ReconsiDer Tidbits

 

Apparently destabilizing Latin America isn't good enough for our country's drug warriors.

It seems they might be gearing up for another adventure in Southeast Asia. Sound familiar ?

Here is a very disturbing note from the Far Eastern Economic Review regarding
U.S. troop deployments -- for training purposes, only -- to fight narcotics
trafficking along the Thai-Burmese frontier.  This is the area where, for
decades, the so-called opium war lords have operated private armies financed by
their control of opium cultivation and processing.

                                     ============
Far Eastern Economic Review
December 14, 2000
Intelligence

Golden Triangle Role For U.S. Army

The Thai and U.S. armies are joining hands for the first time to combat drug
trafficking in the Golden Triangle. The Thai
military will form a special task force to counter the increased flow of
methamphetamines and heroin into the country from
Burma. The U.S. army is offering training and equipment and the new outfit
is expected to be operational in August. It will
bring together elements from the military, the border police, the Office of
the Narcotics Control Board and the government.


It will be equipped with modern detection devices and helicopters and, with
training from U.S. instructors, will be able to
operate at night. The small town of Pai near northern Thailand's border with
Burma has been proposed as the force's main
base. The area is rife with cross-border drug trafficking. The U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency has been active in Thailand for
years, but its mandate allows it only to cooperate with local police forces.