What began as something of an innovative mission, with U.S. Army
Black Hawk helicopters ferrying soldiers over mountains and through
jungle forests to distant military outposts in Honduras, has ended
quietly and in disarray.
In the spring, recent vets of Iraq and Afghanistan were sent to work with Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) units, Honduran security, and a new U.S. State Department narcotics unit, to interdict illicit cocaine flights from South America under “Operation Anvil.” Without intervention, the drugs would suffuse a burgeoning network of gangs, police, and even politicians, and then appear in the U.S. and elsewhere, fueling a global $85 billion market.
In May, the New York Times introduced an American veteran as the face of the new operation under the headline, “Lessons of Iraq Help U.S Fight a Drug War in Honduras.” Col. Ross A. Brown, commander of Joint Task Force Bravo, was tapped to oversee military drug interdiction efforts throughout the seven Central American countries in its area of operations. Brown had spent two years in Iraq as commander of the Third Armored Calvary Regiment’s Third Squadron. Reporter Thom Shanker explained, “[Col. Brown] is under orders to maintain a discreet footprint, supporting local authorities and the [DEA].”
But just six months after Shanker defined the mission as the “new way of war,” Operation Anvil has come to an unceremonious close. Joint operations between the U.S and Honduran security forces have been suspended, and members of Congress have insisted that police and military aid to Honduras — which totals at least $75 million for this year — be withheld.
Read more: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-drug-war-devolves-in-honduras/
In the spring, recent vets of Iraq and Afghanistan were sent to work with Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) units, Honduran security, and a new U.S. State Department narcotics unit, to interdict illicit cocaine flights from South America under “Operation Anvil.” Without intervention, the drugs would suffuse a burgeoning network of gangs, police, and even politicians, and then appear in the U.S. and elsewhere, fueling a global $85 billion market.
In May, the New York Times introduced an American veteran as the face of the new operation under the headline, “Lessons of Iraq Help U.S Fight a Drug War in Honduras.” Col. Ross A. Brown, commander of Joint Task Force Bravo, was tapped to oversee military drug interdiction efforts throughout the seven Central American countries in its area of operations. Brown had spent two years in Iraq as commander of the Third Armored Calvary Regiment’s Third Squadron. Reporter Thom Shanker explained, “[Col. Brown] is under orders to maintain a discreet footprint, supporting local authorities and the [DEA].”
But just six months after Shanker defined the mission as the “new way of war,” Operation Anvil has come to an unceremonious close. Joint operations between the U.S and Honduran security forces have been suspended, and members of Congress have insisted that police and military aid to Honduras — which totals at least $75 million for this year — be withheld.
Read more: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-drug-war-devolves-in-honduras/
No comments:
Post a Comment