U.S. Can't Justify Its Drug War Spending: New Reports

**minimal** · 06-09-2011, 11:49 PM

Name one government program that for 40 years has failed to achieve any of its goals, yet receives bigger and bigger budgets every year. If you said "the War on Drugs," you've been paying attention.

The Obama Administration is unable to show that the billions of dollar spent in the War On Drugs have significantly affected the flow of illicit substances into the United States, according to two government reports and outside experts.

The reports specifically criticize the government's growing use of U.S. contractors, which were paid more than $3 billion to train local prosecutors and police, help eradicate coca fields, and operate surveillance equipment in the battle against the expanding drug trade in Latin America over the past five years, reports Brian Bennett of the Los Angeles Times.

"We are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a problem without even knowing what we are getting in return," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who chairs the Senate subcommittee that wrote one of the reports, which was released on Wednesday.

Photo source: Colombia In Context
Professor Bruce Bagley, University of Miami: "I think we have wasted our money hugely"

"I think we have wasted our money hugely," said Bruce Bagley, an expert in U.S. anti-narcotics efforts. "The effort has had corrosive effects on every country it has touched," said Bagley, who chairs international studies at the University of Miami at Coral Gables, Florida.

Predictably, Obama Administration officials deny reports that U.S. efforts have failed to reduce drug production and smuggling in Latin America.

White House officials claim the expanding U.S. anti-drug effort occupies a "growing portion" of time for President Obama's national security team, even though it doesn't get many Congressional hearings or headlines.

The majority of wasted American counter-narcotics dollars are awarded to five big corporations: DynCorp, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, ITT and ARINC, according to the report for the contracting oversight committee, part of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Counter-narcotics contract spending increased by 32 percent over the five-year period from $482 million in 2005 to $635 million in 2009. Falls Church, Va., based DynCorp got the biggest piece of the wasted pie, a whopping $1.1 billion.

Photo source: Politico
Sen. Claire McCaskill: "We are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a problem without even knowing what we are getting in return"

These contractors have plenty of ways to waste your tax money. They train local police and investigators in anti-drug methods, provide logistical support to intelligence collection centers, and fly airplanes and helicopters that spray herbicides to supposedly eradicate coca crops grown to produce cocaine.

The Department of Defense has wasted $6.1 billion of tax money since 2005 to help spot planes and boats headed north to the U.S. with drug payloads, as well as on surveillance and other intelligence operations.

Some of the expenses are "difficult to characterize," according to Senate staff members, which is government-speak for "OK, you caught us wasting money again." The Army wasted $75,000 for paintball supplies for "training exercises" in 2007, for example, and $5,000 for what the military listed as "rubber ducks."

The "ducks" are rubber replicas of M-16 rifles that are used in training exercises, a Pentagon spokesman claimed.

Even the Defense Department described its own system for tracking these contracts as "error prone," according to the Senate report, which also says the department doesn't have reliable data about "how successful" its efforts have been. Go figure.

In a separate report last month by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, there is the conclusion that the State Department "does not have a centralized inventory of counter-narcotics contracts" and said the department does not evaluate the overall success of its counter-narcotics program.

"It's become increasingly clear that our efforts to rein in the narcotics trade in Latin America, especially as it relates to the government's use of contractors, have largely failed," Sen. McCaskill said.

The latest criticism of the United States' War On Drugs comes just a week after a high-profile group of world leaders called the global Drug War a costly failure.

The group, which included former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and past presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, recommended that regional governments try legalizing and regulating drugs to help stop the flood of cash going to drug cartels and other organized crime groups.

James Gregory, a Pentagon spokesman, demonstrated his willingness to lie his ass off by claiming the Defense Department's efforts against drugs "have been among the most successful and cost-effective programs" in decades.

"By any reasonable assessment, the U.S. has received ample strategic national security benefits in return for its investments in this area," said Gregory, who seems to inhabit a particularly improbable alternate reality.

Back in the real world, the only effects most objective observers can see run along these lines: Backed by the United States, Mexico's stepped-up Drug War has had the unintended effect of pushing drug cartels deeper into Central America, causing violence to soar in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Another effect has been the vast expansion of Orwellain surveillance technology, supposedly to combat drugs, but ever-so-useful to the authoritarian regimes in Central America (and in the United States) in suppressing dissent.

The U.S. is currently focusing on improving its efforts to intercept cellphone and Internet traffic (of "drug cartels," yeah right) in the region, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

During a visit to El Salvador in February, William Brownfield, the head of the State Department's anti-drug programs, opened a wiretapping center in San Salvador, as well as an office to share fingerprints and other data with U.S. law enforcement.

