentiment is already running high in Afghanistan. This weekend, police in Kabul clashed with anti-American rioters infuriated by rumors that American soldiers had burned a copy of the Koran. Several people were wounded when police opened fire on the angry crowd.
Not to gloat....
Because this is just simply sad. These guys lost their lives over bullshit. I'm not going to pass judgment (and that does not excuse the veracity of this next phrase either....), however:
THIS IS WHAT WE GET FOR STICKING OUR NOSE WHERE IT DOESN'T BELONG. NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO CONQUER THAT REGION SUCCESSFULLY IN A 3,000 YEAR PERIOD. WHY IS THE DEA SENDING PEOPLE OVER THERE??? IT'S A <> ZONE!!. WE HAVE SOLDIERS THERE FOR THIS SPECIFIC PURPOSE!!!
HOPEFULLY THE BEAN-COUNTERS IN WASHINGTON LEARNED THEIR LESSON ON THIS ONE!! (We can only hope!)
//end rant (hey, at least it was intelligent, and not incoherent and overly emotional...)
dea over-sea`s
That`s what they get for waging their "war". Drug Prohibition killed these cops. Ain`t washington proud.
Not your grandfather's crap
Sorry about those men. Now think about this: the money spent on such a helicopter could have funded research and medical treatment for xxx patients and maybe saved ANOTHER ten lives.
Nowhere in this Drug Story is mention of restoring the hashish crop, maybe in the guise of a domestic cartridge-loading industry to export THC-e-cigarette cartridges. (Google this: UCCCCRAP = Universal Crusade Conspiracy for Cannabis Crop Restoration in Afghanistan and Pakistan.)
It would employ a million teenagers now tempted by paying "jobs" in the "Insurgency Industry", get the economy on its feet and stabilize those countries.
Oh yes, US has to legalize cannabis first.
What drug war?
Hamid Karzi's brother serves in the Afghan government. Hamid Karzi's brother is well known to be (one of the) biggest Opium dealers in that country. According to CNN, Hamid Karzi's brother is also getting money from the CIA (for what purpose was not said). If you connect the dots, didn't the CIA kill the DEA agents?
Apparently, the CIA is helping Hamid Karzi's brother keep his job as the biggest Opium dealer in the country. Who's side is the CIA on?
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