US-restored Afghan opium caused 0.4 mln global
& 50000 American drug deaths
By Dr. Gideon Polya*
According to the United Nations "the record opium cultivation in
Afghanistan is a threat to Central Asia and CIS countries" (see:
http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/
2004/unisnar869.html).
Since 2001 there have been about 0.4 million global drug deaths linked to US Coalition re-establishment of globally dominant Afghan opium production (destroyed by the Taliban in 2000-2001 but 76% and 86% of global production in 2002 and 2004, respectively, after US Coalition invasion and conquest) (see: http://www.unodc.org/pdf/WDR_2005/volume_1_ex_summary.pdf).
2,000 of the post-2001, US Coalition-complicit, opioid-related deaths have been AUSTRALIAN, 3,200 BRITISH and 50,000 AMERICAN. The Coalition leaders are clearly complicit in huge opioid drug-related deaths IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES. Anglo-American media will NOT REPORT the post-invasion avoidable mortality and under-5 infant mortality in the Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories that now totals 2.1 million and 1.7 million, respectively – this NON-REPORTAGE constituting racist media holocaust denial and complicity in passive genocide and war crimes under the Geneva Conventions. However neither will the Anglo-American corporate mainstream media report the Coalition-complicit drug-related deaths of thousands of THEIR OWN PEOPLE.
A detailed report about US Coalition-linked global drug deaths (see below) has been sent urgently to virtually ALL Federal Australian parliamentarians, numerous State parliamentarians, media and humanitarians in the national interest before such transmission is potentially prohibited by paranoid, partisan or malevolent interpretation of soon to be extended, draconian, dishonest, disproportionate and operationally racist anti-terror laws that already grossly violate the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (noting that there have been ZERO deaths from terrorism within Australia over the last quarter century).
The Australian Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Kim Beazley, had good reason to describe the terrorist bombers responsible for the 7/7 London bombings (54 deaths) as "subhuman filth who must be captured and eliminated". How then should we address those of the US Coalition complicit in post-9/11 opioid-related deaths that now total 0.4 million? The Coalition leaders and associates complicit in criminal mass murder must be dealt with by the normal democratic and legal processes of exposure, arraignment, trial and punishment.
0.4 Million Global Drug
Deaths Linked To
US Coalition-Complicit Afghan Opium Production
About 7 million people die annually in the World from the effects of
tobacco smoking, alcohol or illicit drugs, the breakdown being about 5
million, 1.8 million and 0.2 million, respectively. The annual opioid-related
World death toll is about 0.1 million (noting that multiple chemical
agents are typically involved in such deaths and that deaths from
injection-derived infections such as HIV are not included here).
Unfortunately the First World is not taking action against tobacco or
alcohol - indeed First World countries such as the US and the UK are
major producers. While the ruling Taliban had effectively destroyed the
massive Afghan opium industry by 2001 (from 79% of the global market in
1999), the invasion and conquest of Afghanistan by the US and its allies
(notably the UK and Australia) in 2001 resulted in the rapid
re-establishment of the Afghan opium industry to 76% global share by
2002 and 86% global share in 2004.
The Taliban are condemned for draconian human rights abuses deriving
from intolerant and violent interpretations of Islamic law (particularly
over the treatment of women and apostates) but they did take proper
action against tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs - agents that kill 7
million people annually throughout the World and which are all
prohibited by broadly accepted interpretations of Islam. Alcohol was of
course prohibited in Taliban-ruled Muslim Afghanistan. In 1997 the
Taliban expelled all cigarette smokers from military and other
government employment. However opium production was a major component of
the Afghan economy and in 1999 Afghanistan produced 79% of the World's
opium. Nevertheless, in 2000 the Taliban decided to destroy Afghan opium
production and subsequently largely wiped out opium poppy cultivation
(which fell from 42% of the total World acreage in 1999 to only 3% in
2001).
In 2001, shortly after 9/11, the US and its allies (notably the UK and
Australia) invaded Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban government as the
first campaign in a so-called War on Terror that subsequently involved
the illegal and dishonestly-promoted invasion of Iraq. The War on
Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan has so far cost the US about US$252
billion and is expected to cost about US$1,400 billion if it lasts
another 5 years (the Australian cost is expected to total about US$1
billion). There have been about 2,800 Coalition military deaths so far.
However the post-invasion avoidable mortality (excess mortality) and
under-5 infant mortality in the Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories
now total 2.1 million and 1.7 million, respectively, and constitute
passive genocide in gross violation of the Geneva Conventions because of
the manifest failure of the Coalition occupiers to supply
life-sustaining requisites e.g. the annual per capita medical
expenditure in these conquered lands is less than 1% of that in
metropolitan USA.
Under the Coalition, by 2002 the Afghan opium poppy cultivation area had
jumped from 3% to 38% of the World total and Afghan opium production was
76% of the World total. By 2004, the Afghan opium poppy acreage had
jumped to 67% of the World total and Afghan opium production was 86% of
the World total. The US and its Coalition allies (notably the UK and
Australia) have a clear complicity in the rapid restoration of the
Afghan opium industry to World domination and are accordingly complicit
in an estimated post-9/11 opioid-related death toll of 0.4 million (the
World), 40,000-60,000 (the US), 3,200 (the UK), 2,000 (Australia) and
1,200 (Scotland).
The US rejects the authority of the International Criminal Court over US
citizens but other Coalition countries (notably the UK and Australia)
are subject to this jurisdiction for crimes against humanity such as
passive genocide of civilians in contravention of the Geneva Conventions
and massive complicity in 0.4 million post-9/11 global opioid-related
drug deaths. However ALL Coalition leaders and their associates are
subject to the laws of their own countries for criminal complicity in
the post-9/11 opioid-related deaths of their own citizens. Indeed this
complicity in mass mortality extends to their failure to control other
death-dealing agents. Thus each year 5 million die from the consequences
of legal tobacco smoking (annual world market US$1,000 billion), 1.8
million die from largely legal alcohol consumption (annual world market
about US$900 billion) and 0.2 million die from illicit drug use (annual
world market US$800 billion).
A young Australian Nguyen Tuong Van is currently awaiting execution in
Singapore for his part as a "mule" in transmitting 0.4 kilograms of
heroin, a small part of the deadly global burden of heroin deriving
largely from the annual opium production of about 4,200 metric tons in
US-conquered Afghanistan. The Coalition leaders and their associates
complicit in this deadly Afghan opium impost are free to continue their
complicity in this and other criminal and deadly abuses (such as the
passive genocide causing 1,000 avoidable under-5 infant deaths daily in
Occupied Iraq and Afghanistan) - they have not yet been exposed for
their criminal complicity, let alone arraigned, tried and punished. In
contrast, Australian David Hicks, allegedly involved with forces of the
Taliban government that uniquely outlawed the horrendously deadly trio
of opium poppy cultivation, tobacco and alcohol in Afghanistan, has been
abusively detained without trial for 4 years by the US authorities at
Guantanamo Bay.
Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity. Lying
by omission and commission has permitted the criminal US-led invasions
of Iraq and Afghanistan, continuing Coalition passive genocide in the
Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories, the re-establishment of Afghan
opium production and 0.4 million post-9/11 drug deaths. This has been
written in the public interest to expose a "War on Terror" that involves
gross violations of the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions and the UN
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and which is in reality a war on
women and children, truth, reason and justice.
* About the author: Credentials: Dr Gideon Polya published some 130 works in a 4 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds" (Taylor & Francis, New York & London, 2003), and is currently finishing a book on global mortality - numerous articles on this matter can be found by a simple Google search for "Gideon Polya" or consulting his website:
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gpolya/links.html
He can be reached at:
gpolya@optusnet.com.au
Research at News Central Asia
http://www.newscentralasia.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1549
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