Burning the weed

The Viet-cong had a system of underground tunnels; the Germans blitzkrieged their way to dominance; and Pol Pot indoctrinated a nation. Every nation and dictator has their way of usurping the opposition and the Afghan insurgents are no different.

I reprint a story from Reuters (below) that offers an explanation as to why our troops cannot (or will not!) find the current Afghani insurgents. Also take a look at thelink to the b-roll footage of a British journalist reporting on the drug burning initiatives of UK troops. Both remind us that where there is smoke...there should be munchies.

OTTAWA, Canada (Reuters) -- Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of marijuana plants 10 feet tall.

General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, said Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.

"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices. ... And as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa, Canada.

"We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.

Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.

"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those [forests] did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hiller said dryly.

One soldier told him later: "Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana'."

http://www.guzer.com/videos/stoned_reporter.php