The Worst Offense is a Bad Defense

So, $3.2 million out of the inadequate portion of the "war on drugs" budget earmarked for treatment and prevention was blown on a couple of Superbowl ads telling you that buying drugs is financing terrorism. Well, I'll let other people argue the case that decriminalizing drugs would seriously undercut the black-market's profit margin and save us the few billion dollars we were going to spend arming commandos, coddling informants, and buying Latin American elections. Instead I'll point out that the money trail to al-Qa'ida branches off in three main directions. One of them was the Taliban's control of the world heroin market - but they banned opium growing last year - so that would have dried up pretty quick anyway. The second is Mr. bin Laden's share of his family's enormous fortune amassed as a near-monopoly contracting company whose major clients have included Halliburton Oil (Mr. Cheney's company). The third is from redirecting funding for honest charity and aid. The easiest portion to redirect is that intended to support fundamentalist Islamic education and social institutions - which are largely funded by the Saudi government from their vast wealth accumulated in oil production. So, in addition to just saying "no" to drugs, you might also consider saying "no" to Cheney and "no" to that new SUV.