Dugs and Terrorists

Hazel Inglis/ 10/23/08 / 10:08 pm /global crime

The al Qaeda, Hamas, and other terrorists use global drug trade to finance their organizations. There is a difference in the way drugs were traded and the new “hybrid” drug rings. The new “hybrid” drug rings are driven by “one-part terrorist and one-part drug cartel,” says Michael Braun, chief of operations for the federal intelligence agency. “Terrorist organizations are motivated by ideology, and global drug cartels are motivated by one thing only, and that is greed,” Braun said. The U.S. seized about $500 million four years ago and more than $3.4 billion in 2007 from drug trade in bilateral operations staged by U.S. agencies and their counterparts in countries around the world. “Most of the deep thinkers at the (Department of Defense) believe we are going to be fighting this fight—what they refer to as ‘the long war’—for the next 30 to 50 years,” Braun said.

It is expensive being a terrorist and international drug trade is big money so it is not surprising that these two things go hand and hand. Like many things in this world, you only see the tip of the iceberg. People see terrorism and drug problems as individual problems, but many of the world’s big problems are intertwined. I wish fingers could be snapped and all problems could be solved. The problem with terrorism and drugs are not going to go away and are going to take a long time and money to solve.

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