While we are fighting a war in Iraq and a war on terror, we often forget
about the other war that has been going on longer than those two combined. That
is the war on drugs. This week it has taken a turn for the worse with a break
down in diplomatic relations involving one of the key countries.
From the BBC:
Chavez says US drug agents spying
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the US Drug
Enforcement Administration of using its agents to spy on the South American
country. Mr Chavez said his country would sever its ties with the DEA and no
longer collaborate with the US.Last month Venezuelan prosecutors opened an investigation into the
activities of DEA.Mr Chavez said the country would continue to work with other international
groups.“The DEA was using the fight against drug trafficking as a mask, to support
drug trafficking, to carry out intelligence in Venezuela against the
government,” Mr Chavez said.“Under those circumstances we have decided to make a clean break with those
accord,” he added.President Chavez also criticised the US policy on drugs for concentrating
on the supply rather than the demand of drugs.Last week US Ambassador William Brownfield had said the US hoped to
continue collaborative anti-drug efforts in the country.He warned that, without them, “there is only one group that wins, and that
group is the drug traffickers.”
Do you think the United States will ever make significant progress in a war?