the following are extracts from an article put out by the GAO in the US detailing that the war on terror takes a back seat to the war on drugs....or where the hell are our priorities? WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A just-released report slams the federal government for failing to coordinate the work of U.S. law enforcement agencies overseas to fight terrorism. The Government Accountability Office found that in one country a lack of clarity about the roles and responsibilities of the FBI and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency may have compromised several investigations intended to identify and disrupt potential terrorist activities. ......."In all four there was more U.S. funding devoted to fighting drugs than to fighting terrorism, the report said." ....."In one country, described as an "extremely high terrorist threat to American interests globally," the State Department provided six times more funding to stop illicit drugs and crime than it did for anti-terrorism assistance, the report said....." ....."In another country, an embassy official said most training and assistance funding from the U.S. was dedicated to counter-narcotics efforts "even though drugs were no longer a strategic concern in that country." Happy reading.... Warn
It's the word 'war.' Whenever the government declares war on something (e.g. War on Terror, War on Drugs, War on Poverty) it gives them further excuse to act like we are at war with something other than an intangable idea. The government uses these wars to erode civil liberties such as the 4th ammendment (illegal search and seizure). As long as we are at war with concepts we will never have the freedoms we are gauranteed in the Constitution.