D.E.A. Squads Extend Reach of Drug War

[alp227]

Late on a moonless night last March, a plane smuggling nearly half a ton of cocaine touched down at a remote airstrip in Honduras. A heavily armed ground crew was waiting for it — as were Honduran security forces. After a 20-minute firefight, a Honduran officer was wounded and two drug traffickers lay dead.

Several news outlets briefly reported the episode, mentioning that a Honduran official said the United States Drug Enforcement Administration had provided support. But none of the reports included a striking detail: that support consisted of an elite detachment of military-trained D.E.A. special agents who joined in the shootout, according to a person familiar with the episode.

The D.E.A. now has five commando-style squads it has been quietly deploying for the past several years to Western Hemisphere nations — including Haiti, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Belize — that are battling drug cartels, according to documents and interviews with law enforcement officials.

The program — called FAST, for Foreign-deployed Advisory Support Team — was created during the George W. Bush administration to investigate Taliban-linked drug traffickers in Afghanistan. Beginning in 2008 and continuing under President Obama, it has expanded far beyond the war zone.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/world/americas/united-states-drug-enforcement-agency-squads-extend-reach-of-drug-war.html?pagewanted=all

or on the front page of Monday's NY Times.

[slay]

1. This is not a war on drugs - it never has been - it's a war on PEOPLE

it's a war on poor people, a war on people who defy the gigantic pharmaceutical industry, or the alcohol industry - but at its core it is a flat out war on people and must be stopped. both parties have totally failed us in every way on this issue sadly. :(

[Leftist Agitator]

2. Recommended solely for your sage wisdom and the accompanying image.

+1

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. awesome graphic

[Webster Green]

4. +1

Totally!

[ixion]

5. created by Bush, continued under Obama...again and again

and again.

That's 'change' in DC. :argh:

[alp227]

6. didn't the drug war start under Nixon?

[ixion]

7. Technically, it started in the 30's

and escalated by every US President since Nixon. Reagan is the one I credit for sending it 'prime time', though. That was when all the zero tolerance BS started showing up.