POPPY CULTIVATION GONE UP HUGELY SINCE INVASION

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Afghanistan
opium poppy cultivation since 2001 went from 8,000 hectares to an
astronomical 2006 record of 165,000 hectares.

The increase from 104,000 hectares in 2005 to 2006 is a whopping 52
per cent. The share of world opium poppy production for Afghanistan in
2006 is an amazing 82 per cent. This report is available online, and
these facts are indisputable.

The low 2001 pre-9-11 numbers of opium production were under Taliban
rule. Since the U.S.-led coalition occupation of Afghanistan, to
eliminate the so-called terrorist Taliban regime, opium production has
soared an unbelievable 2,000 per cent. The CIA is on record as saying
that "Afghan opium trafficking is the primary source of funding for
al-Qaida; that Afghan opium pays for the insurgencies that wound and
kill our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq." If this is so, under
coalition occupation, where does the funding now go?

In Colombia, Peru and other Latin American countries, the U.S. is
spraying fields for cocoa and destroying the lives of the indigenous
peoples. Why are they not doing the same in Afghanistan? These same
types of geopolitical objectives, used by the Reagan administration,
caused a surplus of cocaine in the U.S. during the Iran-Contra
scandal. The truth is that a well-rounded covert global economy keeps
the "war business scam" going on for as long as possible.

The people of the coalition countries deserve an explanation as to why
the influx of opium production. Why are our countries allowing this
scam to continue, and where is the money going? Are we not in
Afghanistan to help these people rebuild?

In North America, our governments incarcerate people for drug
trafficking. Our governmental policies, at this point, are emerging as
immensely hypocritical, as it is evident they condone opium
trafficking. The prescription opiate addiction problem in the
industrialized nations is promising to be a capitalistic dream come
true for our governments, when combined with these findings.

In addition, Mr. Harper's recent visit to Colombia, on the surface,
may be about human rights, or free trade, or whatever -- at this
point, it doesn't really matter. Considering our country's exploitive
operations in Afghanistan, it could be the unofficial beginning of our
aid to exploit the cocoa trade as well. If our coalition troops are in
Afghanistan to help the Afghan people rebuild their country, what are
our governments doing exploiting the drug trade?

TREVOR DeBLOCK

Windsor