Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Protecting the homeland Via Grits for Breakfast Grant money from the Department of Homeland Security is being used for a "Border Security Enhancement Operation" in ... wait for it... Arkansas! Of course, as Scott notes, it has nothing to do with homeland security: The real purpose of the grant, though, is to fund overtime for a drug interdiction unit to work the highways trolling for asset forfeiture income, not "border security" or "terrorism." Reported the Gazette: Some Texarkana, Texas, police officers may soon be deployed to help track down and arrest possible terrorists as well as drug smugglers along Interstate 30 and U.S. Highway 59. [...] The interlocal cooperation agreement will allow city police to patrol and work traffic enforcement, on an overtime basis, along I-30 and U.S. Highway 59 to target illegal drug smugglers and terrorists, according to city records. [emphasis added] This is insulting. And criminal. And people should be locked up for mis-using tax-payer money that's intended for protecting the United States from terrorism. You're not going to catch any terrorists in highway interdiction efforts, and they know it. What they'll do is get paid overtime, nab some of the less intelligent drug mules, collect some assets, and have absolutely no impact on the availability of drugs in the United States. And we're supposed to be reassured that the government is protecting us. When are we going to protect the ports of Kansas? Update: Scott helps me out in comments. The money is actually being spent in Texas to protect the Texas-Arkansas border from the... terrorists... trying to get into... Texas... from... Arkansas? Ahhhh. 10:00:36 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

U.S. Military cuts role in drug war This LA Times article by Josh Meyer (which has been getting wide circulation) appears to be mostly drug warrior-supplied crying about the need for more military support in interdiction (although that has never been shown to actually, you know, accomplish anything). If anything, the article is an interesting read to show just how impossible it is to stop the flow of drugs, regardless of your efforts. And when you've got unlimited profits involved, plus an unlimited supply of small fish willing to take a chance for a pay-off, the suppliers find the Defense Department's 22% "detection rate" (likely a much higher-than-actual number) merely a highly acceptable tariff. 9:11:11 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []