05 December 2001
Terrorism, Drug Trafficking Inextricably Linked, U.S. Experts Say
(Drug Enforcement Agency hosts symposium on topic) (810)
By David A. Denny
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The links between terrorism and narcotrafficking are
real and growing, according to current and former U.S. officials who
participated in a special symposium December 4 at the headquarters of
the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Hosted by the DEA Museum & Visitors Center, "Target America:
Traffickers, Terrorists and Your Kids" brought together government
officials with private-sector experts in an effort to educate the
American public about what DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson called the
"extraordinary link between drugs and terrorism." The symposium was
part of an effort by the Association of Former Federal Narcotics
Agents (AFFNA) to develop a museum exhibit and educational program
that will explore this theme.
In remarks opening the symposium, Hutchinson said there is "a strong
case to be made that drug trafficking proceeds are being funneled to
terrorist organizations," such as the Taliban, the FARC group in
Colombia and Islamic Jihad. "It is clear that bin Laden's terrorism
has been protected by a regime funded by opium trafficking," he added.
U.S. Representative Mark Souder (Republican, Indiana) told symposium
participants that the interrelationship between drugs and terrorism is
not new. "When you [attempt to] control and look for terrorism," he
said, "you find lots of other things. We'll see funding for narcotics
when we look for terrorists."
Raphael Perl, senior policy analyst for international terrorism and
narcotics issues with the Congressional Research Service, said that in
areas where government control is weak, the criminal world, the
narcotrafficking world and the terrorist world all exist. In Perl's
view, three things are different about the situation today: one, in
today's global economy, both legitimate and illegitimate activities
are dramatically increasing. Two, money from the drug trade is
increasingly important for terrorists, because state sponsorship is on
the wane. Three, the U.S. homeland is now the preferred target, not
only for drug traffickers, but also for terrorists.
Elaborating on the links between terrorists and drug traffickers, Perl
said both merge into local ethnic communities in order to gain cover
for their activities. He said both operate from base countries where
government and the rule of law are weak, and both need to have money
laundered. Both seek to create a climate of fear and intimidation, he
said, and both target youth, especially for recruitment. And both seek
a world incompatible with democratic values.
"To a large extent, terrorist organizations cannot survive without
funding from drugs," Perl said. He called terrorists' need for
drug-trafficking profits "addictive."
DEA Assistant Administrator for Intelligence Steven Casteel, following
on Perl's remarks, said "The Taliban were a drug-trafficking group;
it's as clear as it can be." Taking control of the heroin trade in
Afghanistan when they came to power in 1995, by 1999 they had 71
percent of the world heroin market, he said.
As for the Taliban's announcement in 1999 that they would no longer
allow the production of heroin in Afghanistan, Casteel said the DEA
believes it was done for three reasons: First, it was good public
relations for them at a time when they were trying to gain
international recognition and legitimacy. Second, by cutting off the
supply of so much of the world's heroin, it quickly drove up the price
of all the heroin they had stockpiled. Third, they wanted to increase
their already-dominant control of the heroin market.
"Two days before September 11th," Casteel noted, "we seized 53
kilo[gram]s of Afghan heroin in New York. It was being distributed by
Colombians, to show you the [narco-terror] link."
For Larry Johnson, a principal in BERG Associates, LLC, it's crucial
that the DEA be brought into coordinated intelligence briefings within
the U.S. government. A former CIA and State Department
counter-terrorism official, Johnson asserted that DEA agents in
foreign countries are the best sources of intelligence about
terrorists. "Terrorism does not operate without money. That's the
bottom line," he said.
Retired Director General of the Colombian National Police Jose Rosso
Serrano believes drug kingpin Pablo Escobar was also a terrorist.
Using drug profits, Serrano said, Escobar paid to have 500 policemen
in Medellin, Colombia, killed. Escobar also paid to have four
Colombian presidential candidates killed, along with a high-ranking
counter-narcotics official and the Colombian attorney general.
Additionally, his henchmen were responsible for a car-bombing in
Bogota which killed 157 people. For Serrano, that made Escobar a
"narcoterrorist." Serrano also stressed the narcotics activities of
the terrorist FARC group in Colombia, as well as those of the
paramilitary "self-defense forces" in that country. Finally, he warned
about the newest trend among traffickers toward synthetic drugs (such
as Ecstasy).
(The Washington File is a product of the U.S. Department of State,
Office of International Information Programs. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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