Critics Slam Obama Deployment of U.S. Troops to Guatemala for Drug War

[FrankRep]

Critics Slam Obama Deployment of U.S. Troops to Guatemala for Drug War


Alex Newman | The New American
07 September 2012

Critics from across the political spectrum are outraged after the Obama administration announced that it was unconstitutionally sending 200 U.S. Marines to Guatemala under the guise of fighting the drug war.

[tod evans]

Who are these "critics" and why in the hell aren't out politicians listening to them?

[edit]
Well written article but I still don't know who the critics are..

[roho76]

Who are these "critics" and why in the hell aren't out politicians listening to them?

[edit]
Well written article but I still don't know who the critics are..

The critics are "they". Got it?

[tod evans]

The critics are "they". Got it?

Got it............Them too eh?

[FrankRep]

Who are these "critics" and why in the hell aren't out politicians listening to them?

[edit]
Well written article but I still don't know who the critics are..

Anyone who supports the Constitution would be a critic.

[paulbot24]

Oooo, that means now I'm a critic. Don't think that will help me on my resume though.

[amadeus8888]

“I’m sure there are more drugs floating around the U.S. than in Guatemala, so would it be permissible and acceptable for another country to send its heavily armed troops here to fight their own war on drugs?” wondered popular libertarian analyst and commentator Gary D. Barnett. “The more likely scenario is that the U.S. is making sure that most of these drugs get delivered safely to the U.S.” Another scenario cited by analysts was knocking out certain less-favored cartels to eliminate competition.

According to Barnett, it is ironic that the U.S. government — which he called “one of the largest drug traffickers on the planet” — would wage a war all over the world to supposedly stop drugs. “The government depends heavily on its phony ‘war on drugs’ in order to fill the prisons of its corporate sponsors; thereby supplying money and taxpayer subsidized jobs to all the prison support companies,” he concluded. “And how else would the CIA fund its murderous covert operations without the sale and delivery of drugs?”

Human-rights activists expressed separate concerns, worrying that U.S. involvement in Guatemala would lead to continuing abuses that have become commonplace throughout much of Latin America – atrocities largely fueled by the drug war today. Executive Director Helen Mack of the Myrna Mack Foundation, for instance, recalled the historic trauma already inflicted upon the people of Central America by the U.S. government.

"Rural communities in Guatemala are fearful of the military being used to combat drug traffickers because the same techniques are applied that were used in contra warfare," she was quoted as saying in news reports expressing alarm about the latest developments. "The historical memory is there and Guatemalans are fearful of that." Other human rights activists echoed those concerns, and Congress instituted a partial ban on funding the Guatemalan government that is still in effect due to long-running state-sanctioned abuses.

Despite nearly a trillion spent on the “war on drugs,” there is little to show for it aside from death, destruction, increasing drug abuse, and wanton human rights violations at home and abroad. Well over 50,000 Mexicans have been slaughtered since the government there — prodded and financed by U.S. government – declared all-out war. And those facts have hardly escaped the notice of activists seeking a more sensible policy.

“The United States has poured millions of dollars into foreign militaries to stem the flow of drugs, but the criminal groups continue to wield enormous power to corrupt and intimidate — and to kill; while those foreign militaries are often responsible for serious human rights violations,” observed Acting U.S. Program Director Maria McFarland of Human Rights Watch in a recent piece calling for a discussion on reforms. “Sometimes they work together.”