As any regular reader here knows, one of my favorite subjects is the intersection between the war on drugs and the war on terror. And as we now get sucked into the lawlessness of Yemen, it provides another subject matter. Qat (also spelled ‘khat’) – a plant that can be chewed for its stimulant effects – is extremely popular in Yemen, among all strata of their society from rural villagers to government officials. I’ve even read one report out of Yemen that much of the country shuts down in the early afternoon as many people use qat as a daily ritual. I’m not sure how much of an exaggeration that is, but it’s safe to say that chewing qat is a fairly significant part of daily life in that country.
Here in the United States however, and even here in Seattle, qat is an illegal substance. This has caused a significant backlash from this area’s Somali immigrants, who feel they should have the right to partake in a custom that was commonplace in their homeland and does not harm others.
With that in mind, I noticed this passage from a blog specifically devoted to dealing with Yemen:
The US must be much more active in presenting its views to the Yemeni public. This does not mean giving interviews to the Yemen Observer or the Yemen Times or even al-Hurra, which is at least in Arabic. It means writing and placing op-eds in Arabic in widely read Yemeni newspapers like al-Thawra. I detailed a golden opportunity that the US missed with the Shaykh Muhammad al-Mu’ayyad case in August in a report I wrote for the CTC Sentinel (which is available on the sidebar). This also means allowing US diplomats to go to qat chews in Yemen – and even, perish the thought, chew qat with Yemenis. The US should be honest about what qat is and what it does and not hide behind antiquated rules that penalize a version of the stimulant that does not exist in Yemen. Whether or not the US knows it, it is engaged in a propaganda war with al-Qaeda in Yemen and it is losing and losing badly. US public diplomacy is all defense and no offense in Yemen, this has to change or the results of the past few years will remain the roadmap for the future. And that future will witness an increasingly strong al-Qaeda presence in Yemen.
As we’ve already seen in Afghanistan, an overzealous drug war can severely undermine attempts to combat Islamic radicalism when we’re not realistic about both cultural differences and economic realities when it comes to drugs. It’s definitely something to keep an eye on in Yemen because if we deal with qat there the way we’ve been dealing with it here, it has the potential to really blow up in our face.
um…..while exagerated fears of allegedly harmful drugs that are no more harmful than Jack Daniels are like this really really big threat to the USA…um er um…..maybe the threat of I dunno, people blowing up airplanes is bigger, right now?
Maybe it’s not that our guys don’t get down and chew qat, but just that when they hear intell in Yemen about a Nigerian they oughta…you know…like call up the CIA in Nigeria? Which had they done so would have meant they might have connected these two dots that were sort of screaming to be connected.
But hey if you need to turn every single thing into the totally right on antidrugwar war you’re engaged in, go ahead. NO connection is too tenuous. MAYBE if our guys chew qat they’ll like hear about intell about a Nigerian in Yemen who….
oh wait….
Does anyone here actually know enough about qat to comment on whether it is or is not safe?
SJ
I suspect it’s safer than crystal meth. Other than drugs of that nature, those that seem to be instantly addictive and remarkably harmful, I’d legalize. I don’t do any of them, but we need to grow up and let grown-ups make their own decisions. Import the qat! (Of course, in answer to your question, I have not a clue about how safe qat might be.)
“Qat … is extremely popular in Yemen …”
Something grows in Yemen? Click here for photo of Yemeni farmland: http://www.yementrips.com/images/desertz.jpg
It’s surprising that Republicans, who are so good at domestic propaganda, got their asses kicked so badly in foreign propaganda wars. It’s almost as if they deliberately want to destroy America. Why would anyone vote for these people? (TM)
I presume Yemenis will start showing up at Drinking Liberally too.
Rep. John Linder (R-GA) thinks rich people shouldn’t pay taxes and poor people shouldn’t get food stamps.
Why would anyone vote for these people?(TM)
Food stamps, Linder argues, encourage dependency on government. As if that’s somehow worse than dependency on the whims of a boss.
#4 Wabbit,
From our friends at the CIA:
Agriculture – products:
grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat, coffee, cotton; dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry; fish
Labor force – by occupation:
note: most people are employed in agriculture and herding; services, construction, industry, and commerce account for less than one-fourth of the labor force
Goldy, My Kalashnikov shooting does not harm others and is also a custom in Somalia. I would submit my version is safer.
Andrew Sullivan, writing in The Atlantic, says the debate on the right about torture is “all but over.”
“The principled position on the right with respect to torture,” Sullivan says, “is that opposing it is honorable, but of course supporting it is essential. … If you believe in torture, support the GOP. That’s what conservatism is now all about.”
Sullivan’s summation is:
“These are neo-fascist sentiments, empowering lawless violence by the government, justified solely by fear of terror incidents. Whatever else junking the entire history of Western jurisprudence and the laws of war is, it is not in any way conservative. It is a radical assault on one of the central pillars of our civilization.”
http://andrewsullivan.theatlan.....ation.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: There’s more in this must-read article. Among other things, Sullivan describes how Charles Krauthammer’s position on torture has evolved:
“Krauthammer’s first position was that torture should be restricted solely to ticking time bomb cases in which we knew that a terror suspect could prevent an imminent detonation of a WMD. His position a few years later is that torture should be the first resort for any terror suspect who could tell us anything about future plots. Those of us who warned that torture, once admitted into the mainstream, will metastasize beyond anyone’s control now have the example of Charles Krauthammer’s arguments to back us up.”
As I’ve said before in this blog, Krauthammer is not a journalist; he is a propagandist for an extremist ideology. Why does the Seattle Times give him space on its op-ed page?
Quote of the Day
“It’s no wonder most of our politicians are vacuous and venal. They are being elected by people who are too busy or too bored or too lazy to do anything other than cup an ear for the loudest, cleverest, most dramatic sounds emitting from their televisions, computers or PDAs.” — Andrew Cohen in The Atlantic
http://tinyurl.com/ygtbb9d
Roger Rabbit Commentary: You should read this article in its entirety, too. It’s about how the media have contributed to America dumbing down to a “know nothing” society. Cohen argues the line between TV news and entertainment hasn’t been “blurred,” it’s been “obliterated” to a point where “only a declining minority … differentiates among fair-minded journalists, ideologically-driven pundits and … professional jokers dabbling in politics” (quoting New York Times columnist James Warren).
“Real news typically simply can’t compete with entertainment disguised as commentary and analysis. It’s not a fair fight.” — Andrew Cohen
The current feature article in The Atlantic is “Yemen’s Qat Economy.” It links here:
http://correspondents.theatlan.....et_qat.php
Quote: “You don’t get Yemen if you don’t get qat … no map can quite explain its influence on politics, culture and the economy.”
@9 It’s been too damned long since America has designed and built anything as good as a Kalashnikov. You can’t hit anything with it, but with a 30-round magazine, you don’t need to. Just the racket will make them keep their heads down.
2009 Was Better Than You Think
Here’s The Nation’s list of underappreciated progressive victories in 2009:
1. “More legislatures than ever discussed the need to end the exclusion of gay couples from marriage, and three new states … won the freedom to marry for gay couples. The District of Columbia also enacted its own marriage equality law, which now awaits … Congressional review.
2. “In California, activists pushed hard for the LGBT Domestic Violence Programs Expansion Bill, which goes into effect [Jan. 1].”
3. “New York State voted to repeal the notoriously draconian Rockefeller drug laws after years of advocacy on the part of families, formerly incarcerated individuals, and community organizations.”
4. “Two coal-burning energy companies … withdrew plans to build a multi-billion dollar transmission line from Appalachia to East Coast cities … after an insistent activist campaign.”
5. “In Mississippi, … African-American farmer’s markets made significant strides in the struggle against poor nutrition and poverty.”
6. “Smaller lending institutions caught on in the wake of the bank bailouts.” [See Move Your Money Project.]
http://www.thenation.com/blogs.....oking_back
That’s the problem with these assholes, they feel that they should have the right. If you want you Qat take your happy qat chewing ass back to the freakin’ shithole you came from. We have laws here and you will abide by them as long as they are in place.
Now, can the moderator of this thread possibly attempt to reign in off topic posts and ramblig, incoherent comments from those that see this as their own personal chat room because they’re fucking bat shit crazy? Thanks
SeattleJew,
From the A Dictionary of Hallucinogens….
Did you notice the HA friendship group banned it during Ramadan in Somalia? “They also sentenced two alleged murderers to be executed in public, arrested a male martial arts coach and six female students, and banned the sale and use of the popular stimulant khat during the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan.”
Puddy wonders if this is the same thing. You can buy some qat tea… “Provides long lasting energy and alertness. Said to increase sexual potency. Also used to enhance dreams.” There are many HA Libtardo jokes here butt Puddy will let them slide.
And here are two men who look like they could be attendees of an HA Drinking Liberally with their qat puffed out cheeks.
Puddy agrees with ESO about Herr Goebbels Dumb Bunny and how he turns every HA thread into his personal diarrhea lounge!
#14 Roger,
Ever shot a Kalashnikov? Your post indicates otherwise.
I remember reading an old NatGeo article about Yemen and yeah, they chew qat like you wouldn’t believe. From what I remember, pretty much the entire adult population of the country gets their qat on in the afternoon and then stares at the ceiling. Kinda hard to imagine anyone in Yemen wanting to be that active with all that qat-chewing going on.
Also, Yemeni culture is a knife culture. Everyone carries some sort of dagger with them as part of traditional garb.
The sad thing about Lee and Puddy is that they are so alike. Neither gives a damn about science … Lee thinks if it is a drug it otta be OK because, well because we do not KNOW it is harmful. Puddy (and Co) think tradtions should rule. If traditions says mary jane is bad, then she is bad.
Why not just let a little bot of reason in? We have lots of reasonbs to believe that , for example, that THC is harmless unless it is taken with something bad for you .. like benzpyrene. So, if we want to keep folks from eating MJ brownies, at least lets require a reverse warning lable … “Warning, eating this brownie may not harm your health.”
As for QAT, why not study the stuff? maybe its good for you .. you know like coffee?
@16 “That’s the problem with these assholes, they feel that they should have the right.”
Maybe because someone told them America is the land of the free?
“We have laws here and you will abide by them as long as they are in place.”
Since when do Republicans abide by laws?
“Now, can the moderator of this thread possibly attempt to reign in off topic posts and ramblig, incoherent comments from those that see this as their own personal chat room because they’re fucking bat shit crazy? Thanks”
Why do you want your own posts deleted?
@18 I’ve been shot at by Kalashnikovs, and I’m still here.
@18 Actually, the accuracy of military rifles is irrelevant, because soldiers in today’s armies aren’t trained in marksmanship and can’t hit anything no matter how good the rifle is. In the minds of military bean counters, the advent of automatic assault rifles obviated the need for marksmanship, so now they just show ’em how to shove in a magazine and pull the trigger, and training doesn’t go much farther than that. In the Vietnam War, the U.S. officially expended 114,000 rounds of small arms ammunition for every enemy KIA — and remember, they inflated the body counts, and artillery and airstrikes accounted for the majority of enemy casualties — so the actual number is much higher than that.
Back in the 80s, some Army Rangers having a barbecue at a Tacoma house got into a gunfight with some drug dealers at a crack house across the street. Hundreds of shots were exchanged, but nobody on either side got hit.
And then you have the rightwing fucking idiots toting pistols in leg holsters and flashing civilian-model AR-15s in public to make some sort of political point. I guess the gist of it is they’ll overthrow our government by force if they’re asked to pay taxes for a library or wear a motorcycle helmet so they don’t become a multimillion-dollar Medicaid burden on taxpayers. So they have, what, maybe three magazines with 18 rounds of 9mm ammo in the cargo pockets of their fatigues and a metal ex-military ammo can with 1,000 rounds of .223 plinking ammo that they bought from Cabela’s stashed in their car trunk. That’s, um, about 1/100th of a National Guard soldier. So a hundred of these freaks can take out 1 NG. Some revolution …
@22 Actually, I was shot at by bigger stuff than Kalashnikovs, because I spent my tour of duty on the DMZ within artillery and rocket range of North Vietnam. A Chinese 122mm rocket had a range of about 7 miles and an accuracy of about 1 mile. They made a lot of noise when they went off but your odds of getting hurt by one were less than your chances of getting food poisoning in the mess hall.
” they should have the right to partake in a custom that was commonplace in their homeland and does not harm others”
It may not do any harm but doesn’t do them any good, does it? One of the reasons much the world outside Somalia and Yemen is a better place to live is that people stay sober during the work day.
I nearly got killed in Vietnam by a Vietnamese kid with a slingshot. He missed my head by about an inch.
hey empty suit. You’re still making moronic comments. Immigrants become citizens, did you know? They can even have the right to vote just like you. They are full humans, just like you, so take your racist bile and stuff it you know where. You are no better then them. In the law, you are equal. If you want booze and cigies to be legal, you have a perfect right to advocate your views. If they want qat to be legal, they have a perfec right to advocate their views. You say “That’s the problem with these assholes,”
wow, what are you some kind of racist nazi?
People are assholes if they have a view different than you? What a totally moronic comment.
“they feel that they should have the right.”
that’s right dipshit, they’re humans and any who are citizens can vote and any who are here have free speech just like you, moron. so in fact they do have the right. Your atetempt to deny them that right is totally unamerican, buddy, why don’t you leave this nation if you can’t share our founding fathers’ values, dipshit?
“If you want you Qat take your happy qat chewing ass”
didn’t your mother raise you right? you hurl out ass today like theother day when you said retarded ass. Does this make you a man, to use a curse word against people you don’t know?
“back to the freakin’ shithole you came from.”
Wow dude. You call other places shitholes. You’re like totally an asshole, did you know that? Btw the ones who come here usually have about 100000% more work ethic and get up and go than the average white American knuckle brained cracker (talking about you, dude) who hurls this racist bile.
” We have laws here”
but apparently you’re too ignorant to know our laws can be changed, and the laws give everyone free speech, and the laws make your targets equal toyou, you pice of shit
“and you will abide by them”
oh wow, you’re the policeman now? People feeling things and advocating things is legal. Or are you trying to be a like a nazi who denies free speech? What are you some kind of commie?
“as long as they are in place.”
Ohmygod a glimmer of awareness that we, the people, can change the laws….
okay let’s add itup. the comment is 99% xenophobic, racist and nazi-ish in its implicit racism, and 1% enlightened.
Verdict: you’re still a moron. In fact, now you’re a bigger one by picking on immigrants and trying to make it look like you’re superior to them. You have no place in this world and I am glad that over the next few decades the racists like you will gradually die out and lose all influence.
@28,
Legal immigrants are gladly welcomed to become US Citizens. Illegal aliens, immigrants, whatever need to follow rules.
Plain and simple!
Dear moronic empty head:
You spewed:
Do you really want to censor yourself?
correctnotright,
ESO was discussing Herr Goebbels Dumb Bunny and how he turns every HA thread into his personal diarrhea lounge!
Roger Rabbit said:
“I nearly got killed in Vietnam by a Vietnamese kid with a slingshot. He missed my head by about an inch.”
The kid must have been quite a poor shot to miss a target that big!
Yes, Dumbfuck. And part of being a citizen is being a law abiding citizen. If you want to chew your Qat like some fucking cow in a pasture lazing the day away like back in skinnyville, go the fuck back to Somalia. Otherwise, you will abide by the laws in this nation, not the shithole you flocked from.
Same dumbfuck from above ‘hey right wingers” Queefed:
Wrong dumbass. Read my above post. If you’re still confused, look up the laws of Washington state. If you’re still confused, stuff your head back in your ass where it belongs, as that is where your greatest contribution to the human race can be achieved.
How do you know I’m white, you ignorant fuck? And even if I was, nothing in that post spoke of race, but your dumbass did. Now re-read that entire last sentence to yourself dumbass. Then, proceed to stuff your head back in its rightful place for safekeeping.
Only to a complete moron whose ignorance is only surpassed by his shitty grammar skills.