Oil is at $80 because of speculation and profiteering, but it would still be at $70 without those factors. I'd like to see it closer to $50, and stabilizing Iraq will help to do that.
I am not concerned about opium production in the short term. We can't wipe out their crops without substituting something else for them to live on. Yes, we are allowing the enemy a source of funding, but that is a choice driven by circumstances. Oil makes more money than opium, and we can still bring the price of oil down. Stabilizing Iraq is a necessary part of that objective. Preventing a wider war in the Middle East is another part of that objective. Both of those things require us to be in Iraq, not Afghanistan. Then there is the remaining question of the ideological war against Al Qaeda. Their main goal today is to defeat the U.S. in Iraq. It is a goal driven by their plan to use Iraq as the launching pad for a world-wide Islamic state by taking over the MIddle East and holding the rest of the world hostage to its oil supplies. Wiping out poppy plants in Afghanistan puts us no closer to defeating Al Qaeda in Iraq. On 9/14/07, Judah wrote: > > Increases in > prices in the United States have more to do with market speculation, > profiteering and refining capacity than they do crude oil supply. > > Afghanistan, on the other hand, actually has a near monopoly on a very > marketable substance: opium. They produce over 90% of the worlds opium > crop. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Get the answers you are looking for on the ColdFusion Labs Forum direct from active programmers and developers. http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/categories.cfm?forumid-72&catid=648 Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:242421 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
