SLOW BOAT

The Bush regime has been trying to link cannabis based drugs with terrorism for a long time. I saw this latest attempt to make the connection via TalkLeft a few days ago. As TL so adroitly put it:

Yesterday there was the news that a boatload of hash was seized in the Persian Gulf. Of ten or twelve people on board, depending on which news report you read, three or four were reported to have unspecified "links" or unspecified "clear ties" to Al Qaeda. The Administration spin is that the load belongs to Al Qaeda, is worth ten million, and the money would have been used to finance Al Qaeda's activities.

In a later report I saw a Navy officer quoted as saying it was uncommon to see Al Qaeda involved in hash and in fact he had never heard of it before. (Unfortunately I lost the link to that one). More unfortunately, the subsequent seizure of 85 lbs. of heroin a few days later gave the spin some credibility.

I find it hard to believe Al Qaeda would piddle around with hash when there is so much more money to be made with heroin. My guess is that the hash guys were more likely mere informants than active conspirators in any terrorist scheme.