Troops Battle 10-Foot Marijuana Plants In Afghanistan

[kpete]

Troops battle 10-foot marijuana plants Fri Oct 13, 8:48 AM ET


OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet-high marijuana plants.

General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.

"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa.

"We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061013/od_nm/marijuana_dc;_ylt=AurUz5TqzlfppC9TNum_PGis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-

[Beetwasher]

1. "...that we simply couldn't burn them,"

Marijuana is the fucking coolest plant in the universe. Is the anything it CAN'T Do? :shrug:

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

10. LOL, who can profit from a "weed"?

I :loveya: your post! MKJ

[Horse with no Name]

2. You can't convince me this story isn't a "plant"

*snark*
But in reality, they lower the standards for enlistment, then advertise 10'ft tall marijuana plants....I can see a line of junkies forming to "serve" already.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

22. Stoners and junkies are *very* different. nt

[OnionPatch]

28. Junkies?

I know a lot of marijuana smokers and they are NOT junkies. They are everyday, responsible people who hold good jobs that they perform competently. Not one of them are "junkies" in any way. They are no different than those who drink a few beers or a glass of wine after work.

I have also known a junkie or two. Marijuana is the last thing a junkie cares about. Offering a junkie marijuana would be like offering root beer to an alcoholic.

[Solly Mack]

3. if you can't beat'em, joint'em

[Flabbergasted]

4. "Well....then we'll Smoke them Out."

Grab the bic lighters boys. We'll win this war.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Dude! I Know Just What To Do!

(But Clinton's good buddy Barry MaCaffrey might not approve...)

[MADem]

6. It's a decorative plant as well over that way

There was a nice hedge of the shit in front of my bank and the police station. My neighbors used it as a shade tree of sorts.

The lady who lived upstairs from me used to chop up the stems (they were thick as branches), dry it, and put it in her hubble bubble with some stinky tobacco....

[Wonk]

7. dupe thread

LBN
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2558986

GD
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2382224
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2385143
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2386180

[man4allcats]

8. "The Attack of the Killer Weed"

What a way to go! :hippie:

[KharmaTrain]

9. Is This Recruitment Propaganda?

I'm sure if I told certain friends of mine about 10 foot high fields of herb, they'd ask me where to enlist. :rofl:

Just the term "marijuana forest" makes my eyes water. :rofl:

Hey Taliban...come on out...we've got oreo cookies!!

Now there's our exit strategy...we encourage them to grow marijuana forests all over the country...they hide inside and are too stoned to fight. Problem solved.

Better living through science...

[tularetom]

11. Duuuuuuuuuuude!!!!!

Hope my two dumbass slacker grandnephews don't hear about this. They're in their late teens or early twenties and their mother (my late sister's daughter) is tearing her hair out trying to get them motivated. All they'd have to hear is "marijuana forests" and they'd enlist on the spot. I'm gradually becoming a sort of surrogate grandpa for the little a-holes so I guess I'll have to twist their arms and gently convince them it'd be a dumb idea.

[RoyGBiv]

21. Marijuana Forest ...

Oh, dude.

DUDE!!!

Someone should taken an aerial picture. It'd make High Times' centerfold, for sure.

[wakeme2008]

12. Picture from friday's AllHatNoCattle column :)

Canadian soldiers occupy a temporary observation post overlooking a field of marijuana plants in Afghanistan's Panjwaii District in this September 14, 2006 handout photo released October 12, 2006. Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet (three meter) high marijuana plants. Picture taken September 14, 2006. Photo/Canadian Forces/Sgt Lou Penney

[SpreadItAround]

13. It must smell awesome

[Beetwasher]

14. Not A Bad Place To Hang Out

That is, if there weren't people around who wanted your head on a pike. Ya think those soldiers have a "hands off" attitude? Who could blame them?

[Pharaoh]

29. Holy Shit!

Look at the buds on those fucking huge trees!!!!!!!!!!!!:rofl:

[Sherman A1]

15. Yup, read this one a couple of days ago

just amusing......

[sarge43]

16. "one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle

with marijuana."

I have this image of the car with bad exhaust and some stoner sees the thing tooling around the landscape trailing smoke. Duuuuuuuuuuude.

[rfranklin]

18. Cheech and Chong enlist!

yeaaah, man!

[sarge43]

19. Along with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers n/t

[RufusEarl]

17. Smoke'em if you got'em!

[Gold Metal Flake]

20. And Agent Orange will complete the picture of Afghan-nom.

What, they won't want to use herbicides?

[Generic Other]

23. Losing the war on drugs while losing the war in Afghanistan

Are these the famous Hashish Forests of Afghanistan where the farmers run nekkid getting covered with resin?

[Marrak]

24. There-in lies the rub...

<>
K&R:kick:

[Ninja Jordan]

25. Army Recruiting getting desperate?

Now they're trying to recruit the kids with wild tales of marijuana adventure!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

26. GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME

[AnnieBW]

27. Recruits from Vancouver

Recruits from the Vancouver, BC area increased 100% since this field was found. :D Willie Nelson probably volunteered for a USO tour over there, too!

[mhatrw]

30. Didn't Bush promise that he'd smoke these guys out? n/t