If Karzai is right, wiping out FARC is not the solution

Miguel_Clavo says on Jun 24, 2006, 21:29:

First things first.....eliminate FARC/PARA, then concentrate ... on the narcos and other domestic issues....."One small step for man, one giant step for mankind" ..remember that one?......patience, platano, patience.....=).....when FARC is on the run, lets see how well they will be able to recruit.....like vultures on the carcasses..?

Just my opinion...

Miguel_Clavo...faltan 6 F-ing días...Colombia es pasión!

"F.A.R.C..S.U.C.K.S"

"I would rather die living life, than to live a dying life."........ Oh, and my PM is always ON. Great Bumper Sticker: "Home of the Free, Because of the Brave"

0 funny, 0 helpful.

b bruce says on Jun 24, 2006, 22:45:

The F.A.R.C. are the least of Karzai's concerns! Remember when the U.S. went in to Afganistan to route the Taliban. The saying was you couldn't bomb them back to the stone age because they were all ready there. There is no comparison between Afganistan and Colombia. Most of the enemy combatants in Afganistan come across the border from Pakistan. Colombia's insurgents are home grown. Hell at least in Colombia the F.A.R.C. on their day off can enjoy Starbucks in Bogota. Your lucky to find water in Afganistan. And if the F.A.R.C. walked around in villages beating woman with sticks as the Taliban did they would have been wiped out by the locals a long time ago. Karzai has many more pressing problems than a bunch of maggot infested Maoists running from the Colombian Army. Viva Colombia!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Miguel_Clavo says on Jun 24, 2006, 23:04:

I believe that the motives of the OP are quite simply.......... a devotion to pacifistic extremism.....unfortunately, sometimes the bad guys need to be spanked!......

Just my opinion...

Miguel_Clavo...faltan 7 F-ing días...Colombia es pasión!

"F.A.R.C..S.U.C.K.S"

"I would rather die living life, than to live a dying life."........ Oh, and my PM is always ON. Great Bumper Sticker: "Home of the Free, Because of the Brave"

0 funny, 0 helpful.

juancegomez says on Jun 26, 2006, 17:19:

If platano is right, rather...which is possible, but... ...I have my doubts, because Colombia is not Afghanistan and, superficial similarities aside, the situation is not entirely comparable.

That being the case, I'll respond to platano, not to Karzai.

"Lack of jobs, booming drug trade, weak government...hmmmm.... sound familiar?"

Yes, superficially.

"And yet, Colombia continues spending millions of millions of pesos in its "war on terrorism"..."

Of course, just as the people on the other side are also doing so, according to their own abilities and budgets. Though I think that labelling it all as a "war on terrorism" is misleading, whether it is platano or Uribe that says it.

"Might the war against the FARC be a misdirection of valuable resources?"

Certainly, as all wars tend to be a waste of valuable resources. That doens't make them stop though.

"Might a less bloody solution be an all out war on poverty in Colombia, thereby defeating FARC by starving it of recruits? "

Perfect in theory, not so perfect in execution.

You presume that an all out "war on poverty" (temporarily leaving aside all the inherent complications the concept brings) would be enough to defeat the FARC and starve it of recruits. I disagree. It could have some effect, but alone it would be totally insufficient.

Consider that there are plenty of poor people in Colombia that have nothing to do with FARC. Even if they all suddenly became significantly less poor after the scarce four years of any single administration, that wouldn't eliminate the FARC's recruits. Those tend to be people from the most remote places in the country, places where poverty is significantly higher and harder to fight than in most cities, because the government and the state's infrastructure isn't even really present to begin with. Not to mention that the geography doesn't help either.

Therefore, targetting the precise segments of the poor population that might have actually something to do with FARC is much more difficult than fighting poverty generally. Stating that "the war's money should be spent on the poor" sounds great, definitely, but it isn't that simple.

I think that both problems need to be handled roughly at the same time, so to speak, but not merely with good intentions.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

vladimiro says on Jun 28, 2006, 12:28:

Iran Asks for a "Plan Colombia", too Iran has threatened to allow traffickers to flood Europe with narcotics unless its costly border security operation is given a massive hike in United Nations funding.

Iran says it has tried almost everything in its war on drugs: digging huge trenches along its porous borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan and even using helicopter gunships and tanks against well-armed traffickers.

Dealers are executed and anyone caught consuming drugs risks imprisonment, lashes and heavy fines.

"All these US and British forces could stop poppy cultivation in Afghanistan if they wanted to," said Maleki.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,6119,2-10-1462_1958229,00.html

( Like Afganistan and Colombia, Iran used to be a major drug producer when it had an American installed dictatorship; they also must shoulder alone 2 million Afghan refugees that fled from the American liberators. )

0 funny, 0 helpful.

juancegomez says on Jun 28, 2006, 15:01:

Hmmm...apples and oranges though "Iran has threatened to allow traffickers to flood Europe with narcotics unless its costly border security operation is given a massive hike in United Nations funding."

Not exactly equal to Plan Colombia either, since border security is actually a continuing problem that has not been seriously addressed by it or even by the budget as a whole. Plan Colombia is not centered around a "costly border security operation" at all.

"Iran says it has tried almost everything in its war on drugs: digging huge trenches along its porous borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan and even using helicopter gunships and tanks against well-armed traffickers."

There's the one similarity though, I must admit. That likely won't work, just a similar approach hasn't worked here.

"Dealers are executed and anyone caught consuming drugs risks imprisonment, lashes and heavy fines."

That's another big difference that's worth keeping in mind.

""All these US and British forces could stop poppy cultivation in Afghanistan if they wanted to," said Maleki."

Doubtful, but it's still good PR for the intended target audience I guess.

"Like Afganistan and Colombia, Iran used to be a major drug producer when it had an American installed dictatorship"

Ummm...no.

I suppose some things are better expressed through song: "Uno de estos animales no es como los otros, es diferente de todos los demás..."

"they also must shoulder alone 2 million Afghan refugees that fled from the American liberators."

Yes and no. Beyond the common factor that war refugees exist in all cases, that is not an entirely adequate description or comparison either.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Wastelandlive says on Jun 29, 2006, 17:01:

It is a funny article though. It just goes to show you; nobody can stop narcotrafficing. Not dictators. Not Sharia fundamentalists. Not the worlds wealthiest democracy. Nobody.

It's hillarious to see Iran extorting Europe over this. At the same time they're trying to force them to shut down Uranium enrichment, they're going to give them cash payments?

We are hostages to our own drug policy, and narcotrafficers are laughing all the way to the bank.

Wasteland

0 funny, 0 helpful.