The Battle On Terror And The War On Drugs - 953 Words

In many ways, the war on terror and the war on drugs have merged. The type of red scare rhetoric from the McCarthy era became nearly interchangeable with the drug war and terrorism during the Reagan administration. â€Å"We’re in the middle of a major epidemic...Parents have a right to feel terror,† said Donald Ian MacDonald, Reagan’s top drug advisor. He was referring to drugs. Marlin Fitzwater, Reagan’s Press Secretary openly admitted that â€Å"everybody wants to out-drug each other in terms of political rhetoric.† This battle of hyperbole was waged on both sides of the political aisle. Even liberals like former Rep. Stephen Solarz (D-NY) compared the danger from the cartels to â€Å"intercontinental ballistic missiles† and wondered â€Å"why we treat (their) threat so lightly?† Likewise, former Rep. Thomas F. Hartnett (R-SC) declared that drugs were a â€Å"national security threat...worse than any nuclear warfare or any chemic al warfare waged on any battlefield.† The two issues officially fused during the Reagan administration when the term â€Å"narcoterrorism† was coined and an effective propaganda tool was formed. The Reagan administration asserted that drug money from Latin America would be â€Å"a source of funds to support insurgencies and subversion.† This eased the way for the Reagan administration to amend the Posse Comitatus Act thereby allowing military involvement in the drug war. The Posse Comitatus Act was an act of Congress in 1878 which prohibited the government from using theShow MoreRelated`` Dirty Wars `` By Jeremy Scahill777 Words   |  4 Pagesignoring what can possibly be the truth. Jeremy Scahill, in his narrative Dirty Wars reprimands the Obama military activity on war on terror. He negates what he portrays as the organization s endeavors to standardize and legitimize by drones executed and generally Special Operations attacks and other secret military practices that blur the fight lines of the war on terror. In fact, the war on terror and the war on drugs have converged to shape a hydra-headed beast that greedily targets not only AmericansRead MoreAnalysis Of The Article Living On The Border Essay1292 Words   |  6 Pagesis that of the war on drugs. The concept of the war on drugs was established as early as the Nixon Administration â€Å"in order to fund the war in Vietnam† and was continued by the Reagan administration in order to fund right wing militias in Latin American, most famously that of the Contras in Nicaragua. Although the â€Å"war on drugs† is seen as an object of â€Å"broad public interest† (Marez). Its true connotation lies on the fact that capitalists become immensely profitable from said war. The aerospaceRead MoreTerrorism And The Terrorist Group Isis1740 Words   |  7 Pagesunderstanding by reading these three article which are: Bloom s 2011 article, Bombshells: Women and Terror, from Gender Issues; Campbell and Hansen 2014 a rticle, Is Narco-Violence in Mexico Terrorism†? from the Bulletin of Latin American Research; and Dishman s 2005 article, The Leaderless Nexus: When Crime and Terror Converge, from Studies in Conflict Terrorism. Bombshells: Women and Terror As I have for over 20 years have stated and truly believe, Terrorism is nothing but a scare tacticRead MoreThe War Of The Cold War1244 Words   |  5 PagesBoos echoed throughout the streets of Harlem, New York in great waves of disapproval. Hippies holding up signs supporting peace, and posters opposing the Vietnam War, otherwise known as the Cold War, greeted the tired and injured soldiers. The familiarity of their hometown created a sense of peace and warmth, despite the angry cries of protest from the enraged nonconformists. As loved ones embraced their fighters, chants of outrage broke out from the hippies, and the soldiers, relieved to be homeRead MoreEssay on Columbia1712 Words   |  7 Pages America’s War on Drugs Chaos best describes the current state of the Republic of Colombia. Rebelling terrorist groups from within the country threaten to topple Colombia’s actual government. Again and again, Colombia has shown its inability to fight the rebelling terrorists and simultaneously protect its civilians from harm. America has several reasons to intervene, with its military force if necessary, in Colombia. America must be protected against drugs and the countless crimes and social problemsRead MoreWar on Terror1421 Words   |  6 PagesPOL SCI 180 PATRICK COATY WAR ON TERROR I, myself, before September 11, 2001 did not know what terrorism was. It is completely a new term for me, and I could never figure how terrible it is. But then, experiencing and witnessing the feeling of losing the one you loved who was a victim of that disaster, I recognized that the world is no longer as safe as before. Today, not only America but also Britain, Spain, Indonesia†¦became the target of terrorists. The terror tissue is the most challengedRead MoreWar On Terror And Terrorism1300 Words   |  6 PagesWar on Terror After the incident of September 11, 2001, War on Terror became a serious problem. That attack made huge effects on U.S government and many other countries. Many innocent people lost their lives because of those terrorists. No one knows if an incident like the one on September 11 will happen again, but we have to know that â€Å"we are the primary target†. According to Patrick Coaty’s â€Å"War on Terror,† the terrorism has been developed throughout history. So that people should know to fightRead MoreSpss968 Words   |  4 Pagesstreet drugs and plunge into self-destructive, reckless, and even violent behavior. A recent survey of penitentiary inmates found that an estimated 60% of the 140,000 veterans in Federal and State prisons struggling with a substance use disorder (including alcoholism); at the same time nearly 25% testified to being under the influence of drugs and or alcohol during the time of the offense. 1 There is a direct correlation between untreated psychological injuries suffer on the field of battle and theRead MoreMexican-American Drug War1105 Words   |  5 PagesThe Mexican drug-trafficking cartels are said to have been established in the 1980s by a man named Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, also known as â€Å"The Godfather†. With the help of Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and Rafael Caro Quintero, Miguel started the Guadalajara Cartel, which is one of the first to have thrived from association with the Colombian cocaine trade. The two men who helped Miguel Gallardo establish the cartel were arrested, so Gallardo, the single leader of the cartel â€Å"was smart enough to privatizeRead MoreAmericas War on Terror Essay1677 Words   |  7 Pagesattacks (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act), and intervention in Afghanistan, the United States had begun its War on Terror. This war was shepherded by then P resident George W. Bush. These actions marked the beginning of the War on Terror, and laid the groundwork for the problems experienced by the Obama administration almost ten years later. The USA PATRIOT Act was a statute designed to unburden law enforcement agencies