June 23, 2005

See-Dubya: Hezbollah--Drugs for Bombs (BIGGER, LONGER, UNCUT!)

Sometimes when I discuss my odd--for the blogosphere--opinions about drug legalization with people (I'm against it), I get told, "Dude, you clearly lack a basic grasp of fundamental economics."

For today, I'll save my several retorts to that in favor of an observation. Did you notice that no one ever says, on this issue or any other, "Dude, you clearly lack a basic grasp of fundamental sociology"? Why is that?

Anyway, this is just a prelude to a link to Captain Ed's spot on comments on that Hezbollah cocaine smuggling ring they busted in Ecuador and the US: "Snort Cocaine and Fund More Bombings".

Pretty much, yeah.

UPDATE: Rusty responds. One-two-three-four I declare a blog war!

So, I don't get the logic in See Dubs post? On the sociological implications I have no argument other than people ought to be able to poison themselves as a fundamental aspect of human liberty. However, to the larger point. The reason Cocaine is being used to fund terrorists is that Cocaine is very profitable. The reason Cocaine is very profitable is that it is illegal. Unless you want to argue that Phillip-Morris contributes to terrorism.......

Any thoughts y'all??

UPDATE II SEE DUB'S SALVO: What's a blog war and how do I fight it? Who is the enemy? I think we should end the costly and unproductive War on Blogs.

(BTW the sociology comment was purely a throwaway line about the irrelevance of sociology, not a response to the economics point.)

NOW: Rusty, citing Philip Morris, has swallowed the treble hook way back into his gills. Let's set it with a sharp upward twitch of the rod:

Alleged Donors To Hezbollah Facing Trial
By Gordon Fairclough
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

12/03/2001
The Wall Street Journal
B1
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- On Thursday nights, the eve of the Islamic Sabbath, a group of Lebanese immigrants, all Shiite Muslims, would assemble at Mohamad Hammoud's house in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood on the eastern edge of town.

Neighbors didn't pay much attention to the weekly get-togethers, but federal prosecutors say they had a purpose beyond socializing and prayer: Members of the group were also helping to raise funds for Hezbollah, which the U.S. government has branded a terrorist organization.

Earlier this year, a federal grand jury in Charlotte indicted Mr. Hammoud, fellow immigrant Said Harb and seven others on charges they conspired to smuggle millions of dollars of cigarettes and divert part of the profits to the Beirut-based terrorist group.

Mr. Harb and three other men were also charged with trying to procure specialized equipment for Hezbollah, including night-vision goggles, global-positioning systems, laser range-finders and advanced aircraft-analysis software.

Today, a judge in the U.S. District court here is scheduled to hear arguments on a critical aspect of this closely watched case: whether the government can use wiretaps collected by Canada's intelligence agency as evidence in the defendants' criminal trial. The Charlotte case is the first big test of a 1996 law that prosecutors hope will be a major tool in Washington's legal war on terror. The law, known as the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, makes it illegal to provide funding or material aid to foreign terror groups.

Conversations between Mr. Harb and an alleged Hezbollah operative in Canada that were intercepted by intelligence agents are central to the government's claim that he provided "material support" to Hezbollah. Mr. Harb's lawyer, Christopher Fialko, says that the wiretaps should be thrown out, claiming that they were obtained in violation of Mr. Harb's constitutional rights.

(SNIP)

By the mid-1990s, prosecutors say, Messrs. Hammoud and Harb were involved in a large-scale cigarette-smuggling operation that was initially discovered by a local sheriff's deputy, Bob Fromme. Mr. Fromme and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms pursued the smugglers for years as they plied the roads between North Carolina and Michigan, where they delivered their cigarettes to gas stations owned by another Lebanese immigrant.

In North Carolina, the state cigarette excise tax is just 50 cents a carton. In Michigan, it is $7.50 a carton, enabling the smugglers to pocket much of the difference, law-enforcement officials say. Between 1996 and 1999, the group funneled millions of dollars of cigarettes to Michigan, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars for themselves, according to investigators' estimates.

By the summer of 1999 -- when the ATF and the U.S. attorney's office in Charlotte were ready to seek indictments in the case -- the FBI stepped in. Agents said they had been investigating members of the smuggling ring for possible involvement with Hezbollah. FBI counterterrorism agents had been watching suspected Hezbollah members in the U.S. for years. The radical Shiite Muslim group was implicated in the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks outside Beirut that killed 241 people, among other attacks. Three alleged Hezbollah members also are on the list of most-wanted terrorists assembled by the FBI in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Prosecutors allege that significant sums of money generated by the Charlotte group's smuggling operations were sent to Lebanon by courier and wire transfer for use by Hezbollah. They cite letters from a person they say is a Hezbollah member in Lebanon that were sent to Mr. Hammoud in Charlotte. "The group thanks you a lot on your contributions and may Allah reward you," the Hezbollah official writes in one exchange.

Mr. Harb's lawyer, Mr. Fialko, says in a court filing that Hezbollah was "founded and run by Shiite Muslim clerics" and that Muslims "have an obligation under Islamic law to provide financial support to religion, including entities such as Hezbollah." Mr. Fialko says that the government's ban on contributions to Hezbollah violates his client's rights to freedom of speech and religion. [SEE DUBYA: I love that part!]

The suspects in Charlotte apparently weren't waiting until judgment day to reap their rewards. Prosecutors say the defendants bought houses and cars and invested substantial amounts of their allegedly ill-gotten gains in legitimate businesses. Embracing the American way of life, Mr. Harb even arranged for some of his relatives to marry Americans so they could get U.S. citizenship.

Messrs. Harb and Hammoud, who pleaded "not guilty" to all charges, are in custody awaiting the start of their trial, now set for April. Even if Mr. Hammoud, who isn't a U.S. citizen, is acquitted, prosecutors say he could be deported for allegedly lying to immigration authorities. Mr. Harb, however, has been a citizen since the mid-'90s. In a November 2000 letter headed "In the Name of God," Mr. Harb wrote from jail to the federal judge presiding over his case: "I want you to know that I love this country."
_______

So: cigarettes are legal and taxed, and yet they're also smuggled to support Hezbollah. The reason cigarettes and cocaine are profitable is partially because they're illegal, yes, but mostly because they're so addictive people will pay nearly anything to get them. Cocaine's extremely addictive properties are, not incidentally , why it is illegal.

UPDATE III: (See-dubya)--Another one on the line. Pixy Misa writes:

"In North Carolina, the state cigarette excise tax is just 50 cents a carton. In Michigan, it is $7.50 a carton, enabling the smugglers to pocket much of the difference, law-enforcement officials say.

Well, don't do that then."

Of course not. These differences in state taxation are an incentive to smuggle. Obviously the Federal government should maintain uniform levels of taxation on controlled substances throughout the states.

Surely these individual tax assessments of sovereign states affect interstate commerce. We can justify it through the Commerce Clause!

Oh, wait a minute...

Blog War II: The Rusty Strikes Back

Again, the reason cigarettes are being smuggled is because taxation at such a high rate in some states makes them de facto illegal. Anyway, my main argument for ending the war on drugs is a moral one: liberty. Liberty implies the right to choose to do stupid things, like take drugs. There is no need for government to try to discourage people from doing stupid things. Natural selection kinda has a way of taking care of that.....

Jeff at Shape of Days decided to get in on the blog war........