Introduction: Issue
On the first anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, President Bush assured the public that in fighting a cause “even larger than our country” the American government would “continue to pursue the terrorists in cities, and camps, and caves across the earth” to rid the world of the threat of terror. Unfortunately, in continuing to hold the “war on drugs” in the same high esteem as his “war on terrorism,” the president has been helping to feed and arm the very terrorists he has vowed to crush.
Those involved in the drug trade in the Middle East are as serious about their investment as their violent counterparts in countries such as Colombia and Brazil. Attacks on foreign-aid workers in Afghanistan have skyrocketed — from one a month to one every two days — particularly in areas where opium-producing flowers are being harvested (Curtis, 2004).
Many Central and South American governments are being and have been targeted by America as objects of its now age old and publicly demonized “War on Drugs.” Many of these governments have been singled out by America as cooperators in the production or trafficking of drugs. Now America has started a new war: a war on terrorism. Many of the aforementioned governments have withstood the half-hearted efforts of the “War on Drugs,” but now the question arises, will they withstand the more widely supported “War on Terrorism?” Before this question can be answered, several sub-questions must be answered.
The main one is this: can any of these governments be considered terrorist? The most authoritative answer to this question would come from the people who live under these governments (Joel, 2004). They have suffered under oppressive and militaristic regimes for decades. The war on drugs has done nothing to displace these governments, but has......
