Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network (Drugs and "Al Qaeda" again, Oh My!)

[reprehensor]

Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network

Wed Jan 13, 2010

TIMBUKTU, Mali (Reuters) - In early 2008, an official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent a report to his superiors detailing what he called "the most significant development in the criminal exploitation of aircraft since 9/11."

The document warned that a growing fleet of rogue jet aircraft was regularly crisscrossing the Atlantic Ocean. On one end of the air route, it said, are cocaine-producing areas in the Andes controlled by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. On the other are some of West Africa's most unstable countries.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, was ignored, and the problem has since escalated into what security officials in several countries describe as a global security threat.

The clandestine fleet has grown to include twin-engine turboprops, executive jets and retired Boeing 727s that are flying multi-ton loads of cocaine and possibly weapons to an area in Africa where factions of al Qaeda are believed to be facilitating the smuggling of drugs to Europe, the officials say...

Continued...
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60C3E820100113

See also;

Oil, Drugs, and the Future of Afghanistan

Afghanistan, Opium, and the CIA

Deconstructing the War on Terror

Ex-CIA analyst Mel Goodman on the failures of the 9/11 Commission

Afghanistan, Opium, and the CIA

Deconstructing the War on Terror

[kenny blankenship]

1. Yever notice how all our problems come from Al Qaeda?

More and more we learn they're behind everything bad. Now drugs, too. I mean NO WONDER our health care costs are so out of control!

[Ghost in the Machine]

2. 'Al Qaeda' = 'the base'....

it's the base of clandestine CIA operations... profitting from drug running and manufacturing terror to keep the war profiteers in business


:hi:

[lurky]

4. Lesson #1 from the Cold War:

The problem with having countries as perpetual enemies is that you might actually win.

However, if your enemy is a shadowy, amorphous cabal with no country, no headquarters, no fixed leadership or organization, then you can keep people scared forever. It's like declaring war on evil itself.

[Ghost in the Machine]

5. Wonder how long before they try to tie the cocaine plane that crashed in Mexico to al qaeda?

"Cocaine plane that crashed in Mexico this week linked to the Government?
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/20060.html

MEXICO CITY — U.S. authorities are assisting the Mexican government in the investigation of an American business jet that crashed in Cancun this week with four tons of cocaine on board, officials said Thursday.

Some news reports have linked the plane to the transport of terrorist suspects to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but those reports cite logs that indicate only that the plane flew twice between Washington, D.C., and Guantanamo and once between Oxford, Conn. (Bush's home town), and Guantanamo. No terrorist suspects are known to have been transferred to Guantanamo directly from the United States


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1927518

:shrug:

[Hugabear]

7. I blame Al Qaeda for all of my missing socks

For some reason they only take one, leaving the other one behind.

[MisterP]

3. ehhh, and Raygun said that the PLO, Baader-Meinhof, and Red Brigades were holed up in Nicaragua

is Qaeda taking a cue from the CIA's Air America?

[Hugabear]

6. They'll come in handy when the spaceships arrive

You know, since we'll all unite as one to fight the giant spaceships.