The United States has shifted its emphasis in Afghanistan from closing down the opium trade to controlling who runs it. Attacking the poppy fields led to too much local opposition. Killing the guys who control the drug trade and replacing them with more amenable drug dons not only does not annoy the poppy farmers, but puts us in charge of the operation. By declaring we have no problem with drug lords so long as they don’t belong to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban, we have enlisted on our side a group of people whose self interest it is to see us win. And that is all to the good.

 

 

So now we get to pick and choose

Just who’s to win and who’s to lose

I like it

The poppy fields will now be ours

Those gorgeous fields of bright red flowers

I like it

Of course with all that dough at stake

We know who’ll be in on the take

And though their thirst it will not slake

I like it

The Taliban without the cash

Will have to dig into their stash

I like it

And Afghan rulers on the sly

Will see their source of income dry

I like it

Our man Petraeus is a fox

He thinks of things outside the box

He’ll fake these guys out of their jocks

I like it

 

If this works, why can’t we decide that the United Auto Workers union is now in charge of the Mexican drug cartels. Based on what the UAW has done for General Motors, with the UAW in charge the drug problem in the US would disappear, since no one would want to buy their product.