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Subject: How To Win In Afghanistan Without Killing Anyone
Softwar    3/3/2009 2:54:18 PM
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/03/an-alternative-course-in-afghanistan/ << I noted in several previous postings that a tailored bio-war attack against the Opium poppy could wipe it out. Apparently, this is a weapon we already have on the shelf >> OPED by Representative Dana Rohrabacher Though the trend in Afghanistan is disturbing, it is not unsalvageable. Opium production obviously remains a great challenge. Micro-herbicide can provide a solution. The State Department for years has refused to test this anti-opium poppy-killing fungus, though I saw to it that money was budgeted for such testing. If we have the courage to use this option, the entire Afghan poppy crop could disappear for decades and no other crop would be affected. Of course, this strategy would also require instituting a major economic recovery plan as soon as the fungus is used.
 
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EvilFishy       3/3/2009 3:16:04 PM
Why don't we just buy the damn opium and use it for legitimate uses?
 
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VelocityVector       3/3/2009 3:21:25 PM

Can the world get by without beneficial opiates like morphine?  Because once the fungus propagates beyond targeted areas, and spores do tend to travel easily, that's what we'll be looking at.  I don't doubt that those affected financially by permanent loss of lucrative crop might take it upon themselves to deliberately spread spores worldwide by, for example, working spores into clothing, rugs etc. that are exported.  Opium farmers will likely switch to cannabis and we could lose hemp should we next attack hash through biology.  Of course some plants may develop a tolerance or even sympathetic relationships with a fungus and who can tell where that will lead us.

v^2
 
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HERALD1357    Life science is imprecise and messy.   3/3/2009 3:27:31 PM

Can the world get by without beneficial opiates like morphine?  Because once the fungus propagates beyond targeted areas, and spores do tend to travel easily, that's what we'll be looking at.  I don't doubt that those affected financially by permanent loss of lucrative crop might take it upon themselves to deliberately spread spores worldwide by, for example, working spores into clothing, rugs etc. that are exported.  Opium farmers will likely switch to cannabis and we could lose hemp should we next attack hash through biology.  Of course some plants may develop a tolerance or even sympathetic relationships with a fungus and who can tell where that will lead us.


v^2


I'd rather live with the production problem than risk damage to a major bio-zone or start a shadowy bio-war: which incidentally is a WARCRIME..

Herald

 
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Softwar    Lotus Eater   3/3/2009 4:41:59 PM
The objective is to stop the money flow.  No bucks = no bucks to run insurgents.  As long as the production continues then the bad guys will have money to kill and to burn.  The opium is the engine that runs virtually all of the Afghan violence.  Take away the fuel - no more insurgency.
 
There are ways to limit the effectiveness of the fungus as well as its lifetime.  In short - even in spore form - if it is bioengineered to self-destruct after a period of time then it no longer functions.
 
While many here consider this risky - the science is available and so is the weapon.  Someone will use it eventually - whether competitors in the Burma golden triangle or a government trying to stop production.  Its only a matter of time.
 
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Nichevo       3/3/2009 4:54:37 PM

The objective is to stop the money flow.  No bucks = no bucks to run insurgents.  As long as the production continues then the bad guys will have money to kill and to burn.  The opium is the engine that runs virtually all of the Afghan violence.  Take away the fuel - no more insurgency.

 

There are ways to limit the effectiveness of the fungus as well as its lifetime.  In short - even in spore form - if it is bioengineered to self-destruct after a period of time then it no longer functions.

 

While many here consider this risky - the science is available and so is the weapon.  Someone will use it eventually - whether competitors in the Burma golden triangle or a government trying to stop production.  Its only a matter of time.

This is a little dicey for my taste, SW, and I speak as one who has advocated (diabolii ;> ) the use of plague, anthrax, etc., in the NWFP.  This is too easy to get out of hand and we can't beat it with Cipro.  At the very least I'd want to first test it on an expendable Pacific island - and then nuke the island.
 
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VelocityVector       3/3/2009 5:27:35 PM

Legal niceties aside, we will have forfeited our practical standing when some anonymous country or sponsored organization wipes out our tobacco crop under guise of saving lives and social costs.  Or perhaps wine grapes (PBUH).  After all, smokes and booze fuels the American violence upon the whole world.  Practically any aircraft can be turned into a sprayer and a transponder might be considered an optional accessory by some.  Irrigation also could be used to spread the good word and stamp out sin.

v^2
 
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Nichevo       3/3/2009 5:40:36 PM

Legal niceties aside, we will have forfeited our practical standing when some anonymous country or sponsored organization wipes out our tobacco crop under guise of saving lives and social costs.  Or perhaps wine grapes (PBUH).  After all, smokes and booze fuels the American violence upon the whole world.  Practically any aircraft can be turned into a sprayer and a transponder might be considered an optional accessory by some.  Irrigation also could be used to spread the good word and stamp out sin.


v^2


VV, that doesn't convince.  What "standing?"  What good is some "standing?"  Will it bring back the crop?  No, standing or not, hypocrisy or not, first blood or not,  we would presumably kill (or arrest or sue, I prefer kill) the ones responsible.
 
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VelocityVector    Nichevo Moi Druig   3/3/2009 6:20:18 PM

Duly noted.

v^2
 
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Parmenion       3/3/2009 7:21:47 PM

Can the world get by without beneficial opiates like morphine?  Because once the fungus propagates beyond targeted areas, and spores do tend to travel easily, that's what we'll be looking at.  I don't doubt that those affected financially by permanent loss of lucrative crop might take it upon themselves to deliberately spread spores worldwide by, for example, working spores into clothing, rugs etc. that are exported.  Opium farmers will likely switch to cannabis and we could lose hemp should we next attack hash through biology.  Of course some plants may develop a tolerance or even sympathetic relationships with a fungus and who can tell where that will lead us.


v^2



Anyone tries to go after me or my friend's weed then I'm enlisting in something. From my cold dead hands!
 
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VelocityVector       3/3/2009 7:41:00 PM

Hemp is a logical biobutanol feedstock.  Which we're going to want for cellulosic fuel.  Or so I believe.  Both disclosed and undisclosed research suggests this.  0.02

v^2
 
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