But do you really expec the British Army, through inaction, to effectively collude in the international drugs trade? Imagine the uproar once the press had cottoned on that they were sitting on their hands whilst a known major drug- supply route ran right past them.

In any case, depriving criminals of their livelihood and means of "self-defence" (ie, enforcement and murder) hardly amounts to the arrogance and insensitivity you infer.

I think it makes the job of the occupying forces very hard. That's the trouble with the war on drugs. It turns people into criminals who don't need to be turned into criminals, and perverts police and military forces by making them do things that should not be their jobs. It weakens the rule of law and reduces people's civil liberties, even in places like a freshly conquered Iraq.

Well, I think that the provinces of Wissit and Missan are very vulnerable to any sort of trafficing. I think the towns which are exposed the most are Ali al Gharbi and Kumayt.

Drug smuggeling from an geographic point of view makes sense in that a new southern route (Afghanistan-> Iran->Iraq->Syria->Lebanon) avoiding Turkey for Heroin from Afghanistan might be established. The normal route is mainly controlled by the Kurds of Northern Iraq who have also their agents (refugees and migrants) in near to every European country. Indictive of the wealth generated by Kurdish smuggelers is that the kurdish Territories are awash with Mercedes and BMWs.

But on the other hand there might also be Iranian security agents and Badr bridgades involved in exploting the sparsely controlled border between the Mehran and Hovezeh border crossings. We all know that the Iran is currently actively engaged in building up an underground infrastructure for the Shi'ites of southern Iraq.