Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2007 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 Times Colonist Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Author: Connor Whelan AFGHAN WAR ON DRUGS STILL MAKES SENSE Re: "War on drugs should be waged here," opinion, Sept. 1. It is specious reasoning to imply that interdiction of the opium trade is not an important strategic target for NATO troops. Cutting off the flow of narco-dollars that is used to purchase weapons, ammunition and bombs being used to kill our soldiers is clearly an objective worth pursuing. That the likely result of such a strategy will be significantly less heroin on North American streets translates into a huge benefit to the war on drugs at home, not to mention the invaluable narco-intelligence that is being gained through the presence of our military at the very heart of the opium trade. It makes much more sense to intercept a truckload of heroin in Afghanistan or some point in between there and North America before the load is split and transferred through various levels of traffickers making interception of the entire shipment virtually impossible. Connor Whelan, Ladysmith. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom