No beating about the Bush

Paco

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Jul 6, 2004
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A Pakistan editorial on Bush and a diference in the world since the fall of Russia.

THINKING ALOUD: No beating about the Bush —Razi Azmi

I can definitely live with Bush as US president — or as the world’s sole policeman — for eight years or longer, but would hate to spend even eight days under the Taliban’s theocracy, Saddam’s dictatorship or a regime of Ayatollahs. I have a strong feeling that the vast majority of people everywhere feel the same way

...

Far be it from me — being a staunch believer in secularism — to approve of Bush’s brand of evangelicalism and his penchant for mixing religion with politics. However, for me Bush is a non-issue. Firstly, I am not an American, nor are my readers. Secondly, Bush is not a threat to the world or to democracy and secularism in America, but Al Qaeda and its many affiliates who carry out terrorist attacks in the name of Islam are a clear and present danger.

...

George Bush’s military intervention in Afghanistan and invasion of Iraq have attracted the most condemnation. However, the former has been an astounding success (above all, from the Afghans’ point of view), while the latter is hardly the debacle many commentators represent it to be. In Afghanistan, an utterly despicable regime has been replaced by an elected president. Schools and roads are being built where the religious police once trod. In Iraq, except for the twenty per cent Sunnis who rode roughshod over the rest of the population under the previous regime, the people are eagerly awaiting the elections due next month.
 

Paranoid Dot Calm

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Jul 6, 2004
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Hey! Paco

I wouldn't be doin' much braggin' about Afghanistan.
If Afghanistan is a success .... God help the Iraqi's.

Opium, not democracy, is glue that binds a nation
By Paul McGeough
November 20, 2004
http://smh.com.au/news/World/Opium-.../2004/11/19/1100838227462.html?oneclick=true#

U.N. sees surge in Afghan opium exports
By William M. Reilly
November 18, 2004
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041118-060923-7366r.htm

Farmers Resist Drug Jihad
By Wahidullah Amani
November 18, 2004
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/20545

What 'Democracy' Looks Like
By Christian Parenti
October 05, 2004
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041018&s=parenti
 

Paco

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Jul 6, 2004
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Paranoid Dot Calm said:
Hey! Paco

I wouldn't be doin' much braggin' about Afghanistan.
If Afghanistan is a success .... God help the Iraqi's.

It's not bragging. I'm simply pointing out a Pakistani op-ed that that provides one man's opinion.

Further, your links that show an increase in opium growing only means that a previously repressed society is now able to find an easy way to make money. As the country develops and the citizens find other ways to provide for their families, opium growing will hopefully wither. Opium being a product that will always have a buyer, means it will always be grown and sold to some extent.
 

Paco

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Jul 6, 2004
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Re: RE: No beating about the

Reverend Blair said:
So opium should be decriminalized as an exhibit of capitalism then?

Drugs should be decriminalized as a matter of freedom. If I want to do opium, it hurts no one but me. Governments should not interfere with these decisions.