Addicted to Success

Almost two years ago, Rumseld stated that the US was going to bring the same kind of success to Iraq that it had brought to Afghanistan. Larger comparisons aside, it now appears he was dead-on when it comes to drug trafficking.

Hamid Ghodse, president of the United Nations' International Narcotics Control Board, said that since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Iraq has become a transit point in the flow of hashish and heroin from Iran and Afghanistan, the world's largest producer of opium poppies, to Persian Gulf countries and Europe.

Under Hussein's authoritarian rule, alcoholism and addiction to medications such as Valium were prevalent, health officials here say. The use of illegal drugs, a subject not discussed publicly, was thought to be rare. But since the invasion, the same porous borders that U.S. and Iraqi officials describe as conduits for foreign insurgents have become well-traveled smuggling routes for drug traffickers, according to U.N. and government officials. As a result, the Health Ministry says, addiction rates are climbing steadily.

Of course, drug addiction in Iraq is also on the rise, and due to the stigma associated with narcotics abuse, there is very little infrastructure to deal with the problem. And if you want to see the problems that drug trafficking can cause for a fragile national government, you need look no further than Rumsfeld's model for success, Afghanistan.