Pubdate: Fri, 23 Dec 2005
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2005 News World Communications, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Robert B. Charles

INSURGENTS ON DRUGS?

Odd? Maybe. Predictable? Probably. Worrisome? Definitely. Word is 
trickling back from Iraq, through official and unofficial channels, 
that "opiates" (likely of Afghan origin) may be showing up in dead 
Iraqi insurgents. Five questions flow from that trickle.

(1) Is it true? Is it possible that, consistent with anecdotal 
reports of heroin and methamphetamines discovered more often 
(especially in southern Iraqi cities of Basrah and Najaf), insurgents 
are getting a mind-numbing dose of heroin prior to suicide attacks? 
There are ways to find out. First, add that question to current and 
future interrogations. Second, do basic testing where possible on 
remains. Third, do a drug test shortly after apprehending someone, as 
we often do after arrests in this country. We might discover 
something worthwhile.

(2) If insurgents are getting "juiced" to commit horrific, suicidal 
acts -- largely condemned by the Koran -- what would adherents to 
so-called Radical Islam make of it? What would fence-sitters who 
count themselves Islamic fundamentalists say? Is that even vaguely 
Islamic? The word should spread, if these reports are true.

(3) What is the origin of the heroin, if it is heroin or a similar 
potent opiate? One guess. The obvious answer is the country now 
supplying 82 percent of the world's heroin: Afghanistan. The drugs 
would have to move into Iraq via sea or across Iran. The latter is 
likelier, given porous borders on both sides of Iran, a history of 
smuggling drugs across both borders, and close ties between Shi'ites 
in southern Iraq and Iran. Notably, earlier this year, the 
International Narcotics Control Board observed "high levels of 
insurgent violence and porous borders have drawn traffickers to 
Iraq," and that "Jordan has seized large quantities of drugs on the 
Iraq border."

(4) What is to be done? The answer is simple: Engage Iraqi Shi'ites 
in helping close down transshipments and in public discussion of the 
issue and a more aggressive effort to address the problem at its 
source, inside Afghanistan.

(5) Finally, what does the possible link mean operationally? Not much 
in terms of stopping a VBIED or mobile suicide attacker, since there 
is little difference between an insurgent exercising murderous 
irrationality and an insurgent exercising drugged-up murderous irrationality.

But there could be real implications for intelligence-gathering, 
cross-fertilization of drug-related and insurgent-related 
information, increased counter-drug training for Iraqi police, 
greater reliance on Drug Enforcement Agency and other 
counternarcotics experts, and a potential to leverage this connection 
to find more bad guys.

Importantly, there is no official confirmation of the link yet, and 
anecdotal reports offer little comfort for those who must make the 
critical decisions. Multipoint verification, never mind proof beyond 
a reasonable doubt, is not in hand.

Still, the power of logic, scattered reports of an emerging link, a 
glance at the map, and the value of proving insurgents are drugged 
when they explode, raise poignant questions -- for everyone.

The questions are worth asking; answers are worth pursuing. If the 
link is real, it tells us a lot.

Robert B. Charles, president of the Charles Group in Washington, 
D.C., and Gaithersburg, Md., is former assistant secretary of state 
for international narcotics and law enforcement.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman