PRETTY POPPY IS MOST OBVIOUS WEAPON

WMD, or weapons of mass destruction, is something the world and especially
the American people have become very familiar with. The question of whether
there are any in Iraq I will leave for another day. What I am concerned
about is why our president and congressmen know exactly where the most
obvious and biggest weapon of mass destruction is, and yet they turn a
blind eye.

That WMD is in Afghanistan. It is the poppy fields that continue to grow
and produce the opium that is turned into heroin, of which the largest
percentage is shipped to the United States. This year's crop, we are told,
will increase by about 20 percent.

Each and every day we hear of law enforcement officers getting killed
trying to curtail the drug market. It has to be the most frustrating
feeling to all the police chiefs across the United States telling their
officers to get the drug dealers and the drugs off the street, while our
president and congressmen know the original source and refuse to do
anything about it. Meanwhile, the officers get killed, along with all the
users of heroin (mass destruction) whose lives are ruined and whose death
is almost certain.

The ''real money'' is not made by the farmer growing the poppies. All the
profits in Afghanistan go to the ''warlords'' who control all the areas
except Kabul, which is governed by the new president, Hamid Karzai. The new
president is powerless over these local warlords because of their financial
success in selling the heroin and exporting it to the United States and
other places. This can be stopped if our government wants it to.

As long as we are in Afghanistan trying to stabilize their country, we
could help stabilize ours by destroying the poppy fields. It would be fair
if we compensated the farmer whose land we would have to destroy.

I'm sure Illinois farmers could lend their expertise to help make that
acreage food-productive and profitable for the Afghan farmer. If they
needed machinery to do that, maybe Mayor Daley would donate the backhoes he
used to carve up Meigs Field. That would be the best retirement present he
could give to Chicago's police superintendent, Terry Hillard, who fought
the drug war his whole career.

It's not Hillard's fault or the mayor's fault that the Chicago murder rate
is increasing. The largest percentage of murders are attributed to drugs,
and with drugs you get weapons and drive-by shootings.

This all goes back to how do we stop this! My answer: Take out the WMD, the
poppy fields. Say no to drugs--take out the source!

Dean Koldenhoven,

Palos Heights