Narco-Terror Nexus
Also at the Flying I: The Madrid bombers paid for their dynamite in hashish. What's interesting is that that's old news the MSM's rediscovering, as one erudite commenter was pointing that out in November 2004.* What's new is the argument from French and Spanish intelligence that this is part of a larger pattern of cannabis funding terror:
Cannabis smokers are unwittingly funding Islamist extremists linked to terror attacks in Spain, Morocco and Algeria, according to a joint investigation by the Spanish and French secret services. The finding will be seized on both by campaigners for a harsher clampdown on cannabis and by those who argue that legalisation is the only way to end a petty dealing trend that is dragging growing numbers of teenagers into crime.The Observer also reports that
Experts heard not only that North African hashish was funding terrorism in Europe, but also that West Africa had become a new hub for South American cocaine shipments bound for Europe.Which confirms this nugget right here.
But let's expand on that theme. Here's a Nigerian smuggling heroin into India, whom the authorities think is doing so to finance terror activities there and who is tied to a gang that operates in the U.S. and Australia.
And here is a report from the Jamestown Foundation--about whom I know nothing, although their citations look solid--about how Afghan's poppies fund the Taliban (as they always have.) In fact it looks like a really good summation of the problem. The Afghan poppy crop is a catalyst for terror, worldwide as well as in the Stans, and I think it always will be. We're going to need to get rid of it sooner or later; maybe it's time to spray and eradicate the poppy crops before we face the new Taliban recruits, weaponry, and propaganda that this year's crop will buy.
* Don't you hate it when bloggers toot their own horns? Well, I hate it when other bloggers do it.