Real News @ http://RevolutionNews.US — Civil Asset Forfeiture: Policing for Profit...
In case you missed it, police abuse of civil asset forfeiture (CAF) has been a growing issue this year on the local level across this country. If you have not noticed, perhaps it is because we don't have much of a problem inOregon-- at least not yet.
CAF allows the government to confiscate private property if it is declared linked to a crime. Historically this has primarily been a function of criminal courts, but criminal courts place the burden of proof on the state and provide legal counsel to those who cannot afford it. In most CAF cases the property owner is never indicted with a crime. It is a civil action that places the burden of proof on the property owner who must sue the government at his own expense to get his property back.
Full Article: http://oregoncatalyst.com/11676-civil-asset-forfeiture-policing-profit.html
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KABUL, Afghanistan — The effort to win over Afghans on former Taliban turf in Marja has put American and NATO commanders in the unusual position of arguing against opium eradication, pitting them against some Afghan officials who are pushing to destroy the harvest.
From Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal on down, the military's position is clear: "U.S. forces no longer eradicate," as one NATO official put it. Opium is the main livelihood of 60 to 70 percent of the farmers in Marja, which was seized from Taliban rebels in a major offensive last month. American Marines occupying the area are under orders to leave the farmers' fields alone.
"Marja is a special case right now," said Cmdr. Jeffrey Eggers, a member of the general's Strategic Advisory Group, his top advisory body. "We don't trample the livelihood of those we're trying to win over."
United Nations drug officials agree with the Americans, though they acknowledge the conundrum. Pictures of NATO and other allied soldiers "walking next to the opium fields won't go well with domestic audiences, but the approach of postponing eradicating in this particular case is a sensible one," said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, who is in charge of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime here.
Afghan officials, however, are divided. Though some support the American position, others, citing a constitutional ban on opium cultivation, want to plow the fields under before the harvest, which has already begun in parts of Helmand Province.
"How can we allow the world to see lawful forces in charge of Marja next to fields full of opium, which one way or another will be harvested and turned into a poison that kills people all over the world?" said Zulmai Afzali, the spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Counternarcotics.
"The Taliban are the ones who profit from opium, so you are letting your enemy get financed by this so he can turn around and kill you back," he added, referring to how the Taliban squeeze farmers for money to run their operations.
The argument may strike some as a jarring reversal; in the years right after the 2001 invasion, tensions rose as some Afghan officials vehemently resisted all-out American pressure to stop opium production.
Though the United States government's official position is still to support opium crop eradication in general, some American civilian officials say that the internal debate over Marja is far from over within parts of the State Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
A spokesman for the United States Embassy in Kabul, Brendan J. O'Brien, said officials would decline to comment while the matter was under review.
Full Article: NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/world/asia/21marja.html?pagewanted=all
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HOW TO GET RON PAUL ELECTED IN 2012by YouxArexAllxLame348 views
Oh they do t live in poverty already? Haha wow what a great excuse to protect the opium growing. Maybe paying them to not grow it???? hmmm someones getting fuked here could it be all of us
drgreenshum188 4 months ago
@Dewdaahman they can though cant they. thats the problem
evilmeerkat007 4 months ago
@hamid954 lol that was never the case in the US
evilmeerkat007 4 months ago
this govt policy IS bullshit ,clearly illegal and UNCONSTITUTIONAL ...absolute power corrups ABSOLUTELY ..
woodenmajor 5 months ago
What happen to innocent until proven guiltily???
hamid954 5 months ago
Genesis 1:29.. what God gave to man, man cannot take away from man..
Dewdaahman 5 months ago
A black dude from Hawaii who doesn't like pot...something wrong here...?
floatingcompassmedia 5 months ago 2