Under a Sky of Diamonds...

Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle...

...I did mention in earlier posts that drugs were virtually unknown in the Iraq of "before". I also did mention that since the "after", all kinds of drugs circulate in the market. I also noted that members of death militias of the "nationalist", "patriotic", "anti-occupation"(hahahaha) loving version of Mahatma Gandhi - Muqtada Al Sadr and Co, are regular users of drugs. That may partly explain their total numbness when on their drilling fix. But now the "breaking news". Just read that opium is being grown in Southern Iraq. Under the agricultural expertise and auspices of Iran of course. Iraq turning into a poppy field, turning into an Afghanistan? Not far fetched at all (...) So Iraqis are not only getting tortured, raped, slaughtered, blown to pieces, massacred. They are not only made destitute and impoverished. They are not only turned into refugees. They are not only polluted with chemical and biological weapons. They are not only deprived of water, electricity, food and basic services.They are not only stripped of any basic rights in their own country...No, there has to be more... They will also be turned into drug traffickers and addicts...

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Opium: Iraq's deadly new export
Patrick Cockburn

Farmers in southern Iraq have started to grow opium poppies in their fields for the first time, sparking fears that Iraq might become a serious drugs producer along the lines of Afghanistan. Rice farmers along the Euphrates, to the west of the city of Diwaniya, south of Baghdad, have stopped cultivating rice, for which the area is famous, and are instead planting poppies, Iraqi sources familiar with the area have told The Independent. Opium poppies have hitherto not been grown in Iraq and the fact that they are being planted is a measure of the violence in southern Iraq. It is unlikely that the farmers' decision was spontaneous and the gangs financing them are said to be "well-equipped with good vehicles and weapons and are well-organised"...

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