All manner of criminals, terrorists, and renegades are linking up in a lawless area of northwest Africa. The DEA just arrested three of them, who were linked to al Qaeda, in a sting in Ghana. (How the DEA gets access into Ghana certainly bears pondering but this is no phony threat. Read on.)
Moreover, conversations among undercover informants and suspects suggest that the lawless region around the Gulf of Guinea is a crucible for alliances among groups united by hatred of the United States: Al Qaeda, Mexican gangsters, Colombian guerrillas and Lebanese militant groups.
“For the first time in that part of the world, these guys are operating in the same environment in the same place at the same time,” said Michael Braun, a former chief of DEA operations. “They are doing business and cutting deals. What’s most troubling about this is the personal relationships that these guys are making today, between drug organizations and terror organizations, will become operational alliances in the future.”
“The Moroccans have been pounding on the table warning about the involvement of al Qaeda in the Magreb in drug trafficking,” he said. “This shows they were right. Nobody in [Washington] has been talking about this threat. The only agency that has really gone after it is the DEA.”
While I’m sure some of the more deranged members of the far left will probably vow solidarity with the drug traffickers because they hate the US and therefore must be swell fellows, those of us living on planet Earth realize such poisonous and dangerous alliances should be stopped.
The simplest and best way to do that is, of course, by legalizing drugs.