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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised the United State will spend roughly an additional $40 million to help fight the drug war in Central America. From the BBC:
Mrs Clinton told a regional security conference in Guatemala that the US would increase its aid by more than 10% to nearly $300m (£187m).
[...]
Mrs Clinton said funding to tackle transnational organised crime in the region would be increased from $260m in 2010 to almost $300m this year.
But she stressed she expected Central American nations to pull their weight.
While the over trillion dollars the United States has already spent on our four decade long war on drugs has totally failed to achieve anything, I’m sure throwing another $40 million of good money after bad will be the tipping point that wins the war.
It will be interesting to see how much of this additional $40 million ends up in the hands a few very politically connected defense contractors that are always happy to make large campaign donations to friendly politicians.
30 Comments
Anti-drug money is the only aid the US is sending to the Caribbean these days – as the use of marijuana becomes more and more the norm- total disconnect!
why are we doing that the law on pot is ILLEGAL cant make a LAW based on donationd and LIES only wake up USA Goverement free all pot presionrs let them WORK and TAX them not suporting them in jail THINK
Yay Obama!
Destroyenrich those Latin American drug Lords.Hillary and Obama, please just run ahead and induct yourselves right now into the Hall of Disgrace and Dustbin of History.
Hmmm… I recommend typing a bit more slowly and proof reading before posting. If I understand what you’re attempting to say, I agree with you.
Hey, the dust bin of history will probably turn into a fat lobbying gig for the for profit prison industry.
The war on drugs did accomplish things: violent drug cartels got rich and are now overrunning Mexico, many people killed, other lives ruined by imprisonment. The new money will escalate the violence.
Having gutted our manufacturing base, the only things we have to export nowadays are problems. Just ask the Iraqis, Afghans, Colombians, Mexicans and practically anyone else with whom we’re involved. In the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown, ask just about anyone, anywhere.
Obama promised change, delivered continuity.
Why do US Federal officials insist on ignoring the political will the US electorate has expressed and voted into law state by state? The following include four former central government presidents (Guardian.Co.Uk, May 29, 2011) on The Global Commission on Drugs:
More than 600,000 people signed Avaaz.Org’s “Stop the War on Drugs” petition which was presented by The Global Commission on Drugs in a meeting with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The meeting lasted 30 minutes.
Why are we blowing $40 million U$D on the “War on Drugs” when we could use it on the domestic social programs?
This is all just so sad and so sick and so all by design. If drugs were legal, none of this would be happening.
Continuity my butt – more like devolution on crack.
yep, and look at the growth in the “transforming our problems into violent death for others” sector .. the robustness is truly limitlesss
no, the Dustbin of History is severe, it’s where all the hucksters and hustlers reside, finally reduced to begging for a rotten turnip alongside their lessers, and it’s not necessarily far away.
I have seen a lot of tragedy and ruined lives, families and futures by the stateside failing War on Drugs. It is a war on the poor. I don’t think anyone buys into the war on drugs crap anymore. I think the plan is to fill the prisons with a free labor force, just my opinion.
Hospital medication errors still kill more people every year than all of the street drugs combined, but they know this. A war on drugs is lucrative. Again, money is the bottom line.
This country is going straight to hell.
but I already have a bong.
‘Bong hits 4 Jesus’, Babeee…! ;-) ‘Ere, I never bogart…! *koff* *koff*
In the overall scheme of things, including the drug trade, $40M is a pittance. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
The 40-year war on drugs is by far America’s longest war. per the Wikipedia:
The War on Drugs ™ is an industry that has spawned and supported others, including the human-incarceration industry in the United States.
In the cold-war with the Soviet Union, we won by a policy of “containment.” That seems to be the policy of the rest of the developed world with respect to drugs. Why not try that here?
Heckuva job, Hillary.
Continuity you can believe in.
.
I read shit like this and I really have to ask those who voted for The Clown™:
At what point are you going to stop acting surprised when this dimwit Obama does something entirely contrary to the beliefs of those who voted for him? You really should hear yourselves moan, and gripe, and whine.
Get a life. The Clown™ asked for your vote, promising “hope and change,” and he did the exact opposite.
