MARINES IGNORE POPPIES IN GOODWILL GESTURE TO AFGHAN LOCALS

GARMSER, Afghanistan - The Marines of Bravo Company's 1st Platoon
sleep beside a field of poppies. Troops in the 2nd Platoon playfully
swat at the heavy opium bulbs while walking through the fields. Afghan
laborers scraping the plant's gooey resin smile and wave.

Last week, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit moved into southern
Helmand province, the world's largest region for growing opium poppy,
and now they find themselves surrounded by green fields of the illegal
plants that produce the main ingredient of heroin.

The Taliban, whose fighters are exchanging daily fire with the Marines
in Garmser, derive up to $100 million a year from the poppy harvest by
taxing farmers and charging safe-passage fees - money that will buy
weapons for use against U.S., NATO and Afghan troops.

Yet the Marines are not destroying the plants. In fact, they are
reassuring villagers the poppies won't be touched. U.S. commanders say
the Marines would only alienate people and drive them to take up arms
if they eliminated the impoverished Afghans' only source of income.

Many Marines in the field are scratching their heads over the
situation. "It's kind of weird. We're coming over here to fight the
Taliban. We see this. We know it's bad. But at the same time we know
it's the only way locals can make money," said 1st Lt. Adam Lynch, 27,
of Barnstable, Mass.

The Marines' battalion commander, Lt. Col. Anthony Henderson, said
yesterday that the poppy crop "will come and go" and that his troops
can't focus on it when Taliban fighters around Garmser are
"terrorizing the people."

"I think by focusing on the Taliban, the poppies will go away," said
Henderson, 41, of Washington, D.C. He said that once the militant
fighters are forced out, the Afghan government can move in and offer
alternatives.

Khan Mohammad, an Afghan born in Helmand province who lives in
Pakistan and came to work the fields, said he makes $2 a day. He said
the work is dangerous now that Taliban militants are shooting at U.S.
positions. "If we go over there those guys will fire at us. If we come
here, we're in danger, too, but we have to work," said the 54-year-old
Mohammad, who said he supports a family of 10.