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The "Senselessness and Injustice" of the Drug War
In the Wall Street Journal, Mary Anastasia O'Grady reminds readers of the "senselessness and injustice" of America's "war on drugs" by revisiting the killing of the Christian missionary Veronica Bowers and her daughter Charity in a botched CIA drug interdiction operation. In conjunction with the CIA, a Peruvian Air Force plane shot Bowers (obviously unarmed) single-engine plane out of the sky when it suspected that it might be ferrying drugs out of the country.
Strict procedures were put in place to minimize the risks to innocents. But after viewing the IG report, Mr. Hoekstra -- the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee -- says that it is clear that those procedures had gone out the window long before the April 20, 2001 tragedy.
On that day the Bowers family was flying in a single-engine plane over the Amazon toward their home in Iquitos. Mrs. Bowers was holding the infant on her lap when a bullet fired by the Peruvian Air Force, under direction of the CIA, hit the aircraft, traveled through her back and into Charity's skull. The plane crash-landed on the Amazon River. Mr. Bowers, his young son and the pilot survived. Neither the plane nor its passengers were found to be involved in any way in the drug business and initial reports said that the mistaken attack was a tragic one-time error.
The IG report looked at the Airbridge Denial Program from its inception in 1995 until its termination in 2001 and took seven years to complete. In statements to the press last month Mr. Hoekstra said it demonstrates every one of the 15 "shootdowns" that the CIA participated in over the life of the program had "violations of required procedures." He also said that the report "found that CIA officers knew of and condoned the violations, fostering an environment of negligence and disregard for the procedures."
Ms. O'Grady's column on Latin America is the best in the business, and it is good to see her on the right side of the drug war debate (Perhaps this isn't news, but this the first anti-drug war column of hers that I've read). As she notes, "to honor the memory of Mrs. Bowers and her daughter and spare innocent lives in the future, a broader discussion in Congress about U.S. drug policy in the region is needed."
|12.17.08 @ 3:14PM|#
Mr. Moynihan, you aren't Radley Balko. Balko is the one who is
supposed to raise my ire with regards to "another isolated
incident", not you.
But I digest.
|12.17.08 @ 3:14PM|#
I read the column the other day. I didn't come away with a firm conviction that Ms O'Grady rejects the drug war, only some tactics. But it's still good to see a harsh criticism of the destructiveness of the drug war in a forum like the WSJ.
|12.17.08 @ 3:32PM|#
phalkor,
This isn't "another isolated incident". This is a new voice chiming
in on what had become a stale story.
It's nice that Ms O'Grady isn't bedding down with the wolves here.
But I've seen too many half assed critiques of the WOD to believe
this will beget anything other than more of the same.
What's needed is not just criticism of how the WOD is being
prosecuted, but strong pro drugs manifestos from all political
camps.
The contrast between alcohol and illegal drugs is a compelling
argument for ending prohibition. And no matter what your political
agenda is, prohibition is a major obstacle to it. Unless of course
you're vested in the status quo and the WOD military industrial
complex, or it's mercenary worriers.
Oz|12.17.08 @ 3:33PM|#
P Brooks,
did you read the user comments? It was amusing but sad to see the
drug warriors defending their moral crusade; sort of a "can't make
an omelet without cracking a few eggs" attitude. Truly
pathetic.
|12.17.08 @ 3:39PM|#
Unfortunately, collateral deaths of those perceived to be above reproach are the only things which will get us to the tipping point. Only when the self-righteous general public perceives the WoD as a threat to them, and people like them, will anything ever change.
|12.17.08 @ 3:45PM|#
well, how do you make omelettes?
Well, beat two eggs with some salt and pepper and get a lot of air
in them. Then put some butter in a high-sided non-stick saute pan
and get it good and hot. Then pour in the eggs and keep rolling
them over themselves with a back and forth motion still over the
high heat. It should only take a minute or two and get it off the
heat and on to a plate before it gets dried out.
That's the French way. They're super light and tasty.
|12.17.08 @ 3:52PM|#
Episiarch,
You forgot to break the eggs. For that purpose, I use the .44
Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, which will blow the
shell clean off.
|12.17.08 @ 3:54PM|#
I don't break eggs, ProL. I coax them out of their shells. With a .357 Magnum (the .44 is overkill).
|12.17.08 @ 3:54PM|#
C'mon now, I'm quite certain all the noble drug warriors would gladly suffer the loss of their spouse and a child due to homicidal official indifference, as long as it...I dunno, what did that program accomplish? Anything? But still, they'd welcome the opportunity to sacrifice for the cause, no doubt.
|12.17.08 @ 3:57PM|#
Strict procedures were put in place to minimize the risks to
innocents.