From http://valetudocafe.wordpress.com/20...g-new-reports/

**Prince** · 06-09-2011, 11:53 PM

**LAM** · 06-10-2011, 02:33 AM

as I have stated before, I got kicked out of combat several times for asking about gaps in search grids when doing drug ops in the caribbean in the navy. it's nothing more than a front to appease the gen public.

DynCorp is a military contractor, I think they are a subsidiary of a larger company that's in fossil fuels, banking and aerospace. the war on drugs is nothing more than a small tentacle of the ever expanding US military complex and their budgets increase they do not decrease, those multinationals have to keep those dividends to share holders (themselves) increasing annually.

**myCATpowerlifts** · 06-10-2011, 08:18 AM

Everytime I read an article like this, i can't help but get angry.

I hate that this is still an issue. It's so fucking stupid.
And people in your everyday life buy into it.
They think the drug war is helping but just don't know anything.

Sigh

**jagbender** · 06-10-2011, 08:28 AM

definalty "wasted" spending

**Dale Mabry** · 06-10-2011, 09:45 AM

Wait, our government wastes money?

**ROID** · 06-10-2011, 09:59 AM

Originally Posted by Dale Mabry

Wait, our government wastes money?

don't be silly

**Savage`** · 06-10-2011, 01:19 PM

Latinos everywhere are laughing while buying and trafficing more drugs.

**IronAddict** · 06-10-2011, 01:45 PM

Nice post, Minimal.

No they can't! And don't even try to justify it with more lies, cause that's all they are. More and more people recognize these lies, especially since they're trying to expand this lie with the war on terror.

A war of ideals, not an enemy!

**blergs.** · 06-10-2011, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by Prince

AMEN to that! lol :-P

**LAM** · 06-10-2011, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by Savage`

Latinos everywhere are laughing while buying and trafficing more drugs.

latino's! that's pretty funny, try the fed government...you don't get 700+ metric tons of cocaine into the US annually on small boats, planes or human mules. the US has the shadiest government on the planet, it's the land of illusion.

**IronAddict** · 06-10-2011, 04:30 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

latino's! that's pretty funny, try the fed government...you don't get 700+ metric tons of cocaine into the US annually on small boats, planes or human mules. the US has the shadiest government on the planet, it's the land of illusion.

No shit. How about freeway Ricky Ross, who, in the early 80s was getting huge amounts of pure cocaine from the CIA, for the guns for drugs deal they cast in the Iran Contra affair. And he turned that shit into crack, shown by a Nicaraguan contra middleman and he made 3 mill. a day, and, oh yeah, received about 2o years.

And who made that deal?

**LAM** · 06-10-2011, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by IronAddict

No shit. How about freeway Ricky Ross, who, in the early 80s was getting huge amounts of pure cocaine from the CIA, for the guns for drugs deal they cast in the Iran Contra affair. And he turned that shit into crack, shown by a Nicaraguan contra middleman and he made 3 mill. a day, and, oh yeah, received about 2o years.

And who made that deal?

hopefully not everyone comes to terms with the way our country operates before they are on their death bed, as that would be a little to late.

everything in the US revolves around money. the drug trade pumps billions of dollars into the US economy right to the profits of big corps. drugs get into the US, the people buy the drugs the money gets transferred back to the country of origin and they buy goods (vehicles, clothes, etc.) and services from US corporations and weapons manufactures. the drug trade into the US started under JD Rockefeller once he had enough monies he went legit and got into oil, etc. but others took his place.

big finance loves the drug trade, the more people that fuck up, get addicted, fall into debt, the more land they can scoop up. having people "own" their own homes and to be able to pass down property from generation to generation doesn't benefit them but selling the same piece of property over and over does...

**IronAddict** · 06-10-2011, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

hopefully not everyone comes to terms with the way our country operates before they are on their death bed, as that would be a little to late.

everything in the US revolves around money. the drug trade pumps billions of dollars into the US economy right to the profits of big corps. drugs get into the US, the people buy the drugs the money gets transferred back to the country of origin and they buy goods (vehicles, clothes, etc.) and services from US corporations and weapons manufactures. the drug trade into the US started under JD Rockefeller once he had enough monies he went legit and got into oil, etc. but others took his place.

big finance loves the drug trade, the more people that fuck up, get addicted, fall into debt, the more land they can scoop up. having people "own" their own homes and to be able to pass down property from generation to generation doesn't benefit them but selling the same piece of property over and over does...

Exactly, L.A. in the early 80s. Seen that shit first hand, one day everyone was drinking beer & smoking herb, there was dust and shit like that, then blam, overnight, my brother was smoking crack.

**maniclion** · 06-10-2011, 07:16 PM

Big Pharma lobbies for natural drugs to be illegal so they can synthesize the same drugs until they are twice as deadly and sell them to us at obscene prices.....we all know how little marijuanas harm is yet it is demonized by the sheep who continue to believe the lies. These same people who are eating themselves into diabetic comas, impotence and heart attacks then take these Big Pharma pills that end up getting yanked off the market in a few years cause they caused more harm in a short time than marijuana will ever do in a million years.....

Whats the latest pain med... Lyrica causes suicidal feelings, I tried that shit for my back and it did nothing but make me tired(chronically tired), marijuana can do the same for me(not chronically tired though) and make me happy instead of suicidal.......fuck this bullshit society and it's backwards ways, I'm so sick of the lies and deceptions just so some assholes can line their pockets.....

**Curt James** · 06-10-2011, 10:12 PM

So Carlin was right?

**trifecta** · 06-10-2011, 11:26 PM

Carlin was a genius

**LAM** · 06-10-2011, 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by Curt James

So Carlin was right?

50% of the US makes the same wage or lower than the same job performed in 1980, I think it's pretty obvious for some of us that live in a reality based world. most readily consume the capitalist kool-aide and democracy rhetoric that is recited on tv, both are dead in the US and have been for quite a while.

I choose the "red pill"....

**MDR** · 06-11-2011, 12:31 AM

Originally Posted by Curt James

So Carlin was right?

Almost always. I love what he had to say about education in this country. I was genuinely shocked when I became a teacher and discovered that nobody gave a shit whether or not teachers actually knew something about their subject. As a matter of fact, I became branded a malcontent when I brought up the hopeless iodicy of "No child left behind" and Standardized Testing. When I asked my High School kids to read Shakespeare at home, you would've thought I was asking them to kill their parents. My first principal called me into my office about my standards being too high and told me I should think about teaching at the college level, and that my curriculum was too difficult. I was just asking kids to read something other than Twilight. After a decade, I'm getting out. Education is broken in this country, and it will never be fixed. More than that. The government has the power to fix it, but it prefers the masses to be ignorant. Not only was Carlin right, so was Orwell.

**LAM** · 06-11-2011, 12:54 AM

Originally Posted by MDR

More than that. The government has the power to fix it, but it prefers the masses to be ignorant. Not only was Carlin right, so was Orwell.

and Marx was spot on as well...

the government has the power to fix whatever it chooses. given the state of the economy, the causes behind it, the re-occurring bubbles, the unequal distribution of wealth, and the economic outlook it's obvious that increasing profits for corporations controlled by the few is the main function of it now.

let me know what you think of the study I just sent you.

**LAM** · 06-11-2011, 01:30 AM

Banks Financing Mexico Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal
Banks Financing Mexico Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal - Bloomberg

**MDR** · 06-11-2011, 02:36 AM

Originally Posted by LAM

and Marx was spot on as well...

the government has the power to fix whatever it chooses. given the state of the economy, the causes behind it, the re-occurring bubbles, the unequal distribution of wealth, and the economic outlook it's obvious that increasing profits for corporations controlled by the few is the main function of it now.

let me know what you think of the study I just sent you.

I agree completely with that. The study was fascinating. I sent a pm detailing my feelings about the educational failings of the last 20+ years. One of the reasons I am getting out is that I just couldn't work for the enemy any longer.

**LAM** · 06-11-2011, 03:00 AM

Originally Posted by MDR

One of the reasons I am getting out is that I just couldn't work for the enemy any longer.

good luck with the transition whenever it happens.

I've been working for myself the past 4 years and am getting burnt and for me the work is mindless which makes it even worst, simply no challenge at all. nobody in san jose really has a big budget for R&D anymore so really no where for me to go except across the pond or some developing country.

and I know exactly what you are talking about when you say working for the enemy. the only business that can afford my rates are financial institutions and wallmart, my own personal hell.

**withoutrulers** · 06-11-2011, 12:33 PM

The war on drugs has done exactly what it was designed to do. Destroy indigenous populations in third world countries to provide the opportunity for outside(U.S.) investment. The war on drugs is just another tool to propagate neoliberal economics at the expense of the worlds majority for the benefit of a few elite ultra rich assholes. It doesn't just harm third world countries but also helps to keep near maximum capacity in the increasingly corporately owned prison system.

**MDR** · 06-11-2011, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

good luck with the transition whenever it happens.

I've been working for myself the past 4 years and am getting burnt and for me the work is mindless which makes it even worst, simply no challenge at all. nobody in san jose really has a big budget for R&D anymore so really no where for me to go except across the pond or some developing country.

and I know exactly what you are talking about when you say working for the enemy. the only business that can afford my rates are financial institutions and wallmart, my own personal hell.

Thank you much. I got into a decent graduate program, mostly on the back of my undergrad and graduate academic performance years ago. I'll be training to work in the Mental Health field as a Therapist. Hard to believe I'm going back to school at this point in life, but it seems to be the option that makes the most sense. Plenty of work out there for a nationally certified Therapist, and after a few years I'll be able to hang out my own shingle and work for myself. I've learned over the years that I'm just not too adept at being an employee. Also considering doing some writing and possibly working in research a bit.

**Kirk B** · 06-11-2011, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

as I have stated before, I got kicked out of combat several times for asking about gaps in search grids when doing drug ops in the caribbean in the navy. it's nothing more than a front to appease the gen public.

DynCorp is a military contractor, I think they are a subsidiary of a larger company that's in fossil fuels, banking and aerospace. the war on drugs is nothing more than a small tentacle of the ever expanding US military complex and their budgets increase they do not decrease, those multinationals have to keep those dividends to share holders (themselves) increasing annually.

We make money for it coming into the US , rehabs methadone clinics here are controlled by the DEA witch is the one of the strongest painkillers in the world, and 10X harder to get off then heroin, you can be sick up to 3 to 6 months as heroin 1 week and you feel better at-least maybe not 100% but better, then that methadone shit!tThis government want you a addicted to there drugs!!!! for every street drug they got one ant the pharmacy that make you feel the same way, and more pure then street shit that you don't know what dealers are cutting it with. Shit is Crazy, that shit with Manwell NOREAGA he was giving us money for letting his drugs into the country theres alot of corrupt ass shit if you look into it. If they really didn't want drugs into the country they could stop a lot more then they do it's all about money it's a big front!!!!!

**maniclion** · 06-11-2011, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

50% of the US makes the same wage or lower than the same job performed in 1980, I think it's pretty obvious for some of us that live in a reality based world. most readily consume the capitalist kool-aide and democracy rhetoric that is recited on tv, both are dead in the US and have been for quite a while.

I choose the "red pill"....

I look back and see how my grandfather worked a factory job putting car doors on Ford's for 25 years and then retired,, he owned a 100 acre farm with a nice 3 story house he lived a pretty good life after. My father worked 35 years as a maintenance worker and had 10 more to go before he might have thought of retiring(he died before that), he owned 2 homes, 3 cars, motorcycles lived a decent life. I graduated with an associates degree, work at a skilled professional level, if my GF hadn't inherited our home we wouldn't own a house, maybe a small condo, we wouldn't own our 2 cars and I will probably work the rest of my life if I don't become a writer....

**Curt James** · 06-11-2011, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by withoutrulers

Drugs are bad. I sure do love McDonald's and Walmart is my favorite place to shop!

Fixed.

Ey'rethay atchingway.

**LAM** · 06-11-2011, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by maniclion

I look back and see how my grandfather worked a factory job putting car doors on Ford's for 25 years and then retired,, he owned a 100 acre farm with a nice 3 story house he lived a pretty good life after. My father worked 35 years as a maintenance worker and had 10 more to go before he might have thought of retiring(he died before that), he owned 2 homes, 3 cars, motorcycles lived a decent life. I graduated with an associates degree, work at a skilled professional level, if my GF hadn't inherited our home we wouldn't own a house, maybe a small condo, we wouldn't own our 2 cars and I will probably work the rest of my life if I don't become a writer....

I feel so sorry for the young children of today, they will have next to no opportunities in the world they grow up in when compared to us and our parents. today in 2011 you pretty much have to be an expert in your field or craft, trade, etc. to make a decent living and being extremely fiscally conservative to acquire any real amount of savings. people don't realize that inflation has a cumulative effect, this among other flaws makes wage increases based on the CPI infective.

inflation over the past 10 years is 30%, how many people do you think have had wage increases that have total such? but the cost of goods and services continually increase, profits have to be made, etc. this would be a "minor" fundamental flaw in us business practice. tax rates have been lowered to near record levels for personal income and corporations, so you have reduced tax receipts coming in, increasing expenditures with dollar that is steadily losing buying power thanks to the FRB.

but when you read any of the reports from the FRB there is a complete lack of interest, policy or concern regarding this. decreasing unemployment, controlling inflation are mentioned a little. everything thing is about big business, bonds rates, etc. out of this most recent 61 page report there are several sentences that make reference to the above issues.

Monetary Policy Report to the Congress - March 2011
http://www.federalreserve.gov/moneta...fullreport.pdf

**Zaphod** · 06-11-2011, 08:52 PM

The war on drugs has been successful. It's kept the government in money and increasing its power over us. There are enough people scared shitless of the stoner next door getting the munchies and walking down to 7-11 for a twinkie and a Mountain Dew to wash it down that they are all to happy to let the government tell them what they can and can't do or have.

Decriminalize most, if not all, drugs and watch the world turn into a better place. There will always be users and abusers, regardless of whether or not it's legal, and you simply can't do anything about it. Some people simply do stuff BECAUSE it's illegal. Especially with a victimless crime like getting high.

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