If you vote for him again, as he is asking you to, you “gets more of what you’se deserves.”
Remember the old adade: fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
If some schmuck sells you a car that he says is brand new and loaded with options, and instead you get an old lemon, you are stupid for buying this guy’s crap once. But if you go back to bring the car back and he talks you into buying another car, well, then, who is to blame? Him or you?
He fooled you once. If you continue to support him, you are being fooled again, and ahame on you for buying it.
Now, for God’s sake stop whining.
Hillary’s performance in office refutes (or, as Sarah says, refudiates) the presumption that voters had any significant choice between her and Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries. Both are loathsome, lying, warmongering, fascist corporatists, different only in color and sex.
See how that works? We take 2billion out of the low income energy program and give it to wars on drugs; along with anti-fighting “war” in Libya!
This man is pathetic! He’s not on message and if the Democratics were smart enough their know they don’t need millions to win just an effective message…..Didn’t Kathy Hougul(sic) NY26 teach them anything? Obama really is pushing the house GOP plan if he put any of the big three on the table…..HIS CAREER IS OVER!!!!!
I SEE THE KOCH BROTHERS AND KARL ROVE ARE STARTING THE SAME OLD CHIT!!!
PEOPLE NEED TO WAKE UP AND SEE HOW THESE RICH JEWS ALONG WITH OBAMA ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY….HE SAYS WE NEED TO LIVE WITHIN OUR MEANS
I ASK OF YOU WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THE DOW WAS SITTING AT 12 THOUSAND POINTS, YET THE ECONOMY IS VERY FRAGILE!
I AM BEGINNING TO BELIEVE OBAMA HELP PUSH THE “CLASS” GAP EVEN FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD
OBAMA IS SOOO NAIVE HE THINKS WE ARE BUYING HIS B.S!!!
HOWEVER KARL ROVE ARE WASTING THEIR MONEY BECAUSE NO MATTER HOW MUCH I WHINE ABOUT OBAMA…..I STILL AM GOING TO VOTE STRAIGHT DEMOCRAT
NOW GO TELL KARL ROVE AND KOCH – THIS TIME – AMERICAN VOTES AREN’T FOR SALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
An open and sincere apology to Fire Dog Lake residents
As some of you know, yesterday I wound up in a running argument with Bluevista. I made a comment based on my own experience about the effects of marijuana. Blue made a comment that to me, at least, seem absurd and I said so. At the end of my comment I suggested that blue was lying. After some reflection I realised that I was wrong to say that and I came back and apologised. Blue responded by attacking my motives. I’m still not sure what those motives were supposed to be but I think Blue believes I some kind of burned out drug addict and was trying to defend being a burned out drug addict. I don’t know. Some others, such as Southern Dragon and AitchD made some reasoned replies to my comments and I appreciate their responses.
I was wrong to have called Blue a liar in the first place. I try to be civil in my comments but as I said to Aitch I sometimes fail. I won’t apologize to Blue though, considering the final reply I recieved last night. I will continue to comment here at FDL when I feel I have something constructive or humorous to say. Thank you.
“War on Drugs” plays well with the right wing. With Obama continually moving to the right and adopting conservative memes it’s apparent he so desperately wants their approval. The working and middle class, not so much.
And, it fills their patrons’ private-sector prisons.
We must have a secret stash of cash somewhere. Seems we are always coming up with an unending supply of cash for other countries we are either supporting or ruining. Or both. So how come we can’t come up with enough cash for our own people without ruining our own economy. And what pisses me off is some of these other countries are more than able to stand on their own two feet to begin with.
“PEOPLE NEED TO WAKE UP AND SEE HOW THESE RICH JEWS ALONG WITH OBAMA ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY….HE SAYS WE NEED TO LIVE WITHIN OUR MEANS”
That sounds a wee bit anti-Semitic.
Why do you assume that the people who are complaining are going to vote for Obama in 2012? I didn’t vote for him in 2008 and won’t be in 2012.
$40 Million keeps the players paid for another year. Too many people too invested in the “Drug War” to stop it now.