Apparently not.
T|12.17.08 @ 3:58PM|#
botched CIA drug interdiction operation
That's damn near a tautology, isn't it?
|12.17.08 @ 4:19PM|#
well, how do you make omelettes?
Well, beat two eggs with some salt and pepper and get a lot of air
in them. Then put some butter in a high-sided non-stick saute pan
and get it good and hot. Then pour in the eggs and keep rolling
them over themselves with a back and forth motion still over the
high heat. It should only take a minute or two and get it off the
heat and on to a plate before it gets dried out.
That's the French way. They're super light and tasty.
That is NOT the French way. That is scrambled eggs.
Omelettes are cooked over medium heat, with a minimum of
rolling. They are cooked in a small frying pan with sloped sides
(saute pans have vertical sides) They are cooked on one side and
the warm custardy raw side is folded into the middle. Additions are
optional.
Egg cracking is a topic over which too much milk has already been
spilt (which makes french toast batter, but that's another show).
The only important thing, is to make sure you don't get any shell
fragments in your eggs, no matter how you crack em.
Xeones|12.17.08 @ 4:25PM|#
You don't want to get any baby-skull fragments in the eggs either, unless, apparently, you're in the CIA.
|12.17.08 @ 4:26PM|#
Warren,
I didn't want to launch yet another attack on Episiarch, but I was
shaking my head at his high heat remark. High heat? Eggs? Not an
amicable arrangement.
As for egg shells, since the .44 Magnum blows the shell clean off,
I don't have any problem with egg shells in my omelets.
|12.17.08 @ 4:33PM|#
I have a pan that I use for nothing else but making omelets. It is the perfect, if extravagant solution. And even though it's non-stick, never wash it, just wipe it clean with a paper towel.
|12.17.08 @ 4:38PM|#
Jeez, all the commenters here clearly fall into the category of "this is your brain on drugs", eh? Omelettes? Broken eggs? It is an amusing thread from that point of view..
|12.17.08 @ 4:46PM|#
Ms. O'Grady's column on Latin America is the best in the
business, and it is good to see her on the right side of the drug
war debate (Perhaps this isn't news, but this the first anti-drug
war column of hers that I've read).
she's always come across as "left wing thugs bad. right wing thugs
not so bad." this is the first drug column by her that i can recall
& she seemed to be saying that we need to focus the drug war on
demand not supply side, not that she was anti drug-war.
|12.17.08 @ 4:57PM|#
Well, if Julia says it, then I concede. Though I'm not using high heat on my eggs.
|12.17.08 @ 5:08PM|#
Well, if Julia says it, then I concede.
Wise move.
Though I'm not using high heat on my eggs.
Why don't you try it? You will never go back.
the unregistered voter|12.17.08 @ 5:09PM|#
Hey, I loves me some illegal drugs as much as the next guy, and
I wouldn't have a problem with drug legalization if I were
comfortable that that's where the matter would rest, and we could
all get back to minding our own business. Unfortunately, I strongly
doubt that would be the case. Remember when arguments that
repealing the sodomy laws would eventually lead to gay marriage
were considered laughable? Well, who's laughing now?
In a country where everything has been declared equal to everything
else by fiat, every concession is greeted with a dozen new
demands.
I don't think I'm interested in having to suffer through another
round of diversity training, Drug-User History Month, seeing the
mayor of New York City leading the Junkie Pride Parade through
Times Square and having the courts clogged up with lawsuits from
dopers suing their employers for "discrimination" when their
behavior rightly gets them sacked from their jobs.
No. Fucking. Thanks. I'd like to be able to buy my dope legally at
the liquor store as much as anybody, but if the price of it is
going to be another round of politically correct idiocy, I'd rather
settle for continuing to grow my own in the basement.
|12.17.08 @ 5:09PM|#
Never! I defy you and your high heat ways! And yes, if that means defying the deified Julia Child, so be it!
|12.17.08 @ 5:21PM|#
Episiarch,
Yes, it's ought-not cuisine, as the French like to say. I posted a
special Christmas haggis bit over at Urkobold this morning. You
can either acquire your haggis fresh frozen, or make it under the
video direction of Alton Brown.
|12.17.08 @ 5:30PM|#
Epis,
Julia is of course the supreme source from which there is no
appeal. But I suggest you look over that link again. Like I said,
you're making scrambled eggs (though Julia is very quick in the pan
and only scrambling half of them)
zoltan|12.17.08 @ 5:31PM|#
Remember when arguments that repealing the sodomy laws would
eventually lead to gay marriage were considered
laughable?
Oh no, not that....anything but that!!!
Anyway, comparing sodomy/gay marriage to legalization of drugs/drug
addict appeasement and political correctness is a bit
ridiculous.
|12.17.08 @ 5:36PM|#
Anyway, comparing sodomy/gay marriage to legalization of
drugs/drug addict appeasement and political correctness is a bit
ridiculous.
I don't know. I bet a day doesn't go by that I don't read some
bleeding heart in the Times (NY or LA take your pick) holding court
on how smokers and alcoholics are being unfairly punished by an
uncaring society.
zoltan|12.17.08 @ 5:39PM|#
Warren, I believe they are being punished -- not by society but by the legal system. For some reason it's okay to feel bad for people for stupid reasons like the bleeding heart you mentioned but it isn't okay to feel bad for them or the people who serve them when thye are punished by laws because that has an economic factor to it.
|12.17.08 @ 5:40PM|#
But I suggest you look over that link again. Like I said,
you're making scrambled eggs (though Julia is very quick in the pan
and only scrambling half of them)
That's why I said Method 2, which is the "Rolled Omelet" and has no
scrambling. Add fillings at your whim, but even with no fillings
it's still an omelet.
They taste fantastic, by the way. After using this technique, all
others just seem leathery.
the unregistered voter|12.17.08 @ 5:50PM|#
Anyway, comparing sodomy/gay marriage to legalization of
drugs/drug addict appeasement and political correctness is a bit
ridiculous.
It is ridiculous. Which, unfortunately, has never been a barrier to
comparable idiocy in the past.
|12.17.08 @ 6:24PM|#
Stir the eggs before adding to buttered medium heat pan. Don't
fuck with it until all the edges are firm. Add cheese and mushroom
chunks, fold into thirds and walaa.
O'Grady has had at least one previous anti-WOD article, about 6
months ago, I think.
Pete Guither|12.17.08 @ 8:14PM|#
Mary O'Grady isn't perfect, but she's definitely one of the best
at the WSJ.
She's written about the drug war before and, though far from
perfect, was also considerably less than execrable.
Mexico
Under Siege
Under prohibition, only criminals can serve the market for illegal narcotics. And they have a lot of incentive to do so since prohibition pushes prices up.
Mexico
Pays the Price of Prohibition
In a developed country like the U.S., prohibition takes a toll on the rule of law but does not overwhelm it. In Mexico, where a newly revived democracy is trying to reform institutions after 70 years of autocratic governance under the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the corrupting influence of drug profits is far more pernicious. ...
Drug profits going to organized crime only complicate the matter. Writing in the latest issue of the Milken Institute Review, former U.S. foreign service officer Laurence Kerr takes a page out of U.S. history. "America has been in Mexico's shoes: flush with the bounty of illegal liquor sales, organized crime thoroughly penetrated the U.S. justice system during Prohibition. As long as Americans willingly bury Mexican drug traffickers in greenbacks, progress in constraining the trade is likely to be limited."
She needs to learn how to take it to the next step, but she's at
least able to see the underlying defects.
allan|12.18.08 @ 12:41AM|#
Hate to disagree with the lucid postings of the omelette club
(cast iron skillet, medium heat, fluffed eggs, cooked on BOTH
sides, add ingredients immediately after flipping) and I'm not
really... but O'Grady has plenty of articles on the WOD. Use MAP's
drug news for a search on Mary Anastasia as author.
Back in 1999 she penned America's
Coke-Heads Underwrite Colombia's Misery... and her tone was
changing by 2000 when she penned What Will
One Billion American Dollars Buy In Colombia?. MAP's database
shows she has written 29 columns that have been netered into MAP's
200,000+ drugnews archive. Her busiest years she produced 5
columns... in 2008 she has written 4
Jim|12.18.08 @ 2:00PM|#
Mary O'Grady has written a number of columns about the devastation the drug war is wreaking in Latin America. Keep in mind that the Wall Street Journal has editors. I suspect that the bit about "the futility of the supply-side attack as a way of minimizing drug use in the U.S.," implying that a greater demand-side attack is called for, and totally at odds with the crystal-clear declaration in the previous paragraph, "Prohibition naturally produces powerful criminal networks that undermine the rule of law," may have been added by the WSJ's pro-prohibition editors.
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