Guest fountainhall Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 There has been much comment over the years about Thaksin’s “war on drugs” which resulted in more than 2,500 extra-judicial killings. Famously – and with a ridiculous pomposity – Thaksin thereafter announced that the "war" had been won! The chickens are now coming home to roost, however. The courts have just sentenced to death three policemen who tortured and murdered a 17-year old in 2004 as part of this “war”. Another two have been sentenced to life in prison, and a fifth to seven years in prison. The National Human Rights Commission has so far not called for action against the government ministers who thought up and approved this phony media “war”, notably the head man himself, Thaksin Shinawatra. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crimes/305101/killer-cops-face-execution Quote
KhorTose Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 The National Human Rights Commission has so far not called for action against the government ministers who thought up and approved this phony media “war”, notably the head man himself, Thaksin Shinawatra. http://www.bangkokpo...-face-execution Mainly because there were people higher then him (I am being discreet) who asked for this war and supported it. I am not sure I can give the quotes (they exist) on any Thailand board, In truth this is really just an extension of Nixon's war on drugs. Quote
TotallyOz Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 Any "War on Drugs" will NOT work. Legalize them. Tax them. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 Thaksin seemed to enjoy taking credit for the "war" and especially for what he alleged was "winning it". I had no idea he could be someone's puppet in such a massacre! Sure, some in the drugs trade were probably captured/gunned down, but from all reports many hundreds of innocent people were also liquidated. Quote
Guest Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 There has been much comment over the years about Thaksin’s “war on drugs” which resulted in more than 2,500 extra-judicial killings. Letting a VERY corrupt government carry on like this is a bad idea. Basically, they can shoot who they like, so a civilised democratic society should not tolerate this. Quote
ChristianPFC Posted August 5, 2012 Posted August 5, 2012 I am in support of war on drugs. Even if comparing results from countries that have death sentence and countries that don't shows that death sentence is not such an effective deterrent, one thing is sure: every dealer or trafficker you kill will never again traffic drugs! Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted August 6, 2012 Posted August 6, 2012 I am 100% in agreement with your conclusion, ChristianPFC. The problem with Thaksin's war, though, is that it seemed to be a political popularity act - and an excuse for the police to go on a shooting spree. A great many people who, it seems, were innocent of any involvement in the drug trade were shot. The people who should have been captured, tried and convicted - the importers and the top dealers - mostly disappeared into the woods. Thaksin then made one of his stupidest moves by claiming publicly that the war on drugs had been won! I can't believe that the seemingly arbitrary killing of 2,500 or so people made even the slightest dent in the drug trade in this country. Quote
Rogie Posted August 6, 2012 Posted August 6, 2012 The 'war on drugs' in Honduras Reporter's Notebook: Collateral Damage of the US War on Drugs in Honduras? When I heard last week about the fatal shooting of four people, including two pregnant women, by a joint Honduran-U.S. anti-drug raid in the Mosquito Coast of Honduras, I was only surprised that it hasn’t happened more often. The incident, reported by Fox News Latino and other media, has sparked angry protests over the American presence and prompted human rights groups and at least one US congressman to question US involvement in these operations. According to US officials, at about 3 a.m. on May 11, US helicopters carrying Honduran police officers and DEA agents swooped toward a boat loaded with cocaine in the Patuca River. As the helicopters approached, people who were loading the boat fled, but a second boat approached and began to fire, prompting the Honduran officers to return fire. But survivors and local residents claim that the agents fired at the wrong boat, killing and wounding innocent people who were returning home from a daily trip. Anyone who has set foot in the Mosquito Coast in recent years, as I did in 2006 to investigate illegal logging as a Johns Hopkins’ International Reporting Fellow, knows that the remote northeast shore has become a favorite route of transport of cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela to the United States. Similar in size to the state of Connecticut, the Mosquito Coast is one of the most isolated places in Honduras, and its vast stretches of inhabited terrain of tropical rainforest are accessible only by plane or boat. It has also traditionally been a hardly policed area with vast ungoverned areas and little institutional presence. This last aspect is probably behind the US decision to increase its logistic support to its Honduran counterparts in the fight against drug trafficking in the region, and to establish three new military bases in northeastern Honduras for that purpose. Read more: http://latino.foxnew.../#ixzz22kJCdGpC See also (short video clip) How the US is taking the war on drugs to Honduras http://www.bbc.co.uk...merica-18880775 Quote
