Foreign and Drug Policy Essay -- American Government Politics Essays

Foreign and Drug Policy In examining the transitions in US government policy related to drug abuse and trafficking, historians are consistently confronted with the difficult task of analyzing the different motivations for variations in strategy from the Nixon administration to the present. In this specific case, our investigation centers upon the interplay of United States foreign policy in Latin America in the 1980’s (pursued mostly by the CIA) and the broad campaign against drugs both at home and abroad. At first glance, one might suppose that a moral ideology such as the war on drugs would be a multi-faceted operation with little available room for compromise. After all, an analogous crusade against terrorism has emerged as the overriding logic and driving force behind current foreign policy, so why shouldn’t narcoterrorism have a similar place in initiatives abroad? It would make sense that since we are now committed to eliminating any support for states that sponsor terrorism, nations like Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, and Honduras should be dealt with in a similar manner for their complicity in drug trafficking. As we now know, this was not the case, thus further scrutiny is required. The framework for this analysis will be an in depth reading of multiple sources with differing viewpoints chronicling the events in the expansion of the Latin American narcotics trade. Our analysis begins with Oliver North, the military coordinator ultimately empowered by the National Security Council to conduct and oversee covert operations supporting Nicaraguan rebels, the Contras, in their resistance campaign. As part of Reagan’s fierce stance against communism, Latin America had become a battleground between American CIA ... ...ionale and a new direction for combating the widespread narcotics abuse in America, namely increased investment in treatment of addiction. Works Cited: Kerry, John et al. Senate Committee Report on Drugs, Law Enforcement, and Foreign Policy. Available online http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/ARCHIVE/KERRY.html. Access date 5/25/04. Korsmeyer, Pamela and David Musto. The Quest for Drug Control. Yale University Press: New Haven, 2002. Marshall, Jonathan and Peter Dale Scott. Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America. University of California Press: Los Angeles, 1991. Massing, Michael. The Fix. University of California Press: Los Angeles, 1999. PBS Frontline. Interview with Oliver North. Available online http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/north.html. Access date 5/23/04.