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Washington Post Letter
Received: by superior (4.1/Sun-Client)
id AA27506; Wed, 12 Apr 95 11:59:06 EDT
A letter in the _Washington_Post_, April 12, 1995.
| Heroin in Burma: Strike the Source
|
| I read with concern Lally Weymouth's "Smack Land; It's time to
| attack the drug lords in Burma" [op-ed, March 24]. Mrs.
| Weymouth's conclusion that the United States should take direct
| or covert military action against the Shan Army and Khun Sa is
| misdirected. It ignores the fact that the military in Burma is
| the main cause for the increase in opium production.
|
| Prior to the military takeover in 1962, opium production in
| Burma was insignificant. As resistance to the military
| increased, the military encouraged "home guard" units to be
| formed. Unable to pay the home guards, the military gave them
| permission to trade in opium.
|
| Kuhn Sa was at one time a home guard commander fighting the
| nationalist Shan State Army on behalf of the Burmese military.
| As his drug profits soared, he gave up being a home guard.
| Similarly in 1989, when the United Wa State Army (UWSA) broke
| away from the Burmese Communist Party, the Burmese military
| struck a deal with them. In return for UWSA's promise not to
| join the Burmese democracy movement, the military gave the UWSA
| "unrestricted trading privileges." No wonder opium production
| in Burma has more than doubled since 1988.
|
| The increase is not because the United States ended its
| counter-narcotics aid program. It is because the State Law and
| Order Restoration Council (SLORC) is using opium production as
| a tool to remain in power. Launching a military action against
| Khun Sa or the UWSA will not solve the problem as long as the
| military remains in power in Rangoon. Giving SLORC
| counter-narcotics aid is also not the answer. From 1978 to
| 1988, the U.S. government provided the Burmese military with
| $81 million in counter-narcotics assistance. During the same
| time period, opium production in Burma doubled.
|
| The military used the aid and helicopters and airplanes
| provided to suppress the ethnic resistance and allowed more
| home guard units to be formed to maintain control. In turn, the
| home guards trafficked in opium to finance their operations.
|
| To reduce the available heroin in the United States requires,
| as Mrs. Weymouth suggested, taking action against the source --
| namely the military junta in Rangoon. An effective first step
| would be to impose economic and investment sanctions against
| the regime. Until SLORC is replaced by a legitimate democratic
| Burmese government led by 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung
| San Suu Kyi, the heroin problem cannot be resolved.
|
|
| BO HLA TINT
| Washington
|
| The writer is foreign minister of the National Coalition
| Government (in exile) of the Union of Burma.
|