Little Blue Pills Among the Ways CIA Wins Friends in Afghanistan

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Washington Post

The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.

Four blue pills. Viagra.

"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.

The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills.

For U.S. intelligence officials, this is how some crucial battles in Afghanistan are fought and won. While the CIA has a long history of buying information with cash, the growing Taliban insurgency has prompted the use of novel incentives and creative bargaining to gain support in some of the country's roughest neighborhoods, according to officials directly involved in such operations.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

[ogneopasno]

1. Gawd, I hate people. On all sides.

[shadowknows69]

44. I hear you

We made some nice shit (Golden Gate Bridge, Pyramids, Moon rockets) but other than that humans are real idiots and assholes.

[bemildred]

2. How low can we go? nt

[DJ13]

17. How low can we go?

How high can he go?

[varkam]

3. Ha! eom

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. Seinfeld might ask: "Is this the best idea we've had so far?"

Seeeeeeeriously now: can't the Taliban afford to buy Cialis for the warlords?

Somehow I think the whole Afgahanistan-war-on-terror dealie has to be reconceptualized from the US side. What better time than a change in regimes to undertake a thorough reassessment?

Question is: is the Obama cabinet up to the task ( no pun intended). Let me look at that list again.

NO.

Look for a lot more years of the same.

[leftstreet]

5. Jeebus. This could almost be satire

America, Fuck Yeah!

[Fearless]

6. Isn't this just a form of that socialized medicine thingy I hear they're all against???

[dflprincess]

7. This does prove that some methods work better than torture -

though I doubt the 4 younger women the old goat is married to necessarily appreciate this. What happens when one of these chieftains drops dead because the Viagra didn't mix well with his heart condition or some other medication he might be taking?

I don't suppose the CIA is also handing out birth control?

[Donnachaidh]

9. Blindness and deafness are also side effects

Gonna be some blowback when one of the old goats goes blind after taking the magic blue pills.

[TheEuclideanOne]

37. It also makes it easier to find our targets.... Just look for the guys with the huge hardons.

We may even have weapons designed for guys with huge hard ons now, and this is just a two-phased approach. Holy Cow, if that is true, then then only men safe are the ones that listen to Ann Coulter.

I don't suppose the CIA is also handing out birth control?

They are handing out birth control, alright, just in a more indirect way, if ya know what I mean. wink wink nuff said.

[Poll_Blind]

8. Really, you just can't make this shit up. n/t

PB

[pfitz59]

10. four wives..four hours...

any longer he better call a doctor!

[CLANG]

11. Well, the way to a man's heart is his penis

[spindrifter]

12. A lot of these guys have substantially younger wives.

Most Afghans have to wait till older brothers are sisters are married, so some of these guys have a really long wait, as families tend to be large by our current standards.

[instantkarma]

13. Goddamn the pusher man

I said Goddamn

Goddamn the pusher

[arikara]

24. Gawddam America

to coin a phrase. Taken in context.

[tinrobot]

14. If we have to choose between erections and torture...

...then give the chief his damn pills.

[backscatter712]

15. Agreed. If all it takes to get real intelligence is penis pills, give 'em penis pills.

And we'll get higher quality intel than we would get by waterboarding.

How many wild-goose chases have we been sent on because of KSM's torture-induced "intel"?

[yardwork]

20. What intel? There's nothing for them to tell.

[backscatter712]

23. The article disagrees.

It was mentioning that this particular chieftain traded quite a lot of information about the Taliban for those little blue helpers...

Bribery has a long history of being used in intelligence operations to cultivate sources. Usually, the bribery is in the form of cash or weapons. The problem with that is bribing them with weapons frequently results in some of those weapons being used against us, and sources that are bribed with lots of cash tend to spend that cash on visible bling, which results in them becoming targets. So the CIA's become creative - sometimes they bribe with Viagra. Whatever works.

[yardwork]

29. I just don't happen to agree with the article's premise.

I doubt we've learned much of importance and in any case, anything we've learned was probably caused by our feckless invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.

[backscatter712]

32. I don't think we'll agree on this.

I do know that I'd much rather see the CIA bribing people with blue pills than waterboarding people. And it's not like this sort of bribery doesn't work - look at the damage the Russians were able to do to American spy networks with Aldrich Ames. Their mistake was bribing Ames with money - he outed himself by taking hundreds of thousands of dollars and spending it on a new house, a Jaguar, and so on. We're smart in that we're not giving sources visible bling.

If by bribing Afghan locals with Viagra, we can get Taliban supply routes and movements and such, IMHO, it's well worth it.

[pipoman]

40. Really,

how in fucks name would you have a clue whether it is working or not? Don't agree with our occupation? Fine, we probably have some common ground. Don't believe most of what you read in MSM? Nor do I. But to doubt that this works with 80 year old chiefs with 4 30 year old brides is just obtuse, IMHO. You do know that the veeagra, etal is the number 1 prescription drug class in the world now, eh? And seeing how both real doctors and pharmacies aren't under every rock in tribal regions of the roughest terrain in the world, how is this so implausible?

[ronnie624]

68. No one reading this article could possibly know if these schemes "work"

because the author relies solely on the words of "U.S. intelligence officials", an "officer, who described the encounter" and a "retired operative", all of whom operate in service of the Bush Administration's agenda. This article is clearly propaganda designed specifically for public consumption.

You appear to have been lead astray by operatives and spokespersons for the Bush Administration, into embracing the "war on terror" fantasy.

[Nay]

36. Amen to that. But it is so dreary to see, yet again, how ruled by his penis

a man is. You just can't get past it. Bodes ill for the human race.

[Stingo]

49. The real culprit

is WaPo, for emphasizing this strategy. It really is not over the line if it gives us information by which we can capture terrorists. And I'm not ready to criticize the cultural ways of Afghanis. As a liberal, I believe in diversity -- if we want to change their culture, we bring them education as well as viagra.

[peacetalksforall]

16. Can't give them poppies, why not viagra? How low can you go to get informtion

that translates to death? Because that is what we are about - extermination, weapons, toys, regime change ... all the while Cheney goes for the nuclear trade.

[riverdeep]

60. Because we have a war on (some) drugs.

Drugs are really really bad, except when they're not.

Poppies are bad, viagra is good. Cocaine is bad, alcohol is good. Marijuana is bad, tobacco is good. See how this works? It's so logical.

[nolabels]

62. Drugs are only good if corporations can keep the addicted buying them for awhile

Cocaine and Heroin often lead to fatal overdose and a marijuana an addict can grow it just about anywhere. See how that works

[jkirch]

67. A marijuana what? nt

[nolabels]

69. Really i only a marijuana a couple of times, really

[regnaD kciN]

18. Nothing wrong with this...

...it's just one of the hard choices we have to make in bringing peace to Afghanistan.

[Jack_DeLeon]

19. I'm not exactly seeing the problem

[DeSwiss]

26. ...

- Maybe you should look again....

[gaspee]

38. Who gives a shit

They're just girls

Seriously - the first thing I thought of was ... gee, that will make it easier for the 60 year old to rape his 12 year old bride - the one he bought from her father.

Why does it not even occur to some of these commentators just how wrong this is to do to the women who live there? Do they really think most of these girls are with old men because they *want* to be. BUt hey, rape is part of life, right.

Makes me sick.

[Book Lover]

57. Thank you

[sakabatou]

21. Well, my mom said we should drop porno mags instead of bombs...

[Hekate]

22. Well I guess that's a stimulus package they can agree on...

Hekate

[Adsos Letter]

25. !!!

[DeSwiss]

27. So this is what we're "enabling???"

"Opium Flowers" The Child Brides of Afghanistan


- K&R

[Ian David]

28. How much Viagra do you need for the 72 virgins? n/t

[grahamhgreen]

30. sounds like army propaganda - bootleg viagra is all over the 3rd world, even in poppy country

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

31. This is no joke, i'm often asked for Viagra in my travels

When I went to Africa a number of years ago I asked my hosts if there was anything they wanted from the US,

They wired me $1000 and emailed this list:

A Sony Playstation
A Digital Camera
A CD Burner for their computer
and spend the rest on Viagra

I was also asked for Viagra in Cuba,

[Enthusiast]

33. Why does this remind me of

giving whiskey to the Indians?

[gaspee]

34. Yeah

Let's give the child-bride raping old men viagra - the womenfolk (12 year old brides sold by their fathers) will surely love that but who cares about them anyway.

[Solly Mack]

35. Uh

Damn

[Shipwack]

39. I'm another that fails to see a problem...

First.. Yes, child brides and forced early marriages are a problem in the world. However, there is no indication from the article that this is the case here. Everyone that is jumping to conclusions about the age of the chieftain's wives is being racist.

Second, would you rather the CIA give out guns to earn good will?

Third, the Taliban are an enemy of civilization. They destroy schools and medical facilities, and are doing their best to keep the people of Afghanistan poor, downtrodden and ignorant. They are fighting to keep Afghanistan at a pre-industrial third world level, because that is the only way they can remain in power. If change is going to come to that country, it is going to come from this chieftain (or more likely his sons), not from the Taliban. We need information to keep the Taliban from gaining strength.

Yes, this chieftain probably wouldn't win a "progressive of the year" award from me, and is -possibly- a vile POS, but you have to start somewhere...

[elehhhhna]

41. viagra beats torture. unless you're the guys wife.

[DemoTex]

42. Or his she-goat ..

.

[shadowknows69]

43. I quit, that's the last straw, I have seen everything

Buying hearts and minds with boners. In countries that have pretty much zero respect for women in the first place. That shouldn't increase rape or anything. Great thinking US.

[Berry Cool]

45. Right up there with doling out cigarettes

and about that I will say no more...

[acmavm]

46. Apparently the way to that man's heart (and conscience) is through his

penis.

[Toucano]

47. The CIA officer is qualified to dispense prescription drugs?

I have no problem with them giving people Viagra, but don't they have to be sure it is safe for the person to use?

"Take one of these. You'll love it." could prove disastrous if the "patient" suffers side effects.

Or is this just evidence that Viagra is as safe as aspirin and making it a prescription only drug in the U.S. is just a scam to increase profit?

[ohio2007]

51. the locals already "grow their own" crops of drugs so throwing a little "sex and drugs" may lead to

a western decadent victory .......

"sex and drugs and Rock and Roll"

[rainbow4321]

55. The part that I love is how they say "after it was determined the person was in good health"

he was given the pill.
Really?? So these are guys who live in the Afghan mountains/middle-of-no-where/remote villages, "living in the 18th century" (per the CIA's OWN words)...I'm sure they have regular doctor physicals and were able to pull out their health information (blood pressure, cardiac history, anything else that would contradict/not contradict them being given these pills). But, hey, as long as they live long enough to give the CIA the info that is needed, who cares if they drop dead, right?

[ronnie624]

73. Good point.

Obviously, the purpose of this article is to perpetuate the myth of the 'good guys' and their "war on terror".

[Kip Humphrey]

48. Someboby please tell the CIA: Spreading democracy is about free ELECTIONS, not free ERECTIONS

[ohio2007]

50. Make love not war ? Don't think this "keeping them in their cave" campaign will work

“Take one of these. You’ll love it,” the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.

The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes — followed by a request for more pills.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

[Triana]

52. As per the usual, women and THEIR wellbeing are pawns in war. n/t

[Toucano]

61. You shouldn't assume that all those erections will be used soley on women.

http://www.gayafghanistan.com/pages/1/index.htm

"I have been to Kabul where men ask you to have sex with them directly on the street, visited seeming cruising areas in Kandahar near temples as well as the walls which the Taliban murdered homosexuals. In Mazar and the surroundings, there is a history of men dressing as women to dance at weddings, and the videos of the dances are for sale in shops."

[tuckessee]

53. Add "accessory to child rape" as another laurel in the glorious US Military's legacy. n/t

[Bigmack]

54. Why is Jon Stewart on vacation?....

This comedy material just writes itself!

I can't wait for Rachel to get hold of this.

Seriously.... yes, I realize the short term effects could be awful for the child-brides, but those damned "precision-guided" air raids don't do anything good for them, either.

Maybe if we used more "alternative methods" like viagra, we could bring those folks into the 19th or 20th century, and stop the rape of child brides altogether.

Visualize B-52 air raids dropping food, warm clothes, bicycles, R-rated DVDs and players, music videos, blue jeans, Playboy, costume jewelry, Tupperware, etc.....

[customerserviceguy]

56. Giving them little blue pills

still beats the traditional method that some old goat uses to get a stiffy to violate his child bride. Before Viagra, they'd just pay the local medicine man for some powdered tiger penis, or some other mystery potion made from an endangered species.

The rhinoceros is probably quite happy that we developed hard-on pills.

[GinaMaria]

58. Make Love not War

Guess the hippies were right!

[Toucano]

59. Validation at last!!!

But then again, it is a pharmaceutical victory, isn't it?

[GinaMaria]

65. it's bitter sweet

Conservative government types' interpretation of the famous slogan. Of course, there would have to be profit for someone in this for this to make sense to them. :-P

[Mari333]

63. I would have a lot more respect for them if they handed the wives of these guys

AK 47s, and taught them how to use them.

[Myrina]

64. ... making more little terrorists, one erection at a time ...

[MountainLaurel]

66. Meanwhile, the Taliban Women's and Girls' Auxiliary

Is founded by the wives of the folks receiving the pills.

[RCinBrooklyn]

70. And now they vow to keep young girls out of schools. Sit back & enjoy it, gals.

[OwnedByFerrets]

71. And of course all these Cia are Drs who can prescribe

this drug to others, right?? Its fucking illegal!! GOD DAMN EVERY MOTHERFUCKER WHO DOES WRONG IN THE NAME OF THEIR SENSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

[ronnie624]

72. Spot on.

Many responses to this thread are sad commentary about the 'progressive' political element within the United States. Far too many seem to swallow the "war on terror" nonsense, hook, line and sinker.

[OwnedByFerrets]

74. Yes, it is very sad.

Instead of force, our wealth (military) and intellect should be focused on the "Three Cups of Tea" philosophy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Cups_of_Tea


"As with much travel writing, Three Cups of Tea is repeatedly concerned with overcoming cultural divides. Though gifted linguistically and with a childhood-bestowed familiarity with exotic cultures and developing nations, Mortenson is often seen struggling with cultural differences, from a foul-smelling butter tea to the commonly encountered attitude by many well-meaning Americans overseas of, "Don't tell us what we want; we'll tell you." Education is also a dominant theme, for which Mortenson continues to express his passion. He explains that education is the solution to poverty."