Seeing gains, U.S. Widens Latin Drug War
As Washington’s attention swings from Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States is expanding its antidrug efforts in places like Honduras, where the violence has skyrocketed.
Skeptic that I am, I would guess that when Mr. Assistant Secretary Brownfield says “My guess is” he means “what I would like you to believe is” but, hey, that’s just me. But if you read the whole story, you’ll learn that this “getting it together” has led to the deaths of four unarmed people in Honduras, including two pregnant women, which in turn suggests that said “getting it together” is the reason why violence in Honduras has been “skyrocketing.” In addition, said “getting it together” may be due, in large part, to the desire of the desire of the leaders of Honduras to get their hands on American firepower. And the Times even goes so far to suggest, very obliquely, that the effects of all this “getting it together” on the actual availability of cocaine in the U.S. could be, you know, nil. But, apparently, with U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan slowly winding down, the Obama Administration is open to just about any opportunity to kill innocent civilians. In a good cause, of course. You wouldn’t want Assistant Secretary Brownfield to be out of a job, would you? That’s cold.
Afterwords
To unwind my sarcasm just a little, where are the “gains” the Times refers to in its homepage header (not a part of the actual story) other than in Brownfield’s puffery, which offers no evidence whatsoever that U.S. efforts in Central America are having any positive results at all? What is the point of this story other than to allow Brownfield to claim that he and his pals are doing a good job, despite the fact that their latest operation led to the deaths of four innocent people, and despite the fact that the President of Guatemala, Otto Pérez Molina, says the drug war has failed and should be ended? And why does the Times think that it is its job to do Assistant Secretary Brownfield favors?
The Times sportingly links to a “debate” on the Latin American drug war, which includes a statement by Molina. It does not link to a story about the murderous drug raid, apparently because it never ran one. You can get a lot more background here, from the World Socialist Web Site, which may not be entirely reliable, but is willing to tell you things that the Times is not. If you need to hear from the mainstream media on this one, the Washington Post’s take is here.
