Taliban using cannabis 'forests' as cover
Pastor Dale Morgan
Taliban using cannabis 'forests' as cover*
From correspondents in Ottawa
October 14, 2006 06:22am
Article from: 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 armoured 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. Